CAFTA Passes House

Today, the House passed CAFTA by a 2-vote margin, and given the amount of time Bush spent on Capitol Hill, it'll be law. This is a good thing or a bad thing depending on whether you are a corporation or not. If you are a corporation, this gives you the opportunity to take your company to Nicaragua - even if the laws of Nicaragua would have outlawed your labor practices, your pollution record, or your cheap goods which undermine the country's economy.

If you are a farmer or producer in, say, Nicaragua, you are at increased risk of losing your land or being unable to sell your goods. If you are a pregnant woman willing to take a low-wage job, your chances of employment have increased - temporarily. That's until the cheap labor force gets more expensive, and the company decides to move somewhere else.

And, if you are a producer in the US, you will now have to compete with extremely cheap labor.

If you are a radio producer looking for injustice in Latin America, however, you'll have plenty to do over the next few years.

It's so obvious: if you want to promote a free market, and one of your definitions is to permit capital to move across borders, fine! Just fling open the borders to actual people too - then you'll see labor and production really free to seek the markets they need.

That's how clearly biased "free trade" is in favor of Big Capital. And just think of all the government services we could cut if we didn't need a Migra.

Chicago Tribune article 7/28/05