With the ongoing battle for the Democratic nomination for President, Senator Hillary Clinton recently spoke at an economic summit in Pittsburgh. One of the major aspects Senator Clinton proposed was $7 billion a year in tax incentives for businesses who choose to keep production in the states. Senator Clinton believes this will prompt U.S. companies not to ship jobs overseas or south of the border. The former first lady went on to propose eliminating tax breaks for companies that move their jobs out of the country, and using that money that is saved to refocus our nations efforts to keeping jobs in the U.S.
These are steps that should have been taken many years ago in the U.S. What is most comical about this entire proposal is that it was former President Bill Clinton who implemented NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). NAFTA was set in place to eliminate tariffs on products traded between the U.S, Mexico and Canada. By eliminating these tariffs, companies realized that labor costs were much cheaper in Mexico and therefore thousands of jobs have been moved there as a result.
Hillary’s tax incentive proposal for business is proof that NAFTA was a mistake. Why else would Hillary propose such a plan if NAFTA was such a success?
Tags: Articles, Presidential Politics //
I am not convinced that NAFTA was a mistake. We have been losing manufacturing jobs since the late 70’s, and NAFTA wasn’t signed until 1993. Also, many of the jobs lost in states like Michigan, Ohio, and New York have not moved to Mexico. They moved to states like Tennessee, South Carolina, and Texas. States that do not punish businesses with ridiculous workers comp systems; states that have sensible tax structures; and states that refuse to take orders from unions.
In fact, some states have greatly benefitted from NAFTA. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Texas has gained 36,000 manufacturing jobs since 2004 and has ranked as the nation’s top exporting state for six years in a row.”
http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB120450306595906431.html
NAFTA may not be the greatest piece of legislation, and it may not have lived up to its hype, but I doubt it was a mistake. And I certainly would not blame it for the loss of manufacturing jobs here in the U.S.
Pancho
So why does Hillary Clinton want to ruin one if the largest industries we have in this county? According to the US Department of Labor
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_stru.htm
Oil and Gas provide close to a half million jobs. The way Hillary makes it sound you think these people are stealing right out of your pocket instead of supplying us with the energy that we need right here in America. Many of these jobs are service related that just plain can not move.
When the oil execs were testifying last week I was cheering them on loudly when they basically told her to stick it.