THE ECONOMY and jobs. democrats have no clue

[Lindaloo]

Well maybe you should start buying American j. Support jobs right here in the United States.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. That is what you are saying here.

[rainstorm]

Just some things to ponder before you get all over NAFTA. Did you enjoy the DVD player you recently bought at WalMart for $59? How about any number of other electronic items that you are purchasing dirt cheap? You can kiss these bargains goodbye w/o NAFTA.

So....besides the exports that have increased due to NAFTA, we are also enjoying the benefits of imports at very attractive pricing.

exactly j, nafta is a great idea. free trade boosts the economy

[GalvestonDuck]

What about buying "American" even though it has a foreign name? The Toyota Camry plant in Georgetown, KY has been open for a little over a decade and employs over 8,000 people. That's almost as big as my current and former employers (UTMB and UK both employ just over 10,000).

Although I drive a Chevy now, IMO the Toyota autos that I've owned in the past were darn good cars.

[stormchazer]

who said we are losing jobs. at last check, the current 5.6% unemployment rate is less than the 5.8% avg during the 8 clinton years. dems werent complaining about jobs and unemployment then.
as far as tariffs go, they are bad. if other countries want to keep our goods out, it is only hurting them.
it would do no good at all for us to keep low cost goods out of this country.

That unemployment rate is a farce. That rate is stating the amount of "new" claims for unemployment, it does not take into account those that have exhausted their benefits. And in this area, we are still "losing jobs" at an alarming rate. And those jobs that are being created are not even paying a "living wage" most of the time. NAFTA was a big mistake in that it contributed in the loss of many many jobs for Americans. Adding Bush's plan for illegals, it is just going to increase the jobless rate exponentially due to the fact that they will take their wages back to their homeland to spend it, and reduce our economy that much more, thus creating more jobs lost. This is JMO, not a quote from any other source.

The unemployment rate has nothing to do with who is recieving unemployment or who isn't. It is a sampling of everyone who is not currently employed at a job. Here is the link to the Bureau of Labor Statistics explaining how the get the unemployment rate...

http://stats.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.htm

[blizzard]

Thanks Jara, I will check it out

[j]

Well maybe you should start buying American j. Support jobs right here in the United States.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. That is what you are saying here.

Well Linda.....I buy pleanty of American goods, that is assumiing they are the best product I can buy for my money!

Back in the early 80's, the Machine Tool Industry was getting hammered by the Japanese. You cannot force companies (or individual consumers for that matter) to buy American products. The Automotive Industry, had to become leaner and meaner, and start designing for manufacturability, JIT manufacturing, a whole multitude of processes that American companies had never bothered with. Our philosophy was make it bigger, stronger, and ultimately, it will last longer. The reality was (and is) American companies cannot do business like they used to. The days of being able to sell a product solely because its made in the USA are long gone.

That, I say, is a good thing, and that is why I say NAFTA is a good thing. Free trade has forced American Manufacturers to become better at what they do. Competition breeds success and without it, innovation and new ideas are left on the drawing board and never put into production.

Everything we buy today is better because it has to be to survive.

I will not debate the whole issue of products being better 20-30 years ago. That is just plain nonsense.

Now...for the record Linda....I have been in my younger days quite the Audiophile. My speakers were Boston Acoustics, my Receiver was a Carver, made in Waltham Mass., I had another pair of speakers called Magnepan's (which I still own 20 years later) made in Minnesota. I won't bore you with the complete list but my point being, I was a purist of sorts, and I bought what I considered the best product for the money. It so happens, that these products were up against a vast array of Japanese Electronics on the market. I firmly believe that direct competition resulted in innovative designs from the aformentioned manufacturers, which captured my eye....... 'zzzzzzzz

Linda.....WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!

[Lindaloo]

I am awake j!! And BUY AMERICAN!!