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Anonymous
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Highway to hell
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Editorial
October 31, 2006
Plans for the NAFTA Superhighway have gone public. The decades-long rail and highway project would connect Mexico to Canada through the U.S. heartland, with arteries branching out from the central corridor. Construction of the first leg of the highway, from San Antonio to Dallas, is expected to begin next year.
Meanwhile, Hutchison Whampoa, the Hong Kong-based port operator with strong ties to the Chinese military, has teamed with Wal-Mart to upgrade the port at Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico. Direct shipments from Asia could bypass U.S. ports.
The promise of North American free trade is looking a little shopworn. The integration of North American manufacturing (U.S. capital, Mexican labor) to compete against East Asia is replaced by an integration of transport that benefits China. Work once done in Mexico has been shipped to China, where wages are even lower.
There is a critical difference between the old Soviet Union and the new China. The former, a police state, was a basket case because it commanded against the creation of thriving markets. The latter, also a police state, is commanding its economy to satisfy existing markets and capitalize on developing trends.
NAFTA is failing. The flow of illegal immigrants as we know it -- along with the violent lawlessness and the strain on public budgets -- may be prologue.
pittsburghlive.com
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Editorial
October 31, 2006
Plans for the NAFTA Superhighway have gone public. The decades-long rail and highway project would connect Mexico to Canada through the U.S. heartland, with arteries branching out from the central corridor. Construction of the first leg of the highway, from San Antonio to Dallas, is expected to begin next year.
Meanwhile, Hutchison Whampoa, the Hong Kong-based port operator with strong ties to the Chinese military, has teamed with Wal-Mart to upgrade the port at Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico. Direct shipments from Asia could bypass U.S. ports.
The promise of North American free trade is looking a little shopworn. The integration of North American manufacturing (U.S. capital, Mexican labor) to compete against East Asia is replaced by an integration of transport that benefits China. Work once done in Mexico has been shipped to China, where wages are even lower.
There is a critical difference between the old Soviet Union and the new China. The former, a police state, was a basket case because it commanded against the creation of thriving markets. The latter, also a police state, is commanding its economy to satisfy existing markets and capitalize on developing trends.
NAFTA is failing. The flow of illegal immigrants as we know it -- along with the violent lawlessness and the strain on public budgets -- may be prologue.
pittsburghlive.com