Saturday, February 04, 2017

Trump wishes to renegotiate NAFTA

So Trump wants to renegotiate NAFTA ?

Well, what is NAFTA anyways ?

NAFTA is a trade agreement. Basically , you can sell your products in another country. Ok , right ?
Wrong.  Business men look at the numbers. They will produce where the costs are lowest (like wages) and go there. They will play one nation off against another to drive down costs, like wages, and outlaw minimum wages , under threat of going elsewhere if you don't comply.

And if you do comply, usually it's a disaster for the hosting nation. Suddenly everyone's living in rooming houses, or there's four people in a two bedroom apartment because that's the only way you can afford the rent.

Add to this the up and coming 3D printers, where by manufacturing is going to come back to the western nations, in the form of robots making stuff, instead of human hands. In other words, no jobs for the common people, just a small handful of jobs for the technicians maintaining the machines.

NAFTA is a bunch of business men bribing the government (excuse me, making legitimate, perfectly legal political donations) to give them a good deal and crud over the rest of the population , and of course, any businesses too stupid to make similar bribes to the government. And our standard of living drops through the floor and into the sewer.

Add to this Mexico was added to NAFTA  , and that's a dollar a day country , and all the jobs that could be relocated to Mexico have been. Which means jobs for canadians suddenly became scarce, and only the low paying ones remained.

So . Trump wants to renegotiate NAFTA ?

I think we should take a hard line with Trump and get him to break NAFTA. This way we get out of it without paying any penalties.

I think NAFTA , and similar trade agreements, are an evil thing, and in the coming age of 3D printers , no one is going to be shipping any product across any borders. We're all going to wind up with a big work shelf full of several 3D printers in a closet somewhere , one for making stuff out of plastic one for metal  , one for electrical stuff (fans, clocks, etc ) one for computer stuff (cell phones, computer devices) . And we'll only buy the big stuff that lasts forever (a full blown computer that lasts for many years, furnature that lasts for 20 years, fridge stove etc) .

Manufacturing is already on life support, and soon it will vanish. Trade agreements are todays chimney sweeps. They are no longer needed.

The age of Uncle Owen's Farm (warning : Star wars reference) is soon to be upon us. We will maintain the machines , and the machines will do all the work. 

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