NAFTA Stick
 

What about NAFTA? Good? bad?

For the Entertainment Bussiness it SUCKS. More and more work is going North of the border. One of course is cost. It's cheaper to film in Canada. You can take a 40 million dollar pic that's made here in the PNW and go up to Vancouver and make it for 28 million (US).

Sure it's a bussiness and it all revoles around the dollars and cents, but what hurts the people that work here in the States is the fact WE can't go over the Border to work. Only those in "Key" positions, (ie: Directors, Actors, DP's [Director of Photography] 1st AD's and other "Key" people), even then, the Canadain Flim Commission will want that project to use as many Canadaians as possible in those positions. But the Canucks can come down here and work on a project that was filmed up in Canada and then come down here to do some pick up shots. Then there is NO TARRIFF on the film going back over the Border into Toronto to be proccessed and developed, then released out of Toronto instead of L.A.

So for me, NAFTA is a mistake.

I was thinking more strategically. LOL

Oh Okay....sorry.

But I still don't like it....NAFTA that is.

If the LATAM economies weren't terminally depressed, it would be a much more symbiotic relationship for the US.

I suspect that we probably import at least three or four times more from LATAM than they import from us, particularly with oil imports included.

Canada is our largest trading partner, but it seems to be much more of a two-way street with them.

TR

Living near the NAFTA highway :rolleyes: , there is regular discussion in this area. Most I have listened to think NAFTA benefits LATAM receives the bulk of the benefit currently, and that it will be decades before it approaches a two-way benefit. That seems to be accurate to date.

I like it. But I will concede that I have not studied the results at all since it was enacted. I just like free trade generally speaking.

I looked for results this afternoon. Everything I could find was spun one way or the other.

Reaper, I have no doubt it has benefited Mexico more than the US, but that may not be such a bad thing in the long run for other reasons.

Canada appears to be the biggest beneficiary from what little I could find. Of course the corporations are making out like bandits because of lower per worker costs.

You say this only because you are focused on production rather than consumption. If we are buying their stuff, it's because we want to. It means we are happy doing it. As consumers, that is.

True enough I guess.

The biggest export of Mexico right now is Mexicans.

The reason Mexicans come here illegally is not the cuisine, it is the jobs and money.

The quicker we can make Mexico a place where people can be employed at a decent wage, the sooner they will quit coming here illegally. We don't want to stop the immigration, as it would be bad for both countries, just reduce it to manageable numbers.

The rationale for crossing will largely disappear, and both nations will be better.

Of course, there is probably sufficient wealth in Mexico to create that situation right now, but it is not equitably distributed. The beauty of the illegals is that they generally send the money home to their families, who spend it and energize the domestic Mexican economy.

I suspect that the NAFTA income is not disseminated at quite as low a level, but it does provide significant domestic employment and income as companies seek lower wage laborers.

Just my .02.

TR

Pretty much my thinking as well.

You made me a bit nervous with that one, TR! LOL :D

What do you think happens to the billions in oil PEMEX produces every year?

More specifically, look at how long before Fox the previous party had been in power, and how wealth in Mexico is distributed.

We don't want another Revolution, but they better realize the nature of the powder keg they are sitting on.

If we really closed the border, IMHO, Mexico would have a full fledged insurgency again within a year, and would depose their government and the wealthy within 36 months.

TR

TR....if the above senerio were to play out, could you see the US getting involved, militarily?

Just thinking waaaay outside the box here, but I think that the three countries become one....The United States of North America, with one currency. Any thoughts?