Originally Posted by Johan vom Meer

Free trade is not the best thing that's happened since sliced bread. Sorry to break it to you, but it is bad, bad, BAD for this nation's people.
Thanks to NAFTA, now the already rich coporations can take the jobs from the American citizens that need them and take them over to poor countries so that they can get away with paying 10 cents an hour to people that are actually willing to work for that much, without benefits, and with terrible living conditions for those that need to live in provided homes. And not only do they take jobs from the U.S., they don't have to pay tariffs to offset that pay, and the government doesn't see a dime of that money. Before the 20th century, our government made enough money from tariffs that they didn't really need to tax the citizens, but now, the taxes are getting heavier and heavier, and for people that either don't make that much or have multiple children to take care of, this is inevitable doom. This in turn causes more young men to join the army, simply for the benefits and pay offered. However, when you take all of the taxes and other such deductions into account, there still isn't a lot of money coming in, and now fathers, brothers, and sons are risking their lives because it's getting harder and harder to find good jobs. There are many other downsides of which to speak, but I will save them for later.