Friday Beaver - Trading beaver edition

Beaver hoping the traditional beaver skin top hats don't come back in fashion. Oops! Too late for this beaver.

TPP  NAFTA CAFTA and other stupid ideas

There was a time when TV sets were made in the U.S. Then NAFTA was signed. Slowly that business went first to Canada then to Mexico and finally to China seeking its' lowest labor costs. To date 62,000 manufacturers have left the country. Nothing was spared and nothing is safe. About the only thing left is airplanes and autos and we know autos took a hit with imports. Yes the auto industry came back but new workers now make about 1/2 what the old timers made. And forget pensions. So that raises the question. What happens when the Chinese learn to build our American planes? If you look at our GDP the bulk of it is dedicated to aircraft manufacturing. While aircraft machinists did make a handsome salary with plenty of perks, new workers see a smaller paycheck and a 401K instead of a pension. 

With an all out assault on the middle class and the fact that 70 to 80% of our economy is consumer driven just where do the corporate suits think they'll find customers? They have this delusion that somehow they're the "job creators" when in fact they didn't create one single job. Jobs are created by demand and necessity. You don't start a business unless you know there's a demand for your product or service.

Now we have the TPP Trans Pacific Trade agreement. From what I've read of it it would strip countries of their sovereignty and give it to corporations. Even though your country might have banned a product or chemical a corporation could sue and not just to be permitted to sell the banned item but for future losses. Such was the case in Canada when Ethyl Corporation sued because Canada had banned a gasoline additive MMT. The company won and got $13 million for its' trouble even though EPA and Health Canada indicted that exposure could cause nerve damage.

Does it really make economic sense to ship a pound of beef from New Zealand half way around the world? And who exactly needs to eat watermelon in the wintertime in North America? Much of the problems could be resolved if they took the speculators out of the market. Their only function is to buy and sell contracts thereby driving up the price of a commodity. They have no vested interest in product itself. And now we have hedge funds betting on the rise or fall of a product. Vegas must be jealous.

Bank fails later
No fails this week