By way of Dailykos, we find out Mexico’s farmers are protesting the “free-market” arrangements of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Specifically, they’re protesting the industry supporting subsidies and protections NAFTA continues to afford U.S. ag producers. Without the same type of subsidies and protections, Mexico's farmers say they can't compete.
This is unfortunate because NAFTA was supposed to help increase Mexico’s development prospects and reduce immigration from Mexico. It has yet to do either. I wouldn’t worry about it to much, though. It only means that Mexico’s "inefficient" farmers go out of business. But here's the catch: Without any training programs or jobs in Mexico, you can bet the farm that immigration from Mexico will continue to increase as a result of this heavily subsidized "free-market" agreement.
Who could have foreseen these events? Oh, yeah, me ... fourteen years ago.
- Mark
P.S. I'll post-link an English language op-ed I wrote on this later.
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