When twenty four year old Wanda Perdue walked into her first day at the Stanley Furniture Factory in Martinsville, VA in 1973, she had the American Dream in front of her. After being laid off in the fall of 2010, she could feel that promise crumbling around her. Mrs. Perdue is one of over 3.5 million US manufacturing jobs lost to China since 2001. The American Economy began to churn its wheels after the Industrial Revolution, and and rocketed to astronomical heights after World War II. Soldiers came home in droves, eager to to start new lives with their wartime sweethearts, and were hoping to pick up jobs in the mills and factories that needed to sustain their levels of production in peacetime. The post-war economic boom resulted in the next
…show more content…
The North American Free Trade Deal (NAFTA for short) was the brainchild of President Bill Clinton, who promised that the new deal would bring millions of quality jobs on to American shores. Twenty years after the fact, this . NAFTA has cost the United States over a million jobs, closed more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities, and has doubled the number of Americans on food stamps from twenty seven million to forty six million. Today, American corporations are using Mexican labor to do things that Americans used to do, only now these jobs are being done for wages of less than one dollar an hour. Due to the spike in exportation of government-subsidized corn to Mexico, the Mexican economy has lost over a million jobs, which has led to the number of illegal immigrants in the United States to spike from six million to twelve million. While free trade is a good thing for corporate profits, it can be dagger in the livelihoods of hardworking, middle class Americans. One solution to this problem could be to make trade deals with countries that have higher minimum wage laws than we do, such as Australia, Germany or France. These countries have more liberalized economic climates than the United States. A potential trade deal with any of those three countries would force US Corporations to stay at home, to capitalize upon a more favorable economic climate. Yet, what constitutes as a more liberalized economy? There …show more content…
To quote Senator Marco Rubio, “The final verdict on our generation will be written by Americans who have not yet been born. Let us make sure they record that in the early years of this century, faced with a rapidly changing and uncertain world, our generation rose to face the great challenges of our time. Because we did, there was still one place in the world where where you come from does not determine how far you go. Because we did, the American Miracle lived on.” This world is a dynamic, uncertain place. However, America has a hope and a promise unlike anywhere else in history. Yet, we cannot fulfill our promise and potential if Americans simply don’t work here anymore. For one to experience growth, one must first have the opportunity. If we reduce unnecessary taxation and loosen regulations on businesses, the climate will be right for American jobs to return to America, where they belong, and to reinvigorate the American people in an environment in which they can
The North American Free Trade Deal (NAFTA for short) was the brainchild of President Bill Clinton, who promised that the new deal would bring millions of quality jobs on to American shores. Twenty years after the fact, this . NAFTA has cost the United States over a million jobs, closed more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities, and has doubled the number of Americans on food stamps from twenty seven million to forty six million. Today, American corporations are using Mexican labor to do things that Americans used to do, only now these jobs are being done for wages of less than one dollar an hour. Due to the spike in exportation of government-subsidized corn to Mexico, the Mexican economy has lost over a million jobs, which has led to the number of illegal immigrants in the United States to spike from six million to twelve million. While free trade is a good thing for corporate profits, it can be dagger in the livelihoods of hardworking, middle class Americans. One solution to this problem could be to make trade deals with countries that have higher minimum wage laws than we do, such as Australia, Germany or France. These countries have more liberalized economic climates than the United States. A potential trade deal with any of those three countries would force US Corporations to stay at home, to capitalize upon a more favorable economic climate. Yet, what constitutes as a more liberalized economy? There …show more content…
To quote Senator Marco Rubio, “The final verdict on our generation will be written by Americans who have not yet been born. Let us make sure they record that in the early years of this century, faced with a rapidly changing and uncertain world, our generation rose to face the great challenges of our time. Because we did, there was still one place in the world where where you come from does not determine how far you go. Because we did, the American Miracle lived on.” This world is a dynamic, uncertain place. However, America has a hope and a promise unlike anywhere else in history. Yet, we cannot fulfill our promise and potential if Americans simply don’t work here anymore. For one to experience growth, one must first have the opportunity. If we reduce unnecessary taxation and loosen regulations on businesses, the climate will be right for American jobs to return to America, where they belong, and to reinvigorate the American people in an environment in which they can