NAFTA REASSESING THE AGREEMENT

Of all the legislation passed and debated over the last fifteen years one piece of legislation more than any from my recent memory stands out. The North American Free Trade Agreement. The North American Free Trade Agreement in Daytonian terms allowed factories jobs to leave America and got to Mexico for cheaper union less labor. Many of the jobs went from Mexico to the Southeastern Asian corridor to even profits even further. As a result what was already a dwindling labor field was drained for Dayton Ohio and the residents who for generations depended on them. We recieved exposure from a cinematic perspective when the producers of Last Truck was kind enough to speak to us in class.


As I have looked further into the aftermath of NAFTA I have found different perspectives on the impact of the actual legislation. Some articles look at NAFTA as a passage that forced archaic business models to reassess themselves to stay competitive on a global market. Some looked at NAFTA as  doomsday legislation driven by corporate greed trying to break ties with strong unions. As a resident of Dayton with family ties to the great run GM had I just see a lack of jobs. However it is explained and repackaged the fact remains the same...the jobs are not here. I understand that this a global economy Thomas Freidman's THE WORLD IS FLAT does a great job at explaining the global connections of the free market system. What can Dayton do to reinvent itself? Drone technology? Micro technology? Bio effeceincy systems? I do not know but unless the city can attract something soon we are heading the way of Gary Indiana, Lima Ohio, Youngstown Ohio, etc. Provided below are links to articles that give differing views on the impact of NAFTA.

http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2004/02/09/editorial1.html?page=all

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2008/0228/p01s05-uspo.html

http://www.amazon.com/The-World-Is-Flat-Twenty-first/dp/0374292884