General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Without endorsing TPP, some things to consider about it. [View all]True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)Also, I'm not convinced that we lose net jobs - or quality of jobs - because of FTAs in general (even if some deals were shit). I think most if not all of the economic damage we've sustained during the past decades has been due to rich people not paying high enough taxes.
The fact that corporations started relocating factories to Mexico under Reagan, long before NAFTA, suggests that it was the surplus of cash they got from paying low taxes that allowed them to do that, not trade regulations.
Also, one of the FDR administration's main priorities was reestablishing trade relations that Hoover had crippled in an attempt to protect remaining US jobs, and Roosevelt did so while massively raising top-level taxes. The combination appeared to work pretty well.