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Exporting the American Dream: Thoughts on “Free” Trade Agreements

Education. More sophisticated work. Higher pay. This is the development formula Mexico has been seeking for decades….Here, in a mostly poor state long known as one of the country’s main sources of illegal immigrants to the United States, a new Mexico has begun to emerge. Dozens of foreign companies are investing, filling in new industrial parks along the highways. Middle-class housing is popping up in former watermelon fields…signaling a growing confidence in Mexico’s economic future and what many see as the imported meritocracy of international business. In a country where connections and corruption are still common tools of enrichment, many … Read more “Exporting the American Dream: Thoughts on “Free” Trade Agreements”

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When Xenophobia Trumps Common Sense, Common Decency Often Goes By the Wayside

I’ve written here before about the dilemma Washington Apple Growers were faced with in 2011 because of crack downs on undocumented immigrants. It turns out that the majority of documented immigrants who answered a poll by saying that undocumented immigrants mostly take low wage jobs that no one wants are right. No amount of recruitment was able to produce enough American-born workers to replace immigrants who were scared out of the fields, and what should have been one of the best years on record for the Washington apple industry ended up being a bust. Farmers in Georgia and Alabama have … Read more “When Xenophobia Trumps Common Sense, Common Decency Often Goes By the Wayside”

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McCain’s War

A video of a town hall meeting in Arizona led by Sen. John McCain has been making the rounds lately. I’m sure you’ve seen it, but in case you haven’t, here’s a link.

You may prefer to simply avoid all the arguing, especially since it’s over a bunch of lies. If so, allow me to share. The video is of some really angry guys in an argument with the Senator because, in spite of McCain’s pandering to white nationalism in ads that promise he’ll “complete the dang fence,” undocumented immigrants, at least according to said angry gentlemen, keep coming, and … Read more “McCain’s War”