NAFTA Effects

Harley Shaiken (Commentary, July 7) summed up the current assessment of NAFTA quite well. He could have expanded on the impact it has had on Americans who have been permanently unemployed. While companies have exponentially increased their profits and have managed to get rid of unions in the process, the American taxpayers are now supporting this labor force via welfare, medical care and retraining people for jobs that don’t exist. He didn’t mention the magnitude of subsidies for business in the NAFTA agreement.

One is left with a foreboding that in the near future we will all wake up to find what amounts to an economic moonscape. While the “maquiladora workers earning less than $1 an hour won’t be buying many Ford Tauruses any time soon,” neither will Americans be buying Chevrolets, BMWs, homes or washing machines if the current trend toward multinational expansion continues.

MARIANNE DELLA MARNA

Alta Loma