As some of you may remember, 1992 Presidential candidate Ross Perot created the phrase “giant sucking sound” to refer to loss of U.S. jobs under the proposed NAFTA agreement:

Wrong as he may have been on other things, Perot was right about that — NAFTA sucked jobs and trade dollars from the U.S. (my paragraphing):

Both of Perot’s opponents (George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton) argued that NAFTA would create jobs in the U.S. because of business expansion. However, the goods balance of trade for the U.S. with Mexico has been negative and steadily growing over the years. In 2010 it amounted to $61.6 billion, which was 9.5% of the total goods trade deficit last year. So Perot has been vindicated in his opinion; expanded free trade has not been accompanied by an increase in jobs in the U.S. relative to the vast numbers of jobs created in the rest of the world as NAFTA became just a stepping stone on the pathway to global commerce.

Here’s a more recent chart (from the same source quoted above) of jobs exported each year. The steepest export rate is during the Clinton administration, and the slowdown is the global jobs slump.

The chart shows “manufacturing jobs lost each year starting with 1992 that are equivalent to the U.S. goods trade deficits over the past 19 years.” Notice that the chart never shows a below-zero number, even in the worst of the slump.

The new “sucking sound” from the east

With that as context, here’s a fun video put together by the writer and humorist Spocko, of Spocko’s Brain. Enjoy:

Every word a true one. For what to do, go here. We need to stop “Fast Track” approval. If you want to sign a petition to stop Fast Track, CREDO has one just for you. Please click and sign; and thanks!

GP

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