Ross Perot on Labor & Farming
Train our workforce better to beat foreign competition
[One solution to the trade deficit is to] train our workforce better. How many US-based corporations have moved plants to other countries because of our inadequately trained workforce? No one knows, but the numbers are large. That does
not mean Americans have less inherent ability than people in Japan or Germany or Singapore. But privately, and sometimes publicly, industrial leaders are candid about the inadequacy of the educational background of too many Americans.
A better-prepared workforce means higher productivity. Higher productivity results in a lower unit cost to manufacture an item. Lower costs increase the likelihood of successfully competing with products manufactured overseas. This leads to higher sales,
which results in higher profits. Everyone wins-labor, management, stockholders, the government, and the dollar.
Source: The Dollar Crisis, p.102
Jul 2, 1996
Mexican unions are beholden to one-party government
In theory, Mexican unions could stop the exploitation of the workers they represent. Certainly, the Mexican Constitution gives workers the right to organize their own unions and the right to strike. The catch is this: unions must be certified by the
Mexican government. The government only recognizes unions affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which has governed Mexico under one-party rule for more than 60 years. Unions that are not registered with the government cannot exist.
Source: Save Your Job, Save Our Country, by Ross Perot, p. 45
Jan 1, 1993
US farmers & ranchers will lose out to Mexico & Canada
Under NAFTA, only Mexicans can own land that is used for agricultural production in Mexico. Also, NAFTA allows Canadian wheat producers to keep the price and marketing advantages over US producers that were negotiated in the 1988 Canadian Free Trade
Agreement. In wheat markets, just a small price advantage makes a big difference in sales. The US citrus industry will also suffer under NAFTA. The US must immediately cut its tariffs on the import of frozen concentrated citrus from Mexico in half. In
contrast, Mexico only has to phase out its 20% duty on imports of US citrus over an extended period of time. Florida’s citrus industry will be devastated.
NAFTA also exempts Mexico from the US Meat Import Act, while giving Mexico unrestricted access
to US and Canadian feed grains. The result will be a massive shift of the US beef industry to Mexico as investors rush to take advantage of cheap wages, low safety standards, and lax sanitation practices. As a result, more American jobs will be lost.
Source: Save Your Job, Save Our Country, by Ross Perot, p. 10-11
Jan 1, 1993
NAFTA’s beneficiaries: US companies that move to Mexico
Does anyone from the US benefit from NAFTA? Yes, the owners of labor intensive companies that move their factories to Mexico. They can save a minimum of $10,000 for every job they move from the US to Mexico. In the process, they can avoid the US
environmental, health, and safety regulations. Indeed, the job shift is already happening. Today, more than 1,300 US companies are operating more than 2,200 factories in Mexico. They employ more than 500,000 Mexican workers. Most of these jobs were
once held by American workers.
Today, thousands more US companies are being urged to move their factories to Mexico by the Mexican government, by banks that want a foothold in Mexico, and by junk bond dealers. If NAFTA passes, it will remove any final
doubts for those companies.
A person can only wonder why and how a trade agreement so harmful to US interests was negotiated, and whose interest was foremost in the minds of the US negotiating team.
Source: Save Your Job, Save Our Country, by Ross Perot, p. 12
Jan 1, 1993
US is becoming a nation of hamburger flippers
The US is swapping good manufacturing jobs for lower paying service jobs. For instance, the University of South Carolina reports that between 1978 and 1990 South Carolina lost more than 58,000 manufacturing jobs. At the same time, the biggest job gains
in South Carolina were in restaurants, bars, and grocery stores-more than 72,000 service jobs were created in such establishments. It’s a bad tradeoff. The lost manufacturing jobs paid an average of $279 per week. The replacement service jobs pay only
$127 a week-less than half as much. The result: the living standards of working men and women are declining, and America is becoming a nation of hamburger-flippers. How can Congress consider NAFTA, which will destroy urban jobs, at the same time that
it is considering the Clinton Administration’s urban empowerment program, which will try to create urban jobs by spending $800 million a year of taxpayers’ money over the next 5 years to provide incentives for businesses to locate in urban areas?
Source: Save Your Job, Save Our Country, by Ross Perot, p. 35
Jan 1, 1993
Jobs lost to NAFTA are not replaced at same pay
In study after study, the US Department of Labor has found that displaced workers have an increasingly difficult time finding new jobs. The Labor Department reports that:- The lower the skill of the displaced workers, the less likely they are to be
re-employed ever.
- Blacks and Hispanics are less likely to find new jobs than whites.
- Women are less likely than men to find new jobs and more likely to drop out of the work force.
Of every 100 American workers who lost their jobs in the
1980s, at least 61 had not reached the same standard of living they had before losing their job. The hard fact of life is that a majority of the American workers who will be thrown out of work if NAFTA is passed
will have to take less pay and fewer benefits to get another job-and that’s if they can find someone willing to hire them.
Source: Save Your Job, Save Our Country, by Ross Perot, p. 37
Jan 1, 1993