MARX ON NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)
In the early 1990s Mexico sought to establish a trade agreement with the United States and Canada. The agreement was accepted by the three nations creating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This regulation was put into effect on January 1, 1994 in order to eliminate most tariffs on trade between these three nations. The regulation’s purpose was to encourage and motivate economic activity between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The goal of the trade agreement was very positive, but the outcomes were far more negative. NAFTA perfectly exemplifies the Marxist view of the consequences of capitalism. This agreement has sanctioned the alienation and exploitation of the working
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This kind of competitive alienation is perfectly displayed in NAFTA. When companies and factories are moving it is going to cause for some people to their job, and this increases the competition within the work place among workers. This kind of competition took place within the United States when production began to move to Mexico for the workers cheap labor. “First, it caused the loss of some 700,000 jobs as production moved to Mexico. Most of these losses came in California, Texas, Michigan, and other states where manufacturing is concentrated” (Faux). The intentions of NAFTA were to stimulate the economic growth among the three Northern American nations, but companies were able to exploit the agreement by finding loop holes in order to make a better profit. By trying their best only to make as much money as they can, companies are creating an even bigger gap between the wealthy and the poor. “One of the main purposes of the agreement was to make U.S. firms feel confident that they could locate operations in Mexico without having to fear that their factories could be nationalized or that Mexico would impose restrictions on repatriating profits. This encouraged firms to take advantage of lower cost labor in Mexico, and many did” (Dean Baker). This competition is resulting in the …show more content…
Exploitation of the working class is clearly evident through NAFTA. This agreement allowed for companies to hold even more unfair control over their workers. “NAFTA strengthened the ability of U.S. employers to force workers to accept lower wages and benefits. As soon as NAFTA became law, corporate managers began telling their workers that their companies intended to move to Mexico unless the workers lowered the cost of their labor” (Faux). This type of trade agreement leads to companies only caring about the profits they make, and not about the well-being of their labor force. This was also clear in effect in Mexico, where small business were destroyed by NAFTA. “The destructive effect of NAFTA on the Mexican agricultural and small business sectors dislocated several million Mexican workers and their families, and was a major cause in the dramatic increase in undocumented workers flowing into the U.S. labor market. This put further downward pressure on U.S. wages, especially in the already lower paying market for less skilled labor” (Faux). NAFTA had been put into place in order to achieve the best possible trade system, but in return it has caused a major system of exploitation of the lower class. The wealthy capitalists are able to exploit workers for the best possible profit, something that Marx continually addresses as one of the
The leaders of big business didn’t give workers the rights they deserved. In the text, Captains of Industry or Robber Barons?, it states, “Workers were often forbidden to strike, paid very low wages, and forced to work very long hours.” This evidence is a perfect example of the dehumanization of workers. The employers treated their workers like interchangeable parts, which were easily replaced. The big business leaders started paying less attention to the working conditions, and more to the production rates, and money. They didn’t care about worker’s family or the worker’s wellbeing. Due to the horrible working conditions, the workers were more likely to be injured, and sometimes, die. The capitalists didn’t give their employees the rights and respect they deserved, because to them they were just unskilled, cheap labor. If the workers were unhappy, they would easily replace them with other unskilled workers. That’s why they were considered interchangeable parts. This evidence shows the big business leaders only cared about money, and didn’t treat their workers
The factory workers are stuck in a complicated position where they are taken advantage of and exploited. While “exploitation occurs on any level” these factory workers do not have the opportunity to exploit others because they are the ones being exploited (Timmerman 7). Tension is created between the corporations, factory owners and workers, because the factory owners force the workers into harsh labor and intense working conditions that they were told
This therefore creates an incentive to keep costs low and selling prices high which results in instability making these workers further reliant on the capitalist who buy their labor. This is a form of oppression and domination of the workers because the boss profits based on the exploitation of workers. Once these workers are being alienated, dominated, and oppressed there is a progression that happens. They are first alienated from their own labor; they are a part of just one piece of the labor that goes into making the product. This makes their jobs menial and tedious, the workers do not find joy or fulfillment in their jobs and no longer see their labor in the product. They are also alienated from one another, in this system people are placed in competition with one another and therefore they only look after themselves to make sure they get the best benefits. They are then alienated from their product labor, they work for a product that does not matter to them and that they have no passion for. The last form of alienation is that they are alienated from themselves; by being apart of this system, it does not allow us to contribute
Fair trade should give protection to governments from exploitation. For example, small farmers can be protected by giving government food sovereignty. An article from the Chicago Democratic Socialist Organization proposed, “The agreement must return to governments the ability to safeguard food sovereignty by protecting family and small-scale subsistence farmers” (Chicago Democratic Socialist). Rewriting the agreement can protect the small farms and retain jobs for farm workers. The article further addressed an issue discussed previously, “Large-scale importation of basic grains into Mexico is a major cause of the economic collapse of rural communities, which forces millions of undocumented migrants to seek work in the USA” (Chicago Democratic Socialist). Therefore, it would solve problems both in the US and Mexico. It will take efforts of the many to renegotiate NAFTA, and many other terms needs to be added. The general direction should focus on protecting the interest of the general public by restricting corporate powers. Fair trade will reduce the problems caused by
Prior to NAFTA (Inc. April 2006), “… tariffs of thirty percent or higher on export goods to Mexico were common, as were long delays caused by paperwork…. NAFTA addressed this imbalance by phasing out tariffs over 15 years. Approximately 50 percent of the tariffs were abolished immediately when the agreement took effect, and the remaining tariffs were targeted for gradual elimination.” According to Kimberly Amadeo (2015), article 102 of the NAFTA agreement outlines its purposes which is to “Grant the signatories Most Favored Nation status, eliminate barriers to trade and facilitate the cross-border movement of goods and services, promote conditions of fair competition, increase investment opportunities, provide protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, create procedures for the resolution of trade disputes, and establish a framework for further, trilateral, regional, and multilateral cooperation to expand the trade agreement’s benefits.”. This quotation, condenses the agreement by stating that the intentions of NAFTA which was an agreement created to ease trade on imports and exports, by eliminating tariff barriers, in order to encourage competition and venture opportunities. Although, free trade is supposed to bring wealth, strength, and prosperity it should also
In laissez-faire capitalism, there are no restrictions on business so the enterprising capitalists were able to obtain monopolies by combining with other companies or simply buying them out. By doing this, the owners could raise the price of their goods or services to an intolerable amount so that they could gain even more money. This often put the common working people out of a job because the owners could get children and poor European and Asian immigrants to do the same menial factory jobs for pennies a day. This angered the Unions of America because their livelihood depended on the American working class. The Unions then persuaded the government to regulate the business giants and control the amount of money the companies could take in by disallowing monopolies and child labor. The "Kings of Capitalism" disregarded the impact their actions had on the lives of the working class men and their families. Many went hungry because of the lack of jobs available and were forced to go into debt to the companies that was impossible to be repaid. The Robber Barons would do almost anything to gain more money and more power even putting hard working people out of their houses.
This is because it allowed for the emergence of the powerful Bourgeoise, "In one word, for exploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions, naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation.” As Marx explained , the Bourgeois exploited the Proletariats through the means of the long hours the laborers had to endure to receive very low wages, which maximized Bourgeois profits. Furthermore Marx claimed that "The conditions of Bourgeois society are too narrow to comprise the wealth created by them ...it has also called the into existence the men who are wield to those weapons -the modern workers.” The elites have created a very exclusive market, In order for the market to be placed effectively; the Bourgeoisie depended on the exploitation of others to remain wealthy. Marx perceived this tactic that allowed the bourgeoisie to overthrow their predecessors could be used against the bourgeoisie in the long term. Nevertheless, the way to abolish the Bourgeois was for the Proletariats to revolt against the factories in their areas and destroy the technology inside the factories, this allowed for the return of skilled
(Sinclair, p108) This passage highlights the systemic inequality inherent in industrial capitalism, where the sheer scale of corporations enables them to wield power over workers and circumvent accountability for their actions. Moreover, both this quote and Theodore Roosevelt’s New Nationalism speech highlight how easy it is for the wealthy to exploit
The NAFTA is involved in this phenomenon because since the agreement involves Mexico it in turn creates job opportunities for the Mexicans and on top of that Mexican workers are part of an underdeveloped country which in turn means they are going to get less money due to the condition of their economy. And for American businessmen that is a very desirable quality in a potential employee due to how much profit the companies and factories will make simply by giving more low paying jobs to Mexicans and decreasing the American workforce. This source relates to economic globalization, because the NAFTA is essentially an economic agreement between major countries to save money and reduce trading taxes. This agreement causes an economic rise in all of these countries by causing an increase in jobs in Mexico and increasing companies’ profits in the US and
I will be arguing how labor abuse in today's world is exploitation, and is the same type of exploitation that Marx shows in his book The Communist Manifesto. On one hand we have Marx's Manifesto definition of exploitation, which is when one of the working class is not receiving the same value of the product they are creating themselves. While on the other hand The New Yorker Chicken article describes how American owners use of immigrants for lower wages. Which leads right back to Marx's view of exploitation. The effect of hiring immigrants was that U.S workers themselves to be put out of a job. Leading the working class out of money to pay for Chicken from Case Farms.
The goal of NAFTA was to systematically eliminate most tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and investment between the countries. NAFTA has allowed U.S., Mexico, and Canada to import and export to other at a lower cost, which has increased the profit of goods and services annually. Because the increase in the trade marketplace, NAFTA reduces inflation, creates agreements on intern...
Globalization has become one of the most influential forces in the twentieth century. International integration of world views, products, trade and ideas has caused a variety of states to blur the lines of their borders and be open to an international perspective. The merger of the Europeans Union, the ASEAN group in the Pacific and NAFTA in North America is reflective of the notion of globalized trade. The North American Free Trade Agreement was the largest free trade zone in the world at its conception and set an example for the future of liberalized trade. The North American Free Trade Agreement is coming into it's twentieth anniversary on January 1st, 2014. 1 NAFTA not only sought to enhance the trade of goods and services across the borders of Canada, US and Mexico but it fostered shared interest in investment, transportation, communication, border relations, as well as environmental and labour issues. The North American Free Trade Agreement was groundbreaking because it included Mexico in the arrangement.2 Mexico was a much poorer, culturally different and protective country in comparison to the likes of Canada and the United States. Many members of the U.S Congress were against the agreement because they did not want to enter into an agreement with a country that had an authoritarian regime, human rights violations and a flawed electoral system.3 Both Canadians and Americans alike, feared that Mexico's lower wages and lax human rights laws would generate massive job losses in their respected economies. Issues of sovereignty came into play throughout discussions of the North American Free Trade Agreement in Canada. Many found issue with the fact that bureaucrats and politicians from alien countries would be making deci...
The definition of utopia is an ideally perfect place especially in its social, political, and moral aspects (dictionary.com). This paper will discuss the changes in capitalism since Marx’s critique in 1848. Marx’s fundamental critique remains correct today. Marx is still correct about his critique of capitalism because even though there have been changes made to capitalism to prevent some abuses, capitalism still produces inequality, reduces the family relationship, destroys small business, and enslaves.
In its essence, neo-liberalism advocates free trade, private enterprise, the free flow of capital across borders and, importantly, restrictions on the power of trade unions. These restrictions are important to study and discuss because the world today is no longer regulated by the orthodox laws of economics where supply equals demand (more or less). Instead, we witness radical inequalities and volatility in market conditions. Unemployment remains frighteningly high in many parts of Europe while many workers in parts of Asia and Africa suffer exploitation and work punishingly long hours in extremely poor conditions for a pittance.
Karl Marx In the mid 19 century, Europe came into one of the most dominant and followed philosophers of the time period. Karl Marx was an advocate for the idea of communism. Marx originally followed the idea of Hegelianism at Bonn University in Germany. There Marx studied and accepted the idea of Hegelianism, but quickly abandoned the ideology for communism (Karl Marx Biography 1).