Reply #5: I don't know where to begin ranting....

[mike_c]

The more I learn about the so-called free trade agreements the more betrayed I feel, particularly since Clinton was such a strong proponent of negotiating those treaties. Advocates of "free" trade agreements paint my attitude as protectionist, but it is not. I fully support the notion of free trade as long as it's fair trade, but the present agreements are little more than a means for U.S. corporations to circumvent labor and environmental protections by exporting production overseas and a strong economic incentive for them to do so. Who benefits? Behind the smoke-screen of price benefits for U.S. consumers, the only real beneficiaries are the corporations themselves, who are able to leverage the desperation of people in poorer countries for profit while wiggling out from under a century of progressive labor and environmental reform in the U.S.