NAFTA

I wouldn't say so. Canada's Auditor General isn't that old of a position.

The basic list you need (and might I add, you should only have one of, otherwise they fight each other and nothing gets done)

• Auditor General: looks like spending efficiency and accounting discrepancies (as I understand it, America has like 2000000 of these)
• Budget Officer: actually you already have this down fine, just need to actually use it more
• Statistics Agency: no government agency may collect stats on its own, only the one statistics agency may do so to ensure impartiality

If it only were that simple...

The structure of it is that simple, getting legislators to go for it is a different matter. I guess the real question is how willing are Americans in fixing their country? It's all in the hands of the people to vote for a third party together to push out the corrupt mass that is in power right now. America made it through the Gilded Age, it can get through this.

It would take another depression—and no war to cheat our way out of it with—to make any reform get done.

NAFTA, as it stands, seems like it's just hurting us...

No, it's been helping. Unions want protectionist policy to "protect jobs" and corporations want no labour movement to protect their profit margins. They don't realise they're helping one another exploit people otherwise they'd probably barf uncontrollably.

See the thing is, they look at the situation in too narrow a focus.

Union thinks:

• Imported goods could be cheaper
• Industries relying on producing it go under
• We lose jobs and power

Corporation thinks:

• People could just move around freely so we'd have to offer higher wages
• We'd have to compete with international goods!
• Our profit margin!111

This only applies to really big unions/corporations, because smaller ones would largely be unaffected, or could easily transition into something else (afterall, small groups don't think much energy to retrain).

Really if you combine all the effects

• Cheaper good prices (more people can sell to you, therefore prices are bid down)
• More jobs available (you got all of North America to choose from)
• Corporations have more competition (thus wages are bid up)

Even with partial implementation you can see some effects. Take a look at the American high-tech industry and you'll invariably find that most of the top guys are actually Canadian, not American, working on H-1B visas or the NAFTA visa (but more usually the H-1B as it allows immigration, whereas the NAFTA one does not).

Which assumes that people have the money to move, and that corporations will just go "well, gawrsh, I guess we have to pay people more!" and not instead go "hm, labor is cheap over here, so fuck you North America!"

edited 27th Sep '11 6:38:38 PM by USAF713