Nafta Essay -- North American Free Trade Agreement

The North American Free Trade Agreement or as its most commonly known NAFTA â€Å"is a comprehensive rules-based agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico†, that came into effect on January 1,1994. All three countries signed it in December of 1992; later on November of 1993 it was ratified by the United States congress. NAFTA was not only used in cutting down on tariffs between both countries but it also help deal with issues such as Transportation, Border Issues, and Environmental Issues between these two countries. NAFTA changed some tariffs immediately and within fifteen years other tariffs will fall to zero. NAFTA was not created to just lower tariffs it was also created to open protected sectors in agriculture, energy, automotive trade, and most importantly textiles. It also opened up the U.S. Mexico border to previously restricted areas of trade. â€Å"It set rules on government procurement and intellectual property†. Now after it’s fourth year of existence it is apparent that it is good for Mexico and the United States. Because of NAFTA Mexico has been able to make significant changes in their economy, far more than the U.S. â€Å"The Mexican overall trade balance went from a $18.5 billion deficit it 1994 to a $7 billion surplus in 1995†. Even though American exports slipped $4 billion in 1995, the recovery of the Mexican economy in 1996, when the GDP grew 5.1%, American exports came round and grew to 20%, later to 35% thanks to NAFTA. Also because of NAFTA two way trade between the United States and Mexico has grown to 60% from 1993. Although Mexico’s economy is making its first boom in sixteen years, it is still â€Å"economically small compared to the U.S†. Mexico’s economy has been compared to that of the size of Florida. Because of this all the hype about the loss of jobs to the U.S., especially California, have been taken over the top. According to the most recent information it was proved that NAFTA has had almost no effect on U.S. employment levels. At first when NAFTA came into effect U.S. employment levels did decrease, but within three years all employment went back up to normal. Some say that this in fact is not due to NAFTA, but to the continuing expansion of the U.S. economy. Another aspect that has made Mexico’s economy boost is the Maquiladoras program. It began in 1995 as a side program of NAFTA, †and set up a special cust... ...ans of transporting goods across the border. Normally trucks are forced to wait in long lines for several hours; this is due to the lack of adequate infrastructure. This also causes polluting exhaust to escape into the air causing an even greater problem in the border air; this causes 20% of all air pollution. The 2,000-mile border separates two regions with totally different economical levels as well as environmental concerns. â€Å"The North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) was approved as a side agreement to NAFTA to insure that all parties enforce national and international environmental laws. It was also created to address any environmental problems due to NAFTA implementation. Because of this two environmental agencies have been set up to tackle these issues, they are the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) and the North American Development Bank (NADBank). They have set up mechanisms that allow community participation as well as allocat ed and approved funds for infrastructure projects. This in turn has created an upswing in the battle against environmental pollution along the U.S.-Mexico Border, may they be directly related to NAFTA or not.

An Adventure in Space Summary 2

The mission was carried out successfully and I was on my way back to earth with my friends. Suddenly, an unidentified flying object appeared and it somehow forced our spacecraft to land on another planet. On the planet, a very strange looking creature met us. This creature took my crew and me to see its master. I saw another alien sitting on a very high throne. That must be their master. It wore a crown and looked like all the strange looking creatures in the room but its head was very much bigger. All the aliens had four eyes, two heads and six legs. They had a white body and no hair. The strange unknown planet looked like a prison, no worst †¦ a dungeon. There was a very high wall all around the planet. It had many buildings and everywhere you went, you could hear the wailing sounds coming from small cells. We were scared but they gave us some food, which smelt like rotten fish. The smell was so strong that we had to hold our breath in order not to faint. No one dared to touch the food. The next day, we were given a long list of things to do but they were in a language that we could not understand at all. They whipped us and put us in a small cell. After that, they conducted experiments on us. A few of us died but the rest of us who survived were put back into the cell. One day, the aliens who brought us to our cell forgot to lock the door so we escaped through the door. Soon we boarded our own spaceship and flew back to earth. We had a horrifying experience but no one believed us! After this, I never dared to go into space ever again.

Market Society - 1668 Words

Xiaoxi Chen Chen 1 Professor Cameron Johnston AP/SOSC1140 12 February 2015 The Great Transformation to Market Society We are living in market society, which is so different from previous societies. In market society, the whole of society is a system of self-regulating market (Polanyi 43). In order to make the market society function, people need to think and act in certain ways(Polanyi 68). For example, people in market society think that economic relations are much more important than interpersonal relations (Polanyi 44). Polanyi calls the emergence of market society â€Å"the great transformation†. My thesis statement is that the shift to market society is a†¦show more content†¦In contrast, the economy within societies based on tradition lies on procedures designed in the past and maintained by shared customs and beliefs which are extremely powerful (Helibroner 8). For a society based on commands, there is always an imposed authority or an economic command. The economic problems are solved according to the commanderâ€⠄¢s decisions (Helibroner 10). This is the very first time in human beings’ history that economy is run by markets, making the transformation to market society appear to be unprecedented (Polanyi 43). What also characterizes market society is the emergence of the concept of â€Å"fictitious commodities†. Fictitious commodities refer to labor, land, and money (Polanyi 72). â€Å"fictitious† implies that they are actually not commodities (Polanyi 72). They are turned into commodities for the effective operation of market society (Polanyi 72). In market society, everything is provided as a commodity. As the major elements of industry, labor, land , and money need to be provided for maintaining productivity and they can only be provided when they are on the market for sale (Polanyi 72). Differently, â€Å"Under the feudalism and the gild system land and labor formed part of the social organization itself † (Polanyi 69). Land were crucial for feudal order, sta tus and function of which â€Å"were determined by legal and customary Chen 3 rules† (Polanyi 69).Show MoreRelated Markets and Society Essay2077 Words   |  9 PagesMarkets and Society In his famous book, The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith descried the free market system as a self-regulating mechanism, which maximizes society’s wealth and well-being. Indeed, since the time of Adam Smith, the free market has been an incredibly successful system for improving society. This can be attributed to an increase in overall wealth, innovation, and efficient resource allocation. Unfortunately, the market system also suffered numerous drawbacks, the most important beingRead MoreThe Shift from Traditional Societies to a Market Society1012 Words   |  5 Pagesconditions are integral components of a market society, which interacted and changed the ways we view market society today. 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