Regarding the debate over NAFTA in the 2008 presidential campaign, reader Ron Jauregui writes:

Our three presidential candidates seem to be a bit disingenuous, to say the least. Any one who is even vaguely familiar with basic international economics knows that free trade produces net wealth for each participating country. And for most of us, it is obvious that free trade produces both economic winners and losers domestically. The issue is not whether free trade is good…the issue is for whom?

The paramount task for public policy makers is what to do with the wealth that is created by free trade. The problem we face is that, currently, our nation’s free trade net wealth has not been widely dispersed. It would seem to me that good policy would dictate using some of that net wealth to transform our economic losers into winners.

Best,

Ron Jauregui

Former NADBank Advocate for the Latino Consensus on NAFTA