Libertarian Look on Immigration
Last week, the NPR program "Market Place" had a segment on the Presidential elections in Mexico. This report detailed how the South was for one candidate, while the North was for the other candidate. According to the report, this is because the there are today two economies in Mexico. The more industrialized North, specifically Monterrey and the Maquiadora areas along the border have been the beneficiaries of NAFTA, while the agricultural South has been hurt by NAFTA.
Why has Mexican agriculture been damaged by free trade?
Because as the report stated, "heavily subsidized" American agriculture (such as beef and corn) has been selling products cheaper than their Mexican counterparts. What immediately struck me about this report was its relationship to the immigration issue.
Where do the Mexican immigrants come from? Most come from rural communities in the agricultural southern states of Mexico.
As a Libertarian, the irony is never lost on a government "solution" that ends up being a problem. In this case, it’s NAFTA. The other portion of this is the large subsidies that our farmers receive and the tax incentives in place in our economy. Generally, these subsidies have done little for the small family farm, but they've done a great deal to help big agribusiness, and now this assault on the family farm is even extending to the country to our south.
What's the point? I don't know if NPR’s Market Place assessment of the situation is completely accurate, but, as Libertarians, we have a special knowledge to share with those people who are concerned with the immigration issue. We need to remind our friends in the Patriot movement that a government "solution" does not always work as intended, and usually has other consequences not intended.
We need to remind our friends that we were the first to understand that "free trade" (NAFTA) is not free trade when it is a treaty with several hundred pages of loopholes and favors to special interests.
Why has Mexican agriculture been damaged by free trade?
Because as the report stated, "heavily subsidized" American agriculture (such as beef and corn) has been selling products cheaper than their Mexican counterparts. What immediately struck me about this report was its relationship to the immigration issue.
Where do the Mexican immigrants come from? Most come from rural communities in the agricultural southern states of Mexico.
As a Libertarian, the irony is never lost on a government "solution" that ends up being a problem. In this case, it’s NAFTA. The other portion of this is the large subsidies that our farmers receive and the tax incentives in place in our economy. Generally, these subsidies have done little for the small family farm, but they've done a great deal to help big agribusiness, and now this assault on the family farm is even extending to the country to our south.
What's the point? I don't know if NPR’s Market Place assessment of the situation is completely accurate, but, as Libertarians, we have a special knowledge to share with those people who are concerned with the immigration issue. We need to remind our friends in the Patriot movement that a government "solution" does not always work as intended, and usually has other consequences not intended.
We need to remind our friends that we were the first to understand that "free trade" (NAFTA) is not free trade when it is a treaty with several hundred pages of loopholes and favors to special interests.
posted by CincinnatiLibertarian at 8:51 AM
1 Comments:
"The other portion of this is the large subsidies that our farmers receive and the tax incentives in place in our economy. Generally, these subsidies have done little for the small family farm, but they've done a great deal to help big agribusiness"
Thanks for pointing this out.
I recently inheirited a small family farm (160 acres) & government subsidies are virtually non-existent.
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