it would be a ``shame if Bud is foreign owned.''

``I think we should be able to find an American company that is interested in purchasing Anheuser-Busch if in fact Anheuser- Busch feels that it's necessary to sell,''

So - let me get this straight - the conservative candidate supports free trade and the "progressive" candidate is xenophobic? (Hard not to feel sorry for McCain here - his wife apparently profits from this takeover.

So is Obama afraid the Brazilians will start putting worms in his cans of Bud?

---

Don't like that game?

How about guess who's the darling of white supremacists?

Say it isn't so, Lou!

Wasn't that long ago that the Mexicans and Canadians feared American takeovers that would "obviously result" from NAFTA. And now sweet Lou is afraid of a Mexican takeover of the USA. Shows you what 14 years can do. (Wish I could say this particular thought was mine......)

....since, as I understand it, Anheuser-Busch didn't solicit the takeover attempt, and has no desire to sell.

Being taken over by a company that actually knows how to make beer (Belgian, not Brazilian) wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen to Busch.

Bud, Levi's shrink-to-fit, Chevrolet... American Institutions. At least they used to be. Levi's are all made abroad or south of the border. Chevys... well, I'll have a '57 Businessman's Coupe and they can keep the new ones. I don't see anything wrong with wanting to maintain American Institutions.

I saw a link to click to reach the Dobbs' article, which was posted to a White Supremacy website; it wouldn't load.

So, not knowing what the article said (though I did see his CNN special regarding NAFTA and the Highway) or how the article came to be offered on the White Pride - World Wide site, all I can ask is, are you saying that because a website quotes a well known journalist, that journalist approves of all the content of said website? If you have additional information regarding his possible involvement with such hate-mongers I would gladly read it.

Also, I really don't like the idea of the $200 Billion Super Highway myself. Why do we need to install such a monstrosity right through the middle of America?

Homeland Security was on my tiny island (off the coast of the very upper left corner of this nation) day before yesterday, apparently looking for the Latino looking workers at the winery. Apparently H.S. has done this here before. We boast a population of 816; there are not a lot of employment opportunities, to say the least. But, I suppose if the jobs have to get done and the employer can't afford legal workers, well...

aren't weird.

But of course I was wrong - Belgian, not Brazilians. I can well understand not liking the Belgians - a surly lot.

right by you.

Can't reprint the article for you, but everyone should read the rest of this.

How stupid is it to support free trade amongst nations, but then let your infrastructure erode as an impediment to free trade?

As Pastor cites, "U.S. trade in goods and services with Canada and Mexico tripled - from $341 billion in 1993 to more than $1 trillion in 2007.

Tell me why it's in America's interest for it's companies to do worse.

That's just the surface.

...so I can't speak to their surliness. I have had their beer, though, and much of it is quite good.

I may have pointed this out elsewhere--I like beer.

I wish my home was more left. Oh, you're talking about geography. That's different. Never mind.

"...let your infrastructure erode as an impediment to free trade."

I don't believe the people up and down the Mississippi River were thinking about fair trade while their collective levees were failing these past few months. Not to mention the people of Louisiana and Minneapolis. What about the electric gtid on the east coast? I don't know that i has had the upgrades it needs, though I do recall some serious power outages.

Funny, that. The Olympics will be held in Vancouver, BC, in 2010. The Border Crossing remodel at Peace Arch/Blaine, won't be finished in time. The Canadian side will be finished, mind you; just the American side won't be. I guess our time and dollars are necessary some other place. They shouldn't have started what they couldn't finish, imo.

Part of the reason trade has increased as it has is due to U.S. companies sending their factories to Mexico. Levi Strauss sent it's last factories packing a few years ago. I worked in a Levi's owned factory, btw.

My internet connection sucks today - I'll do some research and bring links next time. I am particularly curious about railroads and whether they would function just as well as a Super Highway nobody seems to want in their own backyard.

We should all pay more for jeans. That's great for the economy.

According to Pastor:

1) Foreign investment in Mexico is growing; the American percentage of that is actually declining. (a 10% decline).

(But feel free to hang on to your xenophobic dreams.)

2) The bulk of the increase in trade of course went in to the U.S. Canadians invested at a "more rapid pace" in the U.S. than Americans did in Canada.

3) You want to know what will resolve the immigration issue? It isn't Dobb's walls. It's NAFTA. Mexico's GDP is estimated by the World Bank to be 4-5 percent higher due to NAFTA. It's exports are estimated to be 40% higher due to NAFTA (as cited by Pastor). Building the economy is what will resolve the immigration issue. Building the economy is what will resolve the wage issue. Not xenophobic walls.

4) All North Americans benefited from more choice and lower prices (and most would argue higher quality).

5) The export sectors of all 3 economies grew - wages grew too.

6) meanwhile the steal industry claims they lose between $300 million and $600 million a year due to delays at borders - representing a lack of spend on infrastructure.

You are paying higher prices for that.

Fortunately for me - I'm dead and beyond paying.

My Korean, Mexican, Italian, and Portugal relatives would argue with your "xenophobic" accusation. I worked with at least 22 different nationalities during my career in garment manufacturing, at Levi Strauss & Co and others. People are people, plain and simple. My opinion about illegal workers in the U.S. is based solely on the Law; it has nothing to do with fear or contempt.

Jeans, to use your example, could easily be made here at a competitive price if we paid crappy wages and followed the same lax manufacturing processes used in other countries. My $50 DKNY jeans, the cheapest I can find that actually fit, are made in Mexico. The Ralph Laurens are made in Hong Kong.

Happily, I can just make my own jeans. Not as cheaply as what I could buy at WalMart, but they are custom fit, and the quality is better than the best $200+ jeans on the market.

But once you took to accusing me of xenophobia I have no desire to continue a dialog with you. You'll most likely just accuse me of something else.

I will say, living right next to the border as I do, a lot of Canadians come here to shop. Our prices are cheaper. Maybe all the out of work factory workers can go sell stuff at the mall.

Last note: Deportation in the News.

has collapsed. Of course things are cheaper there.

Sending work abroad may be good for the companies. But here in the south we've been hard hit. Factories are closing left and right and sooooooo many people are without jobs. Maybe we could explain to them why we support sending our jobs overseas. They could think about it on the way to the unemployment office. Oh, wait! They can't get to the unemployment office because they can't afford the gas. But if they plan carefully, they might be able to feed their kids this week - if they can get to the grocery store. Or maybe the kids can eat peanut butter instead of mac n cheese (a 2 lb. bag of shredded cheese is $9.83 but a small pack of sliced cheese is only $4.00) because somebody needs some medicine. Anyway, peanut butter goes farther. Does this have anything to do with what ya'll are talking about? I don't know but it sure concerns me.

They moved the factories from the North because wages in the South were cheaper. Prices went up.

They moved the factories from the South to Mexico because the wages were cheaper. Prices went up.

Now they are moving the factories from Mexico to China because the wages are cheaper. Want to guess whats happening with the prices? They're going up.

UMM... I really don't think these American owned companies care about the working person, no matter what country they live in. Globalism is not designed to benefit the vast majority of the human beings on this globe. Globalism is designed to benefit a few people who sit on the boards of the global corporations.

has been really amazingly low in spite of the fact that these uncompetitve factories moving or shutting down.

Perhaps you think it would be better to subsidize these uncompetitive factories? Perhaps you think we are all better off paying more for goods? If you think prices went up because of lower labor costs, how much would they have gone up with higher labor costs?

I mean really. Use your head. Why should everything be more expensive? Why should Americans buy inferior more expensive American made cars? (Why do you think Japanese car sales have come to dominate compared to 20 years ago?)

Better product for less than it would be otherwise.

That little company selling their products within a defined region now uses the internet and other means to sell their product globally.

Communication by email means you can have clients just about anywhere in the world. What company would want to restrict themselves to sales just in a small region?

Prices went up you say? Not on electronic goods. But think how much more your goods would have gone up if the labor costs had been higher.......