The Truth About NAFTA Is Clouded By Misunderstanding
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was enacted January 1st, 1994 between the United States, Canada and Mexico creating the largest free trade zone in the world. It is by far the most important piece of trade legislation ever passed by Congress. It is also the most misunderstood. Traveling to Mexico City prior to NAFTA was a completely different experience than today. The Metropolitan Cathedral and Zocalo (central plaza) built over the ruins of Montezuma’s Aztec Templo Mayor and the grand boulevard of Paseo de la Reforma, its fountains and monuments beautifully colored with a multitude of flowers belied the dull, dismal veracity of one of the largest cities in the world. Despite the grandeur of another era, a sullen emptiness permeated the thin, polluted air. It was quickly apparent... Read More
One of Nation’s Leading Free Trade Experts to Host Weekly Neal Asbury Show on WZAB-AM
Each Thursday from 11:00 A.M. until Noon, global trade and its impact on all aspects of ourlives and economy will be the front-and-center topic during Neal Asbury’s radio talkshow on WZAB-AM 880 The Biz. Asbury, the Small Business Administration’s United States National Champion Exporter of the Year for 2008 is a nationally and internationally rec-ognized expert onfree trade issues. Expectsome strong opinions relating to America’scurrent trade imbalances, mixed with somesound advice to reinvigorate U.S. exports. “Politicians and main stream media are talking about the economy. You know what they’re not talking about? Solutions to America’s staggering and unsustainable trade deficit that would generate millions of American jobs,” said Asbury, who is president of Greenfield World... Read More
Stick-em’ Up Taxes Are Not the Solution To America’s Financial Woes…More Exports Are!
In the old Wild West, the way for the sheriff to keep peace in his town was to pull out his Colt six-shooter. In today’s Democratic controlled Congress the way to keep peace with constituents is to pull out their ordnance of tax increases to shake down our businesses. Both of them can inflict great pain. The U.S. may have a lost a step or two as the world’s leading economic power, but when it comes to taxing our corporations until they flee our shores and taxing the rich until there are rich no more, America is clearly at the front of the line. Consider this. Nearly half of our states when combining federal and state income taxes already lead the world in the highest corporate tax rates of any industrialized country. If Iowa, Pennsylvania and Minnesota were countries they would be... Read More
South Korea and Their American Defenders Deserve Better
We should not shed any tears over the recent collapse of the World Trade Organization (WTO) trade negotiations referred to as the Doha Development Round. The objective of the Doha Development Round is to lower tariffs and trade barriers around the world. Fat chance. It was folly and farce from the beginning. The WTO is a collection of 153 disparate countries each with veto power and an unambiguous anti-American bias. The WTO is the trade equivalent to the United Nations, only wackier. With the Doha Development Round dead, we can now focus on deals that put the U.S. worker first. Bilateral trade agreements such as the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS-FTA) are vastly more important than wasting time on the hullabaloo of the WTO whose members’ average tariff on American exports exceeds... Read More
China’s Environmental Meltdown
For two weeks while watching the Olympic Games the world glimpsed into the most polluted country on earth. The athletes competing outdoors were breathing a lethal cocktail of dust, contaminants and poisonous gases that attack the immune system causing respiratory disease, heart failure and cancer. The air in Beijing is so thick with toxic particles and soot emitted from the outdated coal-fired power plants nearby you can taste a searing sensation in the back of your throat. Don’t be fooled by the temporary improvement in the air quality during the Olympics when virtually all factories were shut down and cars were prohibited near the Olympic venues. The air will return to its pre-Olympic state almost immediately. It’s now official; China is the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide... Read More
The Power of American Culture
Now consider the Finnish rock band called The Leningrad Cowboys. A little while ago, they held a concert in Russia, in which – to the screaming applause of Russkie teen-agers – they got the Red Army Choir to join them on stage for a performance of “Sweet Home Alabama.” In English. You couldn’t make this up. We’re talking seriously off the wall here. Better have that Stoli ready when you watch it: Thank You To The Point News! Read More
Join The Networlding Trade Forum Group on Linkedin
You are invited to join The Networlding Trade Forum Group on Linkedin. This forum seeks to unite all individuals in support of socially responsible international trade between businesses around the world focusing on issues such as the environment, fair labor laws, trade sanctions and ethics. Creating a community forum through Linkedin groups offers extra features to help members stay in touch with one another and discover powerful new business contacts within the group and beyond. Participating in The Networlding Trade Forum will allow your organization to extend its brand’s reach with other group members while creating a platform for communication with like-minded people–or people bringing innovative ideas to the table. Join The Networlding Trade Forum and enhance your networking... Read More
Preview – My Forthcoming Book: The World Is Tilted
The World is Tilted is an adventure story, the journey of a somewhat naïve and passionate young man straight out of college who finds himself on an international canvas confronting seemingly unbelievable extremes of poverty and wealth while hobnobbing with the likes of Nigerian tribal chiefs, corrupt government officials, and Saudi Arabian oil sheiks. Filled with my observations, as well as specific ideas, on how to solve the American trade deficit, the book will encompass my nearly 30 years of experiences traveling the globe and working with the governments and businesses of such far-flung countries as Singapore, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, Venezuela, China and beyond as exporter for US companies into these markets. The World is Tilted exposes the fallacies of current US foreign... Read More
BBC Interview Coming Soon
Be on the look out in August for my upcoming interview on BBC television. They are coming here to Florida to interview me, where I will talk about the coming U.S. presidential election, sharing how it will impact trade overseas. Free trade, and the impact it has on U.S. workers, has become a hot-button issue on the presidential campaign trail. America has nothing to fear in the global market. Watch for the interview – I will be posting a link here, as soon as it is available! Neal Asbury – Greenfield World Trade Read More
Lou Dobbs Is An Idiot Demagogue – So Why Is He Winning?
If ever you wanted to see the faces of free traders in Washington pulsate like a lava lamp, alternating between purple and red, casually drop the name Lou Dobbs over drinks and hors d’oeuvres. It is remarkable that these very educated, smartly dressed and well connected folks who have the facts, moral clarity and plain common sense on their side are being crushed so completely in the free-trade debate. Sadly, they have yet to figure out one simple truth: you must connect your vision with the American people. It is not the message but the messenger that needs to be re-tooled. Enter Lou Dobbs. He has effectively linked the “evils” of trade to everything wrong with America. For answers on our economic insecurity, family disintegration and crumbling infrastructure, Dobbs simply... Read More