Here Be Dragons

2008-02-18

Something I didn't know and assumed wrongly is that NAFTA hurt American jobs and then I read this:

In a speech aimed at labor, Obama said Hillary Clinton "supporting NAFTA didn't give jobs to the American people."

Let's look at the numbers. NAFTA took effect in 1994. The unemployment rate in the three years before was 6.8%, 7.5% and 6.9%. While it had been as low as 5.3% in 1989, in general, it was normal for unemployment to be above 6% and often above 7% in the fourteen years before NAFTA.

Here are the year by year rates through the rest of the Clinton administration: 6.1%, 5.6%, 5.4%, 4.9%, 4.5%, 4.2%, 4.0%. Next we have the "worst since Hoover" Bush recession, and the unemployment rate rises to 4.7%, 5.8% and 6.0%, then back down to 5.5%, 5.1%, 4.6% and 4.6%.

In other words, after NAFTA, unemployment drops precipitously and stays down. It's impossible to know how much effect NAFTA had, though it sure does seem likely it led to a net gain in jobs. At the very least, it's hard to claim it led to a net loss.

Who woulda thunk this? It seems intuitive that jobs would move out or at least to Mexico. I know our manufacturing processes at my old job went there for a fact, but I guess the figures don't support an overall loss of jobs. I stand corrected.

Anyways if you ever do over your kitchen move out of your house. My kitchen is in absolute disarray and I hate it. I keep telling myself it's temporary but geesh it's taking a long time. Fred placed and replaced some of the electrics yesterday since the walls and ceiling are ripped down and everything is open but that proved to be more convoluted than I thought too. He's drilling holes in everything!

One good thing is that I did my food shopping online. Up North we have Stop & Shop grocery stores and they have a service at peapod dot com that you can shop online and they deliver to your door at a time you pick for about 5 bucks. I did three loads of wash and the food shopping yesterday and never left my PJ's. It was awesome!

Not only that but you know how you always forget something when you go food shopping? Well you can add to your order up to midnight of the day before it gets delivered. Forgot toothpaste? No problem, just go online and add it. I think I added almost as much as I originally ordered as I sat there and thought. Plus I could go into my kitchen and check if I was really out of peanut butter. My daughter swears by this service and now I can see why.

Another good thing is that I picked my kitchen colors and bought them so I can paint right after the walls and ceiling are installed this Thursday. Yaay! I coordinated it with the colors in my silestone quartz countertop because my cabinets are a plain almond with a darker brown glaze.

Click On THIS to see the color. I have one accent wall the dark blue color and the rest a linen color. It's probably the tamest I've ever chosen for colors. I usually over do it. I'm hoping a darker brown on the trim will make it pop.

If I had it to do over again I think I would have gone in with a color scheme instead of making it up afterwards because I liked that blue and don't regret it but the background is more of a gray than a beige and so I'm trying to fool the eye into seeing browns by matching the light gray with a light beige .. a very subtle switcheroo that works because of the pattern.

But when did little miss impulse (that's me) actually ever PLAN anything?

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