3/13/2013 Listening Lounge

FREE TRADE

Trade from the Woodrow Wilson Center
Drawing on his 34 years in office, Lee H. Hamilton, former Congressman from Indianaand president and director of the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, offers a unique perspective on Congress, foreign affairs, and the legislative process.

How Did We Get Here? from Fronteras Desk 
What exactly were the economic and political conditions that led to the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement in the fall of 1991, and what were the expectations?

NAFTA Boy by Claes Andreasson
The pact went into force at the start of 1994 and NAFTA Boy has been complaining about it ever since. "NAFTA has meant middle-class Mexicans buying Chinese-made products in U.S. malls and idle Americans going to Tijuana to buy counterfeit medicine and plastic surgery at cheap prices. Sounds like free trade to me!"

Burning Man and the Gift Economy from Making Contact
There is no commerce allowed at Burning Man. Its one of the mostunusual economic structures in the world -- they call it a 'gift economy.'  Larry Harvey, one of the festival's founders, tells us how it works.