NAFTA Threatens Jobs: Ours and Theirs

The front-page article ``NAFTA Dispute Divides Ranks of Middle Class,'' Sept. 20, indirectly points out a major problem with NAFTA and the debate about it: No one is considering its effects on the poor.

NAFTA as economic policy will be bad social policy; it will cause an erosion of the job base for the working class. This will serve to further isolate the poor and could have indirect effects on everyone. Increased levels of poverty and social isolation correlate to increase in many social problems - which hurt us all. Economic policy should be designed to improve job opportunities for the lower end of our class continuum. The side effects will be good for all of us. Bud Reiter-Lavery, Durham, N.C.

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