And Then Came NAFTA… †Economics Essay

And Then Came NAFTA†¦ – Economics Essay Free Online Research Papers And Then Came NAFTA Economics Essay The goal of most businesses in the world is to make money. To make money, businesses target groups or markets of individuals to sell their goods and services to. Since the dawn of time, cultures have ventured out to trade with other cultures that have new and better goods. With the great advances in shipping, technology and communication that the 21st century has seen, it is more important then ever for business and countries to look to other nations for partnership in trading and bartering. This has many advantages to countries and individuals. First, it brings down the price of goods by allowing items not easily or cheaply produced in one part of the world to be supplied by parts of the world where they are easily produced. Bartering with other countries also increases the target market for your products 10 fold. The more people introduced to a new item the more sales it will generate. Regional trade blocs are intergovernmental associations that manage and promote trade activities for specific regions of the world.(ucatlas.ucsc.edu) One of the largest trade blocs in the world in NAFTA, or The North American Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA has three main players, the United States of America, Mexico and Canada. The United States has linked with Canada and Mexico to form a free trade zone, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and now hopes to extend that to the rest of Latin America to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas. The US is already negotiating with Chile to join NAFTA, but that has caused controversy with some other South American countries. The NAFTA agreement covers environmental and labor issues as well as trade and investment, but US unions and environmental groups argue that the safeguards are too weak.( revisionguru.co.uk) NAFTA has a trade flow of more then 2,000 billion dollars; 1,017 billion dollars in exporting and 1,277 billion dollars in imports. NAFTA was introduced on January 1, 1994; came with it was promises of new jobs, a spark in the economies of all three players and a safer and more concrete trade between its partners. NAFTA set up many rules and regulations for its partners that transcend legal, state and local, political and economic. It puts regulations on food safety as well tariff constraints and taxes. In fact, there were many stipulations set up by NAFTA that congress itself denied before the introduction of NAFTA. Mexico was enticed by the overwhelming potential financial gain attributed to doing business with America and Canada. America and Canada were interested in Mexico for cheap labor costs and further markets for goods and services. One interesting point of the three partners of NAFTA are their huge differences of economic levels. America’s gross national product is $11,750,000,000,000; Canada’s is $1,023,000,000,000; and brining up the rear is Mexico with a GNP of $1,006,000,000,000. One of the selling points to Mexico and America was the potential increase in economic statues of Mexico. As you can see, there is a huge difference between the economic statuses of the three members of NAFTA. This difference in economic stages between the members of NAFTA is one of the many advantages to the members themselves. There are many advantages to NAFTA for all parties involved. Some of these advantages are as follows: For every 1 billion dollars in exports, 40,000 jobs are created in America. Opens up the Mexican market Fosters economic integration Spurs growth, generates jobs and protects the environment Allows each country to specialize and become more efficient Access to large pool of cheap labor Some of the disadvantages are as follows. Potential losses of jobs Environmental problems Lower safety and health standards Uneven effect on the Texas Vs. other states. Adjustment costs for the three partners Dynamic effects Transferred from the center to the periphery? Constraints on development policy NAFTA will limit the adoption of certain economic policies Hidden costs: How to bring together the three economies (cas.suffolk.edu) Global implications of NAFTA are extremely large. NAFTA in effect, has broken down the trade barrier walls between two world superpowers and have sparked a slow moving economy in Mexico. There has been much talk about adding other countries to NAFTA like Chile and other South American countries, the more countries involved in NAFTA, then arguably it will increase the effectiveness of NAFTA as a whole. For our neighbors across the pond, it makes goods and services from America cheaper. With quantity, prices of our good and services will drop dramatically. It also sparks further trading because of the perceived stability of America’s economic persona. Another impact NAFTA has on the global economy stems from the fact that America has its hands in many pots. On top of trading with its regional partners, America does business with many other countries in many other trade agreements. Another important characteristic of U.S. trade is the wide variation in sectional trade bala nces by region. While gains from trade liberalization are brought about by increased volumes of imports and exports, these gains can be offset through terms-of-trade effects. (ers.usda) NAFTA is a powerful trade agreement between three counties governments to allow for businesses to trade easily across boarders. With talk about increasing the members of NAFTA, it will surely gain strength and advantages for its members. As for the global market, as NAFTA grows and America’s economic reputation increases, there will be many benefits for non NAFTA members. References cas.suffolk.edu/royo/CAS393/MEX7/sld007.htm Http://www.Wikipedia.com Http://www.Sticky-Marketing.com ers.usda.gov/publications/aer771/aer771e.pdf Http://www.Learnthat.com http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/trade/subtheme_trade_blocs.php http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/trade/subtheme_trade_blocs.php citizen.org/trade/nafta revisionguru.co.uk/economics/blocsex.htm Research Papers on And Then Came NAFTA... - Economics EssayDefinition of Export QuotasThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationPETSTEL analysis of IndiaTwilight of the UAWQuebec and CanadaNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XGenetic Engineering

The Fujita Scale for Tornado Damage

The Fujita Scale for Tornado Damage Note: The U.S. National Weather Service has updated the Fujita Scale of tornado intensity to a new Enhanced Fujita Scale. The new Enhanced Fujita Scale continues to use F0-F5 ratings (shown below) but is based on a additional calculations of wind and damage. It was implemented in the United States on February 1, 2007. Tetsuya Theodore Ted Fujita (1920-1998) is famous for developing the Fujita Tornado Intensity Scale, a scale used to measure the strength of a tornado based on the damage it produces. Fujita was born in Japan and studied the damage caused by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. He developed his scale in 1971 while working as a meteorologist with the University of Chicago. The Fujita Scale (also known as the F-Scale) typically consists of six ratings from F0 to F5, with damage rated as light to incredible. Sometimes, an F6 category, the inconceivable tornado is included in the scale. Since the Fujita Scale is based on damage and not really wind speed or pressure, it is not perfect. The primary problem is that a tornado can only be measured in the Fujita Scale after it has occurred. Secondly, the tornado can not be measured if there is no damage when the tornado occurs in an area without any features to be damaged. Nonetheless, the Fujita Scale has proven to be a reliable measurement of the strength of a tornado. Tornado damage needs to be examined by experts in order to assign a Fujita Scale rating to the tornado. Sometimes tornado damage appears worse than it actually is and sometimes, the media may overemphasize certain aspects of the damage tornadoes can cause. For example, straw can be driven into telephone poles at speeds as low as 50 mph. The Fujita Tornado Intensity Scale F0 - Gale With winds of less than 73 miles per hour (116 kph), F0 tornadoes are called gale tornadoes and cause some damage to chimneys, damage sign boards, and break branches off of trees and topple shallow-rooted trees. F1 - Moderate With winds from 73 to 112 mph (117-180 kph), F1 tornadoes are called moderate tornadoes. They peel surfaces off of roofs, push mobile homes off of their foundations or even overturn them, and push cars off of the road. F0 and F1 tornadoes are considered weak; 74% of all measured tornadoes from 1950 to 1994 are weak. F2 - Significant With winds from 113-157 mph (181-253 kph), F2 tornadoes are called significant tornadoes and cause considerable damage. They can tear the roofs off of light frame houses, demolish mobile homes, overturn railroad boxcars, uproot or snap large trees, lift cars off the ground, and turn light objects into missiles. F3 - Severe With winds from 158-206 mph (254-332 kph), F3 tornadoes are called severe tornadoes. They can tear the roofs and walls off of well-constructed houses, uproot the trees in a forest, overturn entire trains, and can throw cars. F2 and F3 tornadoes are considered strong and account for 25% of all tornadoes measured from 1950 to 1994. F4 - Devastating With winds from 207-260 mph (333-416 kph), F4 tornadoes are called devastating tornadoes. They level well-constructed houses, blow structures with weak foundations some distances, and turn large objects into missiles. F5 - Incredible With winds from 261-318 mph (417-509 kph), F5 tornadoes are called incredible tornadoes. They lift and blow strong houses, debark trees, cause car-sized objects to fly through the air, and cause incredible damage and phenomena to occur. F4 and F5 tornadoes are called violent and account for a mere 1% of all tornadoes measured from 1950 to 1994. Very few F5 tornadoes occur. F6 - Inconceivable With winds above 318 mph (509 kph), F6 tornadoes are considered inconceivable tornadoes. No F6 has ever been recorded and the wind speeds are very unlikely. It would be difficult to measure such a tornado as there would be no objects left to study. Some continue to measure tornadoes up to F12 and Mach 1 (the speed of sound) at 761.5 mph (1218.4 kph) but again, this a hypothetical modification of the Fujita Scale.