I received some great responses from readers on my last newsletter. One gentleman seemed to have taken exception to my comments on Migrant workers. His comments are below.

“Are you for the farmer or against the farmer? Are you sending your sons and daughters to the fields to help harvest the crops so that all of us Americans can eat, and pay for the foods at reasonable prices?
The farm workers are not taking jobs away from the Americans, You tell me who wants these jobs here in USA, not the teenagers, nor the College Students, nor the Housewives, nor the Lazy Sorry People that talk all the time and do nothing about it.
So how can you Sir say that they are stealing, or taking jobs away from the American.
These are jobs that NO One wants. They would rather be on food stamps, than work.
so before we start pointing fingers, lets get down to the basic truth, people that are here in the USA, (born here) are not going to work when the heat out in the field is over 100 degrees

thanks”

He was passionate about the subject and what he says has some merit. I do want to say that I am not against immigration but I am against illegal immigration and think that we need to fix the problem. We need to take the politics out of the issue and address it in terms of what is best for country, which includes having an appropriate, affordable workforce for the farming industry.

The NAFTA issue brought me this response from Jim a regular reader of my newsletter and here was his thought on the subject.

Harold, always enjoy reading your articles.

NAFTA had been good for all three countries overall. Certainly, there are some economic sectors that will see benefits and some will see damage. The issues we are dealing with now are not from NAFTA. Another reality is every and any trade 'deal' will always have people or economic sectors that do not benefit. One has to look at the whole of the economy and the overall benefits to the population.

''Let's get real about NAFTA. It simply isn't working for all Americans,'' Clinton said. I think this is irresponsible political rhetoric. Nothing can be enacted that will work for "all" Americans. This is bad leadership that puts attention in the wrong direction. Your article mentioned Mexican farmers being hurt. . This is because American farmers have been more efficient producers of some crops and compete well with Mexican producers. Some Mexican crops are growing fast in their movements north into the US and Canada. US consumers have benefited well from NAFTA.

I am more concerned about that 'giant sucking sound' . . . do you hear it? The sound of our fuel/energy dollars being sucked out of our pockets and going off to foreign lands. Better leadership would have us putting more attention energy self dependence. Agriculture can help in this area. This would be more construction and beneficial in terms of a solution.


I am pretty sure that while Jim has very strong opinions about NAFTA he is really upset about the price of gas setting record highs with no end in sight. The $4 price per gallon has already been reached. Is $5 gas within 18 months out of the question? The only thing worse than $5 gas is $5 gas that is rationed. This newsletter today is about the price of gas. What can we do about it?