Burgess Owens: “I think the gentlewoman will sympathize with me when I say any country which is earning in its stock markets $13…”

“I think the gentlewoman will sympathize with me when I say any country which is earning in its stock markets $13 trillion in 1999 versus $3 trillion in 1989, has seen a $10 trillion increase over a 10-year period, why are they worried about the economy faltering and why must that keep going on the backs of workers? We certainly have no danger; if we raise the minimum wage or if we were to pay workers better and create more jobs, that $13 trillion cannot be threatened, or if it wavers a bit and goes down to $12 trillion, what is the difference? So I had to restrain myself because when I began, our colleagues from the other side had just finished talking about Mexico and the drug trade, and NAFTA came to mind right away. We should have disapproved of NAFTA just for the reason that the Government of Mexico is overwhelmed by the drug trade and that any kinds of laws that we try to enforce there are impossible. We cannot enforce laws that require trade unions to have freedom. We cannot enforce laws on the environment. We cannot enforce laws which would maintain decent minimum wages and working conditions.”