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Comment by levocardia | Hacker News Reader

I had no idea we have NAFTA to thank for avocados (in the USA). Seems like neoliberals and free-trade advocates should be trumpeting that one from the rooftops. Sounds like that was a win-win; Americans are rich so they can afford to buy avocados, which tasty and healthy; sweet American dollars improve the quality of life for Mexican avocado-growers. Fittingly, with the new tarrifs, we all lose.

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> Fittingly, with the new tarrifs, we all lose.

I live in a former Avocado farm that was subdivided into homes after NAFTA made US production less viable after Mexico undercut our labor. It was a 50 year old industry and local jobs that was wiped out with free trade. It wasn't a win win.

You have a place to live and avocados now, that could be considered a win win. "Win" is such a subjective term as used here. The equation is not as simple as jobs lost equals bad, jobs gained equals good. I too have the gut reaction that a farm subdivided is a bad thing, but logically I can't really convince myself it's really as simple as that.

Every innovation causes some people to lose (locally). Curing Alzheimer's will be bad for palliative care workers. What are we to do with that information? Should we stop investing in Alzheimer's research, or should we provide some social security as a temporary stop gap?

This is true of most of the SF Bay Area on a 100 year timescale too. I grew up in a house on land that was formerly a cherry orchard. Some of the most ideal farm land in world has been converted to residential neighborhoods and is far too expensive to use as farmland, well, except for Walter Cottle Lester.

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