As we head into the summer months, many of us are wondering how high gas prices will go. Now there seems to be no end in sight. How did we get to this point? There are two simple answers: NAFTA and Iraq.

In the early 1990's NAFTA was being touted by both Republicans and Democrats as a great free trade agreement that would help American workers. A few lonely voices attempted to warn Americans of the terrible consequences of the NAFTA bill, but few listened. In fact, many who warned against NAFTA, trade Unions and political maverick Ross Perot, were marginalized by most mainstream media outlets. Even Perot, as he predicted a "giant sucking' sound of jobs going to Mexico could not have imagined the damage NAFTA would do to this nation.

NAFTA did not help the American worker. NAFTA initially sent U.S. jobs south to Mexico, but when Clinton bestowed; "most favored nation status" upon China, corporate America saw a new labor market awash with cheap labor and little regulation. The fact that the Chinese government was not concerned with workers rights or the environment was another advantage to American business as this drove down cost and increased corporate profits.

This cheap labor yielded cheap consumer goods. Prices dropped as incomes increased and energy costs were stable. The American consumer now had a level of disposable income not seen in many decades. Banks were quick to offer credit to consumers. Houses became ATM machines, spitting out cash with interest, from the equity put in years before. Cars, trucks, electronics, clothes, whatever you want. Buy it today and pay for it tomorrow! The good times are here to stay thanks to NAFTA! All the while, the trade deficit grew larger and larger, but who really wanted to stop the spending spree to take notice? Our dollars were leaving our country, but in return, we got great deals at Wal-Mart.

Over the next decade after being given, "most favored nation status", the Chinese economy has exploded like a nuclear bomb. The Chinese have experienced 10% or greater growth in their economy for the last 4 years! Moreover, this was not the first time the Chinese economy grew by double digits. In 2007, the estimate of US growth based on GDP was 5.2%. 2008 is off to a dismal start and we are clearly in a recession.

Now, with all this growth in China came wealth and with that wealth, consumption. This consumption created an unquenchable thirst for energy. Coal, natural gas, OIL; China cannot fuel their labor machine fast enough. This demand increases global oil prices. The simple equation of supply and demand is in effect. This is why OPEC has stated there has been no production/output decrease and oil companies are recording record profits. The Chinese demand is pushing prices up. Why has this surge happened so fast?

The answer: Iraq. Now, if Bush's original "estimates' were true, we would have been out of Iraq by now, for a cost of a few billion dollars, and Iraq would help fund the cost of the war with their oil revenues. Alas, this was far from the case. The war has dragged on to its fifth year. How are we paying for this war? The answer is by borrowing from the Chinese. We are spending roughly 12 billion dollars per month of money we do not have in Iraq.

This fact, coupled with the wasting of our "peace dividends' of the 1990's, on cheap foreign made goods and debt, and our insatiable need to borrow money to fund our government began to dilute the value of the dollar. As the economy began to buckle under the weight of the debt it has incurred, the Federal Reserve would be quick to step in and cut interest rates. Consumer confidence would shortly rebound at the cost of Chinese investors shying away from buying more Treasury Notes (i.e., debt).

As the Iraq war drags on, global fears of supply side disruption remain a concern. This in turn drives the speculation market to further drive the price of oil up. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The U.S. fights a war in Iraq and rattles their sabers at Iran. This stokes the fires of fear of supply disruption, prompting speculators that oil may become scarcer, thus pushing the cost oil futures higher. The result is we pay more at the pump, while investors, oil companies and Middle Eastern nations become rich.

So the question becomes, how do we stop this? How CAN we stop this? There are only hard, difficult answers that involve personal sacrifice. We must change our habits of consumption. To drive the prices of oil down, the process must be two fold. We must starve the Chinese economy of US dollars, while strengthening the value of the US Dollar on the world currency market.

We will only starve the Chinese economy and thus curb their ever-expanding consumption of oil, buy NOT BUYING CHINESE MADE GOODS, PERIOD. This means sacrifice, diligence and making informed decisions as a consumer. Wal-Mart and other large box stores that do wholesale trading with the Chinese must learn that the U.S. consumer will no longer tolerate their "low prices at high cost' business model any longer. Wal-Mart is the biggest importer of Chinese made goods. They supply substandard health insurance and encourage employees to enroll on Medicaid, passing the cost on to the taxpayer.

To stabilize the dollar, we must stop borrowing from the Chinese. This means ending the war in Iraq. We are in debt to a Communist country that does not allow workers' rights, destroys the environment, and violates human rights on a daily basis to fight a war for freedom in the Middle East? This is insanity! Bring the troops home and let Iraq stabilize itself with all the oil they are sitting on, but are not pumping. They are too busy fighting with U.S. forces to produce oil on any meaningful level. This is only the start in regards to what needs done to stop the free fall of the dollar, but it would stop the hemorrhaging and at least begin to stabilize it.

Wake up Americans. We are too late to stop the damage; all we can do now is minimize the injury. If we continue on, we are destine for our economic ruin. We must realize that a national economy based on consumption cannot be maintained forever. We must take back our country from the corporations content to rob the middle class of the American dream and the complicit government that stands by and does nothing to stop them.