Comment on FR Doc # 2012-05528

I would like to comment on this proposed regulation to lower the Free Trade Agreement threshold from $202,000 to $100,000 with South Korea. Buy lowering the threshold to $100,000 this will further damage the small American business owners chances to compete with biding for contracts. South Korea's minimum wage is $10.00 per hour. The U.S. minimum wage is $15.00 per hour. This puts American business owners at a disadvantage from the start. The cost of production due to higher minimum wages will be higher in the U.S. causing more business opportunities to be lost here in the U.S. Rising gasoline prices here in the U.S. will also cause inflation of production costs. We must do all that we can to keep American small business owners competitive in the global economy. We must not build up other countries’ economies by weakening our own here at home. I am against approval of this regulation based on the fact that we are increasing our national deficit by lowering the FTA threshold for S. Korea to $100,000. We can no longer afford to give business opportunities away to foreign entities. I do believe that the U.S. has the responsibility to do business with countries within the Free Trade Agreement but we must take into account the harm that we will do domestically by lowering thresholds to acquire goods from foreign nations. The only benefit the would be reaped by passing this regulation would be collected by South Korea and our big business owners at the detriment of small American business owners.