©2000-2012 Roedy Green, Canadian Mind ProductsSomebody has to do something, and it’s just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us.
~ Jerry Garcia (born: 1942-08-01 died: 1995-08-09 at age: 53), The Grateful Dead
Introduction
Free Trade sounds like a heck of an idea. Lower tariffs, level the playing field between rich and poor nations,
increase trade. Why then are so many people incoherent with rage over the idea? These protesters include the:
- environmentalists
- consumer advocates
- trade unionists
- civil rights advocates
What are they so upset about?
The Catch
In 1860, free trade meant lowering the tariffs on goods transported across national
borders. Today the term used in the context of the WTO (World Trade Organisation) and FTAA (Free Trade Agreement of the Americas) means much more. It means prohibiting anything
that would interfere with international trade. Multinational corporations want uniform global regulations for every
aspect of their business dealings. Isn’t that a Good Thing™? What is happening is a transfer of power
from the individual nation states to multinational corporations. The catch is a corporation is not democratic. A
corporation is not responsible to the citizens as a whole, just to its shareholders. A corporation has no
constitution, no ethics unless you count Ferengiism as an ethical system. A
corporation’s sole purpose is to make money. Let’s have a look at what happens when you make profitable
international trade your number one priority.
Environmental Problems
Corporate think is very short term. What counts is the next quarter’s profits. Conserving natural resources for
future generations just does not fit into a balance sheet. Clean water and air, are simply unnecessary expenses. When
Canada, for example, tried to ban a carginogenic gasoline additive, the global free trade associations ruled that
this was an unfair restraint of trade. The WTO argued what Canada was really doing was favouring is own clean
gasoline. Canada was forced to accept carginogenic gasoline. Canada would be forced to accept genetically engineered
and irradiated food. Canada would lose control which pesticides are acceptable. Canada would lose the ability to
regulate ozone-destroying emissions or greenhouse gases.
Free trade pushes all countries to the lowest common denominator in terms of environmental awareness.
Safety Problems
Let us say that Sweden decided to mandate side air bags and a 30 MPH (Miles Per Hour) crash safety test. The free trade associations
could block them from doing that. The WTO would likely argue what Sweden is actually doing is attempting to favour
locally manufactured automobiles.
Free trade wants all workers to be interchangeable. Canada would be forced to accept doctors accredited in India
or Africa without further training. The WTO would argue that further training is prejudice.
Canada’s strict gun laws would have to go, because they are an unfair restraint on sales of American
handguns.
Sovereignty Problems
The new rules allow corporations to sue countries if those countries do anything that would cause them to make
less profit. For example, if Canada refused to sell bulk water to a Hong Kong company, that company could sue Canada
for the amount of the lost profit. Free trade means roughly: everything is for sale and everything must be sold to
the highest bidder.
Socialism
Canada has a popular publicly funded universal medical insurance scheme. This would have to go. The FTAA would argue
it is an an unfair tax upon corporations, and an unfair perk to Canadian citizens.
The FTAA would encourage privatilsation of schools, universities, medical care, hospitals, libraries, museums,
prisons, transportation, broadcasting, and many other services previously provided or regulated by communities and
governments.
National Identity
Small countries are not permitted to subsidise local authors and magazine publishers. Publishers must compete toe to
toe with imports from large nations such as the USA. Yet, local authors, magazines and artists are necessary to
maintain a distinct national identity. The WTO would argue subsidising local authors is unfair to authors in other
countries.
Self Sufficiency
Japan wants to grow enough rice in Japan itself so that in the event of an emergency, such as a Chinese naval
blockade, they could still get by. Obviously rice can be grown more cheaply outside Japan. Yet free trade rules
prohibit Japan from offering any subsidies to local farmers. Free trade rules force Japan to rely on imported rice.
The End of Unions
A union cannot apply any pressure when the employer can freely hire workers or buy goods on the international market
at third world prices. Only a global union would have any clout. The corporations are multi-national but the unions
are national. This tips the balance of power drastically in favour of the corporations. We end up with children in
Pakistan making shoes for Nike at pennies an hour. Unions cannot compete with the third world countries willing to
work for slave wages. Work conditions in both first and third world countries drop to the lowest common denominator.
No one benefits but the multinational employers.
Civil Rights
Partly because Free Trade has weakened unions, it has given repressive governments even more power to suppress free
speech. Even in the USA some unprecendented gagging has occurred concerning free trade debate.
The Suzuki Objections
Dr. David Suzuki is Canada’s best known scientist. He is geneticist who for decades has host the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) science
program The Nature of Things. He pointed out that economic growth is not a Good Thing™, at
least not while it simply means faster consumption of non-renewable resources and faster rates of polluting the
environment. The growth spiral we are on may make sense economically, but it is doomed ecologically. We are as blind
as lemmings, refusing to notice the signs of imminent ecological collapse caused by this accelerating economic
growth. Runaway growth in nature is called cancer. The only indefinitely sustainable
economy is a closed system that recycles everything and that does not pollute. Multinational corporations are blind
to this. All they can see the next quarter profit.
Suzuki also points out that Canada was economically better off before free trade. We were able to grow all our own
food and manufacture all our own goods locally. Now, the main thing we export is jobs and trained workers attracted
by the higher salaries to the south.
The WTO and FTAA appear to consider profit as the only legitimate criterion for decision making. This view is
short sighted. Clearly economics are a major factor in decision making, but it is folly to make them them the
only consideration.
The Cohen Objection
Any System
Any system you contrive without us
will be brought down
We warned you before
and nothing that you build has stood
Hear it as you lean over your blueprint
Hear it as you roll up your sleeve
Hear it once again
Any system you contrive without us
will be brought down
You have your drugs
You have your guns
You have your Pyramids your Pentagons
With all your grass and bullets
you cannot hunt us any more
All that we disclose of ourselves forever
is this warning
Nothing that you built has stood
Any system you contrive without us
will be brought down
~ Leonard Cohen (born: 1934-09-21 age: 77)
reproduced without permission.
The Deadbeat Index
In a fair world trade system, you would get paid the same per hour for equally onerous work no matter where on earth
you did the work. You would get paid more for climbing in sewers, for doing a job that only a few people can do, or
for doing a job that takes long preparation, such as being a doctor.
How is the world organised now? Americans get paid perhaps over an order of magnitude times more for the same work
as people in the poorest countries. Who is ripping off whom? That disparity is only possible when America takes
unfair advantage of her economic and military might. People don’t voluntarily put up with that degree of
disparity. All the countries in the west take unfair advantage of the third world, not just America. It is just that
America is most blatant because she is the most powerful.
Who is the deadbeat? I suggest creating a deadbeat index. By definition Americans have index 1. People paid more
on average for equal work than Americans would have a deadbeat index greater than one. People paid less on average
for equal work than Americans would have a deadbeat index less than one, perhaps as low as 0.025. In a fair world,
everyone would have the same deadbeat index, namely 1.0. The index is cleverly defined so that America has already
hit perfection. It is time to bring the rest of the world into alignment.
Of course, it is a Good Thing™ if everyone can get paid more for less work, including Americans. It is only
taking more than your fair share of the pie that makes you a deadbeat. Making the pie bigger (producing more with
less labour) does not make you a deadbeat.
Belling the Cat
World trade is working right now for the benefit of large multinationals. Something needs to be done to reign them
in. National governments can’t seem to do it. Perhaps an international government could. On the other hand,
such an international government could easily become the pawn of the multinationals to consolidate their power, much
as the corporations have taken over the Bush administration of the United States.
An Airplane Flying Through A Building
These are awe inspiring images. America stabs herself repeatedly in the heart, watching them over and over.
America’s unconscious imagines nearly all of America has been destroyed. It is terrifying to see your enemies
(world traders) smitten so dramatically. Even though the WTO has no formal links with the World Trade Building, I
have been queasy with fear and guilt. I wanted the WTO destroyed or reformed, but non-violently. I would have
preferred a dramatic, humorous and original approach. To put the carnage in perspective, flaws in the global economic
system kills 24 thousand people quietly every day through hunger and disease. Some of that may stop after this wakeup
call.
In Lord of the Rings, there are a tree people called the Ents who are slow to anger, but once enraged, demolish
their enemies. It was as if the entire planet had had enough of the WTO and and wanted that annoying bee sting
plucked from its butt. The idea was resonating in the planetary mind, and the terrorists acted it out. The psychic
tension in the days prior was unbearable. I imagine that even a Joshua would have demolished the World Trade Center
under these conditions, simply by blowing his trumpet.
Books
 |
recommend book⇒The Selling of “Free Trade”: NAFTA, Washington, and the Subversion of American Democracy |
| by: | John R. MacArthur, Jr. |
978-0-520-23178-8 | paperback |
|---|
| | (born: 1956 age: 55) |
978-0-8090-8531-6 | hardcover |
|---|
| publisher: | University of California |
|---|
| published: | 2001-10-16 |
|---|
| MacArthur is editor of Harper’s Magazine. People have accepted NAFTA because few people bothered to read the agreement and discover it had nothing at all to do with free trade. It is about giving Americans the same rights as Canadians when it comes to buying up Canadian resources and companies. Part of Harper’s bookshelf. |
|
| Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock |
Learning More
Unfortunately the literature opposing FTAA mostly falls into two camps, the dull and the shrill. You usually have to
wade through mountains of rhetoric to get to the meat.
Summary
Prior to the airline crash into the World Trade Center, you could watch CNN (Cable News Network) for a 24 hours day and learn not a thing
about what the fuss about world trade was over. All you saw were shots of firehoses. Imagine if Martin Luther
King’s marches had been given this same silent treatment. The Internet changes everything. You can’t keep
people in the dark and feed them bullshit any more, unless, of course, they want to be keep in the dark and fed
bullshit.
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