Free Trade Area of the Americas

Are you ready for the next trade agreement? Before denouncing all those anarchists for disrupting the peaceful tranquillity of a Miami afternoon, think about all those additional benefits from an entire Western Hemisphere expansion of NAFTA. Go directly to the latest November 21, 2003, third draft of FTAA agreement for proof that America will be restricted from enacting protective measures to stem the hemorrhage of the trade deficit.

Article 5. Tariff Elimination Program

5.1. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, no Party may increase any existing customs duty, or adopt any new customs duty, on an originating good at a level higher than that specified in the Party’s commitments pursuant to the Tariff Elimination Program.

5.2. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, each Party shall eliminate its customs duties on originating goods, in accordance with the terms established in Annex XX (Tariff Elimination Program).

5.3. [The Tariff Elimination Program shall not be applied to goods that receive export subsidies] [, except those permitted in conformity with rights and obligations of the WTO.]

Are you ready for a dramatic increase in outflow of wealth from the United States to the rest of the Americas? Yep, that’s what you get under the Free Trade deception. Remember all those promises that exports to Mexico would raise the standard of living on both sides of the borders? Well, you should already know this sad record. So why do we, the American public, need another sell out trade agreement?

Obviously the masters of the supra global corporate/state want to increase their strangle hold on international commerce. Still have doubts, try this one on for size:

Inter-governmental agreements

7.6.The provisions in this Chapter will not apply to inter-governmental agreements signed or to be signed by the Parties. A clear exemption for government monopolies! More to the point: [Article 9. Market Regulatory Policies and Measures, [Legal][Designated] Monopolies, State Enterprises]

[Legal][designated]monopolies

9.2. No provision of this Agreement shall be construed to prevent a Party from maintaining or designating a monopoly.

State enterprises

9.6. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to prevent a Party from maintaining or establishing a state enterprise, according to its national or subregional legislation.

So it’s OK to have, maintain or create a monopoly if it is approved and it is appropriate for governments to engage in state enterprises for profit. Sounds like the free aspect of trade has a privileged status and the economy for the public has a socialism that only profits the STATE.

But don’t be too concerned about these conclusions. The prime objective is to maintain order and those demonstrators in Miami are out to disrupt the progress of a unified economy for the New World! So when “Eight legal observers sent to monitor Miami police during trade protests were arrested, and four were beaten by officers”, why should you care? Surely, you can’t have a Seattle rampage in every city that holds a trade meeting, so say the defenders of the corporate model that ensures the economic domination of government regulation.

The silence from the mainstream press is always directed away from addressing what economic policies will benefit the average American taxpayer. The coverage is always directed at the agitators who are opposed to capitalism. And you can always count on the spin that sells the false notion that the version of business that directs the global economy is representative of free enterprise. Contrary to such bull . . . the distorted vestiges of capitalism have already been destroyed and substituted with a telluric economy of, for, and by the plutocracy.

The alternative is certainly not a fanciful redistribution from the wealthy to the underprivileged. Only naive fools would place their faith in a government solution to create prosperity. Proponents of benevolence, expropriated from the productive are economic midgets. However, the masters of the universe that advance global regimentation, as the control of all the means of production is consolidated among their own kind; are antagonists of all mankind.

Since the civil liberties of a free society are being sold at discount, don’t expect that there will be a holiday rush to stock up on tolerance. Both the affluence of Americans and the freedoms from government intervention will be diminished with an expansion of trade agreements that favor only elites. When the anti-globalists speak out they have their own agenda for gaining political influence.

Yet, the substance in their argument often offers a compelling case. In the view of Mexican parliamentary Deputy Carlos Heredia Zubieta of the center-left opposition Party of the Democratic Revolution speaks to the NAFTA experience: “If you look at the macroeconomic figures, it's true: Inflation is under control, the deficit is manageable, there is fiscal and monetary discipline, and exports are growing," Heredia Zubieta said. "But the beneficiaries are only a small circle of corporations with ties to the international economy, to the detriment of the majority of small and medium-sized local companies and workers and citizens in general," he argued. Domestic firms have registered zero growth or worse, while only the export sector, represented by local subsidiaries of transnational corporations, has expanded. "The domestic market is not growing. On the contrary, the buying power of Mexicans has fallen steadily over the years.”

Proponents of the Free Trade Area of the Americas are unable to substantiate that this new trade agreement would alter this pattern. Without a vigorous, open and public debate on all the issues related to international trade, the imbalances that are harming our own domestic economy will never be corrected. The press is beholden to the corporate/state consortium, they will not moderate such a discussion. The multinational cartels are driven to eliminate real competition. And most elected politicians are too fearful to buck a system that helped to create and continually protect.

Miami will not be the last demonstration. The riot police will persist in applying their tactics. The IMF and World Bank will extend their micromanagement. And the rest of us will be forced to reduce our expectations for future economic independence. Not exactly the formula of abundance for a free people . . .

SARTRE - November 23, 2003