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Trade Liberalisation Statistics--check these out!

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hiphopnation23 (116 posts) Click to EMail hiphopnation23 Click to send private message to hiphopnation23 Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 11:35 AM (ET)
Trade Liberalisation Statistics--check these out!
LAST EDITED ON May-29-02 AT 11:36 AM (ET)

These are fucking unbelievalbe.

http://gatt.org/trastat_e.html

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  Table of Contents

  Subject     Author     Message Date     ID  
 They are fucking invisible too. Barney Gumble May-29-02 1
   There... hiphopnation23 05/29/2002 2
 I guess I'm a dummy Bandit May-29-02 3
   We have to learn to distinguish jeter 05/29/2002 4
       Excellent post - liberalization of trade is wonderful scanner 05/29/2002 5
           Blah blah blah IrateCitizen 05/29/2002 7
           WTF are you talking about?? denverbill 05/29/2002 9
               Yes I read the article scanner 05/29/2002 11
                   As a blanket statement, definitely. denverbill 05/29/2002 12
                       The statistics are untrue scanner 05/29/2002 22
               This is exactly what I mean jeter 05/29/2002 23
                   I didn't provide the site, but I was fooled by it. denverbill 05/29/2002 25
       Framing the debate IrateCitizen 05/29/2002 6
           Amen to that! Well stated, IrateCitizen Redleg 05/29/2002 8
           It Can Be Framed Very Simply, I/C ProfessorGAC 05/29/2002 13
               Professor, want to know what I think the problem is? jeter 05/29/2002 24
 The real problem is population growth treepig May-29-02 10
 This is truly scathing. denverbill May-29-02 14
   This is not the WTOs site, y'all ulysses 05/29/2002 15
       That doesn't make them any less telling... IrateCitizen 05/29/2002 16
           YES!! hiphopnation23 05/29/2002 17
           Very much agreed ulysses 05/29/2002 18
       It's a good fake. denverbill 05/29/2002 19
 Glory of free trade Armstead May-29-02 20
   The Bernie Sanders Fan Club strikes again!!! IrateCitizen 05/29/2002 21
 Wendell Berry on "Sentimental Economics" hatrack May-29-02 26

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Barney Gumble (31 posts) Click to EMail Barney%20Gumble Click to send private message to Barney%20Gumble Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 11:36 AM (ET)
1. They are fucking invisible too.
LAST EDITED ON May-29-02 AT 11:38 AM (ET)

Don't know why, the link wasn't there, then after I posted it was. Please ignore my smartass comment.

"Perhaps in time the so-called 'Dark Ages' will be thought of as including our own." -G.C. Lichtenburg

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hiphopnation23 (116 posts) Click to EMail hiphopnation23 Click to send private message to hiphopnation23 Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 11:38 AM (ET)
Reply to post #1
2. There...
So I'm drunk. It's the only way I'll make it through the next two-and-a-half years.
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Bandit Donating Member (1098 posts) Click to EMail Bandit Click to send private message to Bandit Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 12:41 PM (ET)
3. I guess I'm a dummy
I don't understand what they mean by liberalization. They pretty much say that corporations control the world. What does that have to do with liberalization? The statistics are horrifying but are they saying that it's because of liberal ideology?

"A Statesman thinks about future generations ~ A Politician thinks only about the next election" Gov. Tony Knowles Alaska

The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-1882

Vision without Action is a Daydream
Action without Vision is a Nightmare
Japanese Proverb

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jeter (76 posts) Click to EMail jeter Click to send private message to jeter Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 12:55 PM (ET)
Reply to post #3
4. We have to learn to distinguish
between free trade (trade liberalization) and corporations consolidating their wealth and power. Free Trade, in my opinion, is a good thing - for the poor and wealthy alike. Historically, it has been the poor and working class that have advocated and profitted from trade. But this is different from Corporations controlling large sums of wealth and using it as leverage to get around national laws, etc.

Let us not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

The problem I have with some on the left on this issue is their lack of discipline and intentional misleading "evidence" when it comes to trade. They take snips of information, place it under a provocative headline and call it information. Well its not information - its nonesense.

I agree changes have to be made - but Free Trade is good for civilization. It empowers people who otherwise wouldn't have power (ie the small buisness owners, farmers, etc.) But it also brings on social problems. Social problems are a normal part of economic change. So we mustn't look too deeply into this. What we should do is find a way to accomodate those changes with minimal disruptions to peoples lives.

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scanner (263 posts) Click to EMail scanner Click to send private message to scanner Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 01:02 PM (ET)
Reply to post #4
5. Excellent post - liberalization of trade is wonderful
Clinton's two most important contributions to peace and porosperity were NAFTA and WTO. He showed great courage in supporting these in the face of resistance from labor unions and others, and both treaties will have lasting positive impacts on the U.S. and the world for decades.
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IrateCitizen Donating Member (1326 posts) Click to EMail IrateCitizen Click to send private message to IrateCitizen Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 01:11 PM (ET)
Reply to post #5
7. Blah blah blah
WTO and NAFTA are two of the biggest obstacles to "free trade." Check out Bill Moyers' "Trading Democracy" or "The US Right and Trade Law: Undermining the 20th Century" by William Greider in The Nation (http://www.thenation.com/).

One-size-fits-all doesn't work, as much as you would like it to. These matters are much more complex.

"While there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."
- Eugene Victor Debs

"Democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep."
- M.K. Gandhi

"The real political debate in this country isn't right versus left, it's top versus bottom. We don't just need the tofu-eaters; we need the snuff-dippers too."
- Jim Hightower

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denverbill Donating Member (584 posts) Click to EMail denverbill Click to send private message to denverbill Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 01:21 PM (ET)
Reply to post #5
9. WTF are you talking about??
Did you even bother to read the article?? It's from the WTO. It's the worst condemnation I've ever seen of free trade policies and their impact on the disparity of wealth between rich and poor. Wake up Scanner.

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power."
Benito Mussolini

Fascism - a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.

MEMBER WANNABE OF THE GRASSY KNOLL SOCIETY

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scanner (263 posts) Click to EMail scanner Click to send private message to scanner Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 01:24 PM (ET)
Reply to post #9
11. Yes I read the article
I was responding to Jeter - who appropriately said that "Free trade isgood for civilization."

Do you disagree with that?

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denverbill Donating Member (584 posts) Click to EMail denverbill Click to send private message to denverbill Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 01:28 PM (ET)
Reply to post #11
12. As a blanket statement, definitely.
Do you claim that the following snippets are GOOD?

In almost all countries that have undertaken rapid trade liberalisation, wage inequality has increased—20-30% fall in wages in some Latin American countries. (UNCTAD 1997)

Even in the First World, the gap between upper executive and worker salaries has never bigger. The gap is enormously huger, and is defended in theoretical terms. (UNCTAD 1997)

Wages of unskilled labour declined by ~25% between 1984 and 1995. Unskilled wages in the US have fallen by 20% (in real terms) since the 1970s. (UNCTAD 1997)

Trade liberalisation is negatively correlated with income growth among the poorest 40 per cent of the population, but positively correlated with income growth among higher income groups. In other words, it helps the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. (Lundbeg and Squire World Bank 1999, Chapter 3.)


"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power."
Benito Mussolini

Fascism - a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.

MEMBER WANNABE OF THE GRASSY KNOLL SOCIETY

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scanner (263 posts) Click to EMail scanner Click to send private message to scanner Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 04:24 PM (ET)
Reply to post #12
22. The statistics are untrue
In Chile, the most rapidly trade liberalized country in the Western Hemisphere, there has been an enormous growth of the middle class (unlike just about every other Latin American country except Mexico.) There has also been enormous dislocation, as the country has become far more urbanized. The rate of poverty has been reduced tremendously, and the economy was the fastest growing in the hemisphere.

Income inequality has been reduced (far more important to measure income than wages, because of the urbanization/employment trends, as farmers move to the cities, especially Santiago.

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jeter (76 posts) Click to EMail jeter Click to send private message to jeter Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 05:32 PM (ET)
Reply to post #9
23. This is exactly what I mean
The web site you provided is NOT from the WTO. The WTO's web site is not http://www.gatt.org/ - it is http://www.wto.org./ This is a parody site, and not a very good one. The truth is more interesting than the lies denverbill. There is enough to discuss without making up stories.
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denverbill Donating Member (584 posts) Click to EMail denverbill Click to send private message to denverbill Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 06:15 PM (ET)
Reply to post #23
25. I didn't provide the site, but I was fooled by it.
So forget the site and let's talk free trade. Can you give me any examples of free trade?

Are the tariffs imposed on steel imports and timber free trade? How about massive farm subsidies? How can Americans firms compete against Canadian firms fairly when Canadian health care is provided by the government, but US firms have to pay for their workers health care? Is it free trade when Mexican manufacturers can legally dump toxins into the oceans and rivers but American firms have to pay through the nose to properly handle industrial waste? Is it free trade when European employers are forced to give their employees 1 month of vacation per year? Is it free trade a children in a sweatshop in the Far East can manufacture a t-shirt cheaper than a union laborer in the US?

As far as I'm concerned, the more I hear about free trade the more that it sounds like it's all about big corporations and the ultra-rich. It's not you and me and an impoverished Venezualan farmer sitting in these meetings. It's UNOCAL, Exxon, McDonald's, Citibank, GE, and Enron. They are there to look after their profits, not the general good of the American people or the people of the world.

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power."
Benito Mussolini

Fascism - a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.

MEMBER WANNABE OF THE GRASSY KNOLL SOCIETY

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IrateCitizen Donating Member (1326 posts) Click to EMail IrateCitizen Click to send private message to IrateCitizen Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 01:08 PM (ET)
Reply to post #4
6. Framing the debate
We have to learn to distinguish between free trade (trade liberalization) and corporations consolidating their wealth and power. Free Trade, in my opinion, is a good thing - for the poor and wealthy alike. Historically, it has been the poor and working class that have advocated and profitted from trade. But this is different from Corporations controlling large sums of wealth and using it as leverage to get around national laws, etc.

I think you'd be surprised that the overwhelming majority of those on the left who demonstrate against the likes of WTO, IMF, World Bank, etc. are on the same page as your statement. Actually, I was in the streets this past February demonstrating against the WEF and I agree with your assessment 100%.

IMHO, there are two basic concepts that are being violated by the current path being taken to "free" trade. First is the concept of self-determination. Corporate interests expect to be able to trump the community interest every time. That should not be the case. If a business wants to operate in a socially and environmentally conscious manner, it will be welcomed with open arms and be allowed to prosper. If if wants to open up a sweatshop and knowingly pollute the environment, it should be tossed out on its ass. Unfortunately, the current system rewards the latter behavior rather than the former.

Second, there has to be a level playing field. That means that you can't expect Sierra Leone and the United States to be able to compete on the same playing field right away. That would be like taking a little league team and putting them up against major leaguers. No matter what else happens, the little leaguers will not immediately develop into ballplayers who are good enough to compete against the major leaguers. They will be overrun. The same concept prevails when applied to economies. Developing countries need to be gradually integrated into the world economy, rather than given the shock therapy that caused Russia's economy to collapse (along with the health of its citizenry).

Of course, neither of these principles are upheld in the current dogma of "free" trade. That is because it is anything but free. It is a corporate-managed economic system, and serves only to enrich the lucky few at the expense of the many.

Peace,
IC

"While there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."
- Eugene Victor Debs

"Democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep."
- M.K. Gandhi

"The real political debate in this country isn't right versus left, it's top versus bottom. We don't just need the tofu-eaters; we need the snuff-dippers too."
- Jim Hightower

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Redleg (253 posts) Click to EMail Redleg Click to send private message to Redleg Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 01:16 PM (ET)
Reply to post #6
8. Amen to that! Well stated, IrateCitizen
If globalization and "free-trade" are not based on principles of fairness and the large corporations are allowed to manipulate the system the way they frequently do in this country, then the result will be penury and misery for large numbers of working people and greater wealth for the already wealthy.
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ProfessorGAC (706 posts) Click to EMail ProfessorGAC Click to send private message to ProfessorGAC Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 01:29 PM (ET)
Reply to post #6
13. It Can Be Framed Very Simply, I/C
I concur with your sentiment.

The concept is not inherently flawed or evil. The oppposite is true. But, with overconsolidation, barriers to entry, lack of competition, and inequivalence in living standards make the current system incapable of generating the potential benefit.

In a nutshell: Free trade, as currently practiced, is not free!
The Professor

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jeter (76 posts) Click to EMail jeter Click to send private message to jeter Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 05:51 PM (ET)
Reply to post #13
24. Professor, want to know what I think the problem is?
I think it is specifically two things: International rule of law (or lack thereof); and the fact that no outside organization has a "Competition Bureau" or "Anti-Trust Law" type mechanism. What essentially happens is:

- the powerful remain powerful, since essentially the principle of Economic Darwinism applies.
- wealth is increasingly consolidated.

These figures that are often thrown around regarding the Gaps in income are misleading. When compared with Inflation the growth in the middle and working classes have substantially increased over the past several years of trade liberalization. The problem is that the wealthy make the bulk sum. Therefore, we shouldn't get rid of free trade - since it DOES generate wealth - we should make it more "democratic" or spread the wealth around a little better.

My objections to this post was that it provided misleading stats. Because like I said the truth is more interesting. How can it be, for example, that two countries with a long time trade relationship like USA and Canada, can find themselves embroiled in this messy lumber tariff war? Because the country with all the power (wealth) controls the show. We decide what the rules are and they stop suiting us, we change them. Period. So what if 50,000 people lose their job. Probably more, both in Canada and the US.

Trade rules can not be arbitrary. There must be a sense of justice attached.

But I do strongly support free trade. So you see I do not want the WTO eliminated - I want it reformed. The problem I have with the protestors is that they don't seem what to do next. They got people's attention, but they have no solutions. The impression I get from them, rightly or wrongly, is that they want to abolish these international institutions. Personally, I prefer a flawed WTO to no WTO. With hopes that someone will come in and reform it for the better.

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treepig (35 posts) Click to EMail treepig Click to send private message to treepig Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 01:23 PM (ET)
10. The real problem is population growth
and not necessarily the liberalisation of trade. The world simply doesn't have enough resorces to support billions more rich people. Therefore, any further growth in population is likely to disproportionately increase the number of people living in poverty.

here's a link for why less people would be desirable

<http://www.npg.org//>

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denverbill Donating Member (584 posts) Click to EMail denverbill Click to send private message to denverbill Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 01:40 PM (ET)
14. This is truly scathing.
I can't believe it actually comes from the WTO! Everybody should read this link and wake up to what's happening in the world.

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power."
Benito Mussolini

Fascism - a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.

MEMBER WANNABE OF THE GRASSY KNOLL SOCIETY

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ulysses Donating Member (2799 posts) Click to EMail ulysses Click to send private message to ulysses Click to view user profile Click to send message via ICQ Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 01:46 PM (ET)
Reply to post #14
15. This is not the WTOs site, y'all
They're at http://www.wto.org/

gatt.org is a critical parody.

John

One ripple can make a movement.

One movement can make a voice.

And one voice can make mighty change.

- Rep. Cynthia McKinney, 4/20/02

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IrateCitizen Donating Member (1326 posts) Click to EMail IrateCitizen Click to send private message to IrateCitizen Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 02:14 PM (ET)
Reply to post #15
16. That doesn't make them any less telling...
I attended an open panel on globalization in NYC right after the World Economic Forum. Some of these same statistics were cited by none other than Harvard Economist Jeffrey Sachs. For those who are unaware, Sachs was one of the prime architects behind the "shock therapy" of the Russian economy during the 1990's that resulted in massive unemployment, widespread poverty and a decline in average life expectancy of over 10 years. For someone of Sachs's position to recognize these mounting problems of the globalization status quo should show how legitimate some of the naysayers' concerns really are.

Peace,
IC

"While there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."
- Eugene Victor Debs

"Democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep."
- M.K. Gandhi

"The real political debate in this country isn't right versus left, it's top versus bottom. We don't just need the tofu-eaters; we need the snuff-dippers too."
- Jim Hightower

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hiphopnation23 (116 posts) Click to EMail hiphopnation23 Click to send private message to hiphopnation23 Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 02:27 PM (ET)
Reply to post #16
17. YES!!
LAST EDITED ON May-29-02 AT 02:29 PM (ET)

It is true that this is not the actual site for the WTO. Here is a link to what this parody group is all about. This, too, is an amazing article about grassroots action leading to real change. Check it out!

http://www.commondreams.org/news2002/0528-01.htm

ON EDIT: This one too.

http://www.theyesmen.org/

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ulysses Donating Member (2799 posts) Click to EMail ulysses Click to send private message to ulysses Click to view user profile Click to send message via ICQ Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 02:28 PM (ET)
Reply to post #16
18. Very much agreed

John

One ripple can make a movement.

One movement can make a voice.

And one voice can make mighty change.

- Rep. Cynthia McKinney, 4/20/02

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denverbill Donating Member (584 posts) Click to EMail denverbill Click to send private message to denverbill Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 02:41 PM (ET)
Reply to post #15
19. It's a good fake.
I looked around the site and most of the links were to actual WTO sites, so I assumed. As someone else noted though, his statistics are no less valid. I can only wish that it was the WTO's actual site.

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power."
Benito Mussolini

Fascism - a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.

MEMBER WANNABE OF THE GRASSY KNOLL SOCIETY

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Armstead (1681 posts) Click to EMail Armstead Click to send private message to Armstead Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 02:59 PM (ET)
20. Glory of free trade
http://bernie.house.gov/statements/20020520163412.asp

Statement of Congressman Sanders on 5/20/2002 regarding:
National Trade Policy Devastates Vermont Jobs

For the last several years there has been growing
concern in Vermont about what appears to be a relentless loss of manufacturing jobs. In a state where half of all workers in Vermont make less than a living wage of $11.45 per hour, we can’t afford to lose more jobs that have decent pay and benefits -- especially those in rural areas of the state, where good jobs are often few and far between.

In just the last 18 months, according to the state Commerce Agency, job losses from plant closures have amounted to 368 in Windsor County, 292 in Bennington, 284 in Windham, 260 in Chittenden, 154 in Orange, 125 in Orleans, 95 in Caledonia County, and others.

Other manufacturing plants have downsized, laying off additional workers. There are many factors involved in companies’ decisions to close plants and lay off workers, but one thing is certain:

Our nation’s so-called “free trade” policies, NAFTA, MFN and PNTR with China, GATT, and the WTO, are a disaster for workers in Vermont and throughout the country. If we are serious about protecting manufacturing jobs in America we need to move toward a concept of “fair trade,” not just the “free trade” policies we have today.

Despite the constant drumbeat from multinational corporations and the media they own about how wonderful so-called “free trade” is, in fact it has been devastating for our nation. Right now, the United States has a record breaking trade deficit of $346 billion, including a $426 billion deficit in goods. Let me tell you what this deficit means.

From 1994-2000, the U.S. lost over 3 million manufacturing jobs due specifically to our trade policies, 1.3 million jobs in 2001 alone. Over the past 4 years, we have lost a total of 2 million factory jobs representing ten percent of the manufacturing workforce.

182,000 jobs have been eliminated in the textile industry since 1996, including 59,000 from North Carolina alone.

Steel has lost 46,700 jobs since 1998, including 18,000 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Since 1998, the apparel industry has lost one in three jobs, including over 40,000 in California. One in five jobs among companies producing aircraft is gone. We have lost 367,000 jobs in industrial machinery, 299,000 jobs in electronic and electrical equipment, a quarter million jobs in transportation equipment, and 116,000 jobs in motor vehicles.

Let me give you just a few real-life examples of the impact of “free-trade” on workers in the state of Vermont.

Stanley Tools -- 160 workers in Shaftsbury
Last year 160 workers at the Eagle Square plant -- the oldest continuously operating manufacturing plant in Vermont -- lost their jobs. The U.S. Department of Labor determined that increased imports of the tools they made, including levels and chalk lines were a key factor in the closing. According to a union official, “The levels went to Thailand and the chalk lines were out-sourced to China.”

Bogner -- 42 workers Newport
In 2001, Bogner, a ski apparel manufacturer, laid off 42 of its 75 workers, citing tough international competition in its industry. The Newport production manager said the company, struggled to make enough money to pay its workers: "We just can't do it anymore. We can't pay $10 an hour versus 25 cents an hour," which is what overseas clothing plants pay.

Bogner of America Inc., based in Munich, operated its Newport plant since 1973 and once employed 200.

Sheftex -- 80 workers in St. Johnsbury
Late last year the manager of the Sheftex plant said; "Imports are absolutely killing us. It's hurting me, and it's hurting to see my people go."

Kimberly Clark -- 63 workers in East Ryegate
Company officials cited increased competition from overseas in the need to reduce manufacturing capacity.

Ethan Allen -- 124 workers in Island Pond, 154 in Randolph, 69 in Orleans
Last year, Ethan Allen closed its Island Pond plant (along with plants in New York and North Carolina). This year it closed it Randolph plant, and laid off workers in its plant in Orleans. Increased imports have been cited in idling U.S. furniture manufacturing capacity. For a decade, furniture imports have grown at twice the rate of furniture sales. In recent years, imports have soared and now comprise 32% of the furniture sold in the U.S. Some manufacturers expect imports will more than double in the next 5 to 10 years.

Because of the impact of imports on loss of their jobs, Ethan Allen workers were able to receive federal Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA).

In the last number of years other companies that have laid off Vermont workers or shut down because of our trade policies are:

Johnson Controls -- 240 workers in Bennington.
Maska U.S. Inc. -- 85 workers in Bradford
Precision Rotary Instruments -- 37 workers in Bridgewater
Fair-Rite Products -- 25 workers in Springfield

Our current trade policies have not only resulted in a substantial amount of manufacturing job loss in this country, but in the lowering of wages for millions of workers. U.S. workers displaced as a result of NAFTA have seen their earnings decline by an average of 13 percent. The displaced workers’ new jobs are likely to be in the service industry, the source of 99% of net new jobs created in the United States since 1989, and a sector in which average compensation is only 77% of the manufacturing sectors. Young, entry level workers without a college education saw their average real wages plummet by 28% between 1979 and 1997 because they are forced to work in the low-wage service industry as opposed to manufacturing.

In 1993, before NAFTA was signed into law, the U.S. had a $1.92 billion technology trade surplus with Mexico. In 2000, the U.S. had a $1.05 billion technology trade deficit with Mexico. We now have an $83 billion trade deficit with China, a $29.9 billion trade deficit with Mexico and a $53.3 billion trade deficit with Canada that has more than doubled since NAFTA. And as any economist can tell you, trade deficits translate into lost jobs at home.

The bottom line is that here at home, Vermont lost 6,283 trade-related jobs from 1994-2000. And the rest of New England has been similarly hurt: New Hampshire has lost 12,936 jobs; Rhode Island has lost 29,164 jobs; Connecticut has lost 31,431 jobs; and Maine has lost 31,057 jobs.

Despite the almost religious adherence of Presidents Bush and Clinton, Republican leaders and many Democrats to the notion of “free trade,” the evidence is overwhelming that it does not work for American workers. Americans cannot and should not be asked to compete with desperate people in countries like China where pay is 20-30 cents per hour, and where workers go to jail if they try to form a trade union or fight for their rights.

The essence of trade is to try to create a win- win situation – a process in which both sides gain. This is true in baseball. It is true in football and it is true in economics. Unfortunately, our current policies are a loser for American workers, and for many poor people in the developing world. The only clear-cut winners are large multi-national corporations who have thrown millions of American workers out on the street, and have replaced them with desperate people abroad who are forced to work for starvation wages.

If there is good news in this situation it is that more and more members of Congress are realizing that their former support of so-called “free trade” was misplaced - to say the least. Earlier this year, despite intense lobbying by the large corporations and their millions of dollars in campaign contributions, “fast track” trade authority only passed the U.S. House by a single vote. And that came after intense arm twisting from the Republican Leadership. More and more members of Congress who have been supportive of our trade policies are hearing from their constituents back home who are losing their jobs and are asking; “If free trade is so good, why am I losing my job?”

It is my hope that in the coming months and years, more and more members of Congress, more and more governors, more and more local officials will begin speaking up and demand a trade policy that works for the average American, and not just the CEO of the large corporations. When we do that, we will see corporate investment substantially increase in the U.S. – and more and more good jobs created.


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IrateCitizen Donating Member (1326 posts) Click to EMail IrateCitizen Click to send private message to IrateCitizen Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 03:27 PM (ET)
Reply to post #20
21. The Bernie Sanders Fan Club strikes again!!!
Bernie is a voice of reason in the wilderness of greed and insanity...

Peace,
IC

"While there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."
- Eugene Victor Debs

"Democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep."
- M.K. Gandhi

"The real political debate in this country isn't right versus left, it's top versus bottom. We don't just need the tofu-eaters; we need the snuff-dippers too."
- Jim Hightower

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hatrack Donating Member (1361 posts) Click to EMail hatrack Click to send private message to hatrack Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
May-29-02, 06:20 PM (ET)
26. Wendell Berry on "Sentimental Economics"
From the April 2002 Harper's

The Idea of a Local Economy

EDIT

"This moral and economic absurdity exists for the sake of the allegedly 'free' market, the single principle of which is this: commodities will be produced wherever they can be produced at the lowest cost, and consumed wherever they will bring the highest price. To make too low and sell too high has always been the program of industrial capitalism. The idea of the global 'free makret' is merely capitalism's so-far-successful attempt to enlarge the geographic scope of its greed, and moreover to give to its greed the status of a 'right' within its presumptive territory. The global 'free market' is free to the corporations precisely because it dissolves the boundaries of the old national colonialisms and replaces them with a new colonialism without restraints or boundaries. It is pretty much as if all the rabbits have now been forbidden to have holes, thereby 'freeing' the hounds.

To make too cheap and sell too high, there are two requirements. One is that you must have a lot of consumers with surplus money and unlimited wants. For the time being, there are plenty of these consumers in the 'developed' countries. The problem, for the time being easily solved, is to keep them relatively affluent and dependent on purchased supplies.

The other requirement is that the market for labor and raw materials should remain depressed relative to the market for retail commodities. This means that the supply of workers should exceed demand, and that the land-using economy should be allowed or encouraged to overproduce.

EDIT

This sort of exploitation, long familiar in the colonialism of modern nations, has now become 'the global economy,' which is the property of a few supranational corporations. The economic theory used to justify the global economy in its 'free market' version is again perfectly groundless and sentimental. The idea is that what is good for the corporations will sooner or later - though not of course immediately - be good for everybody.

That sentimentality is based, in turn, upon a fantasy: the proposition that the great corporations, in 'freely' competing with one another for raw materials, labor and market share, will drive one another indefinitely, not only toward greater 'efficiences' of manufacture but also toward higher bids for raw materials and labor and lower prices to consumers. As a result, all of the world's people will be economically secure - in the future. It would be hard to object to such a proposition, if only it were true."

EDIT

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