[biztech-discussion] Zoellick
- From: "tkdunyak" <tkdunyak@xxxxxxx>
- To: <biztech-discussion@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 07:06:28 -0500
Good morning, all: I forced myself to watch US Trade Rep Robert Zoellick
testifying before a Congressional sub-committee this morning, as I'm trying to
"educate" myself about off-shoring, trade policies...things I thought I could
trust my government to handle but now I know better:)
We have NAFTA, (free trade with Canada & Mexico) which accounts for 35% of our
economy, according to Zoellick. We do not have free trade agreements with the
EU (because they will not sign one, because they try to protect their workers),
Japan, Korea or China - oddly enough, these are the countries with whom we do
the most trade! Zoellick acknowledges that he can't force them to sign
agreements with us (he's a deep fella).
He reeled off a list of about 45 Asian, African and South American countries
we've already signed on with.
Now, we're in the midst of negotiating trade agreements with the Caribbean
countries and the 5 Central American countries (CAFTA), but there's a hitch.
They won't guarantee to conform to the ILO's "core labor standards". Zoellick
calls these "environmental & labor" issues, which I interpret as meaning we
object when they chain their workforce in a factory and force filthy water down
their throats, however we won't object if they LOCK them in the factories &
fill the water coolers w/filthy water.
The AFL-CIO is (obviously) against these agreements and Zoellick is calling
them "protectionist", while the EU refuses to sign agreements in order to
promote balanced trade and that's ok because it isn't the US. (Duh).
http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2004/03/11/rtr1295952.html
Now all this crapola begs the question - except for agricultural exports, what
are a bunch of Third World countries going to buy from the US? Refrigerators,
computers, automobiles when they have no stable currency, no electricity grid
or even public water supplies? How does this create jobs and economic growth
for America?
Well, Zoellick explained that there are "percentages" on textile goods, for
example. We can sell them clothing with fabric made locally in their country
or made in the US. Except that our textile industry which used to be in South
Carolina & New England is now in Asia & South America. Only the corporate
headquarters remain in the US. I see a pattern developing.
In spite of the name-calling (protectionist, isolationist whatever), and
attempts to re-label McBurgers as manufacturing, I think as a union we should
try and communicate our belief in the preamble to our Constitution (promote the
general welfare, and they didn't mean Welfare).
Should we sign online petitions, start email campaigns, have a slew of union
leaders descend on the White House? It's time for a "collective action", I
think - way overdue, in fact, but what?
As always, I welcome any comments or attempts to educate me if I've misstated
or misinterpreted - I hate this feeling of being on a runaway train:)
Terry
All For The Birds
www.allforthebirds.com
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