In 2010, education has been so “dumbed down” in America that most Americans don’t even know what the WTO is, and even fewer understand why the WTO is important. The truth is that the World Trade Organization is essentially a global government for world trade. It is a “contract” that severely restricts the ability of member nations to direct their own economies and set their own trade policies. The United Nations is perhaps the only international organization that has more power than the WTO. It was created on January 1st, 1995 as a replacement for GATT (the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). Today, 153 nations representing more than 97% of total world trade are members of the WTO. It has been largely responsible for the explosion in world trade that we have witnessed over the past several decades. In fact, world trade is now over 15 times larger than it was 50 years ago. But is this a good thing?
No, it is not.
The following are 10 reasons why the World Trade Organization is bad for America…..
1 – The WTO is not accountable to the American people or to any other voters around the globe. It is a sprawling bureaucracy that wields an almost unbelievable amount of power that is completely unchecked by democratic processes. The American people could try to elect a large number of politicians who are in favor of pulling the United States out of the WTO, but considering the fact that both major political parties are very much pro-WTO at this point, that is simply not going to happen.
2 – The WTO acts as the legislature, the executive and the judiciary in matters of world trade. The WTO has the authority to impose punishments on member nations, and it has not been shy about exercising this authority. In essence, the WTO is the judge, the jury and the executioner and if anyone does not like this it is too bad for them.
3 – Many of the WTO regulations were authored word for word by the big global predator corporations that now dominate the world economy. It is an open secret that the WTO is dominated by international bankers, large international corporations and the most developed nations. Whenever new negotiations are conducted, it almost always seems as though it is the “sharks” that end up winning in the end.
4 – Any nation that attempts to protect itself against the negative effects of globalism and free trade is quickly reprimanded by the WTO. In essence, the WTO is the enforcement arm for the powerful interests who are determined to merge us all into a one world economy.
5 – The WTO allows countries to sue each other. This has been primarily used by the wealthy countries to push around the smaller, less developed nations.
6 – The WTO allows global corporations to sue countries. Forget about sovereign immunity in matters governed by the WTO. Under the WTO, the monolithic corporations who benefit the most from free trade can easily push around the smallest and least developed nations.
7 – The WTO is widening the gap between rich and poor. Under the globalized system of free trade we are all living under, all wealth is slowly but surely being transferred into the hands of the very wealthy while the rest of us are left standing around trying to figure out how the game was rigged.
8 – The WTO forces the United States to open its doors to unsafe products. For example, the United States had been very concerned about the safety of Chinese poultry products. But the WTO ruled in China’s favor and now the U.S. must allow China to import massive amounts of unsanitary chicken.
9 – Under the WTO, labor has become a global commodity. Now American workers have been put in direct competition with the cheapest labor in the world. Millions of American workers have lost their jobs and factories are closing across the United States at a staggering pace.
10 – The American people are deeply upset about the state of the economy, but they don’t even understand what is going on. According to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, 81% of Americans rate the U.S. economy as “poor”. Americans continue to get angrier and angrier about the economy and they want someone to “fix” it. But what they don’t understand is that under the new global system that we are being merged into, it is intended that the standard of living for the poorer nations will go up while our standard of living goes down. In the end, there is supposed to be “equality” all over the world.
But what kind of equality will that be?
If current trends hold up, the top 1% of all income earners will become fabulously wealthy, while the remainder of us will work our lives away for their giant global corporations for near slave labor wages.
A reader of my column named Joe recently left a comment that does a good job of summarizing the kind of world that we are heading into….
I still remember the 60 Minutes program that showed an old company in Massachusetts that made winter jackets and pants. The old timer who owned the company was a wonderful character. He worked hard all his life, made excellent clothes, and treated all his employee’s like his family. Dan Rather followed him throughout the mill as he interacted with each employee, the old man knew every job because he probably had to do them all at one time. This man had integrity, a hard work ethic, honesty, and every other leadership quality. His employees loved him and respected him.
Fast forward to today and we have companies like Nike and Gap who entrap their young girl employees with a scam ad in a newspaper about a job. Then they are caged into a factory with barbed wire and security guards and have to work for .35 cents per hour. The girls have to pay “rent” for a bunk bed and a little food, a debt they can never repay for their freedom. And we buy their clothes at Wal-Mart.
Where did we go off the tracks? How did we go so wrong?
The truth is that the giant global predator corporations are going to continue to use the WTO (and other globalist organizations such as the IMF and the World Bank) to rig the game in their favor and to push us all into one global market and into one global labor pool.
The WTO is not good for the U.S. economy and it never will be.
But the vast majority of our politicians are 100 percent behind this system which is designed to deindustrialize the United States, ship our jobs overseas and substantially lower our standard of living.
Will the American people wake up and realize what is going on?
No, “Dancing with the Stars” has just announced their new cast, American Idol is looking for some new judges and football season is starting, so the American people are going to have their hands full for a while.
