Is free trade free? Who picks up the
tab?
Corporations are creating global pollution and leaving the mess for everyone else to clean up.
They are also exporting JOBS, which is causing the rest of us to have to pay the taxes for them.
And exporting intellectual property which will make it impossible for us to compete with China.
Please view the following information from other sources on the internet.
Modern Corporations are given not just the right to exploit resources but
also the right to choose how they are exploited, marketed and packaged leaving
the public with only the right to choose the method of cleaning up the mess
left behind.
As neighbors of these Corporate Persons (in that we share the same environment and society) and as citizens, why do we have so little say how Corporations use their rights and powers? Why is it that these Corporate persons have no responsibility for their actions?
http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/pages/dan_corp.html
Unwanted
immigrants.
Zebra mussels are about the size of a human finger nail; their young are microscopic larvae. Yet these little creatures are expected to cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage across the United States and already pose a serious threat to water supplies, industrial processing, transportation and recreation. It is suspected that zebra mussel (Dreissena spp.) larvae were first carried to the U.S. in the mid-1980's in ballast water of ships coming from Europe. Since then, the mussels' rapid growth rate, high tolerance of environmental changes, and near absence of natural enemies in U.S. waters have enabled their explosive infestation in our nation's waterways: all the Great Lakes, the Hudson, Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas rivers, as well as other streams, lakes and rivers, which altogether cross 19 states and the Province of Ontario.
http://www.nsf.gov/search97cgi/vtopic
“Trade and investment liberalization can open new areas of employment to women, for example, when a foreign-owned factory opens in a new location. At times, these jobs offer better wages for women. Increased competition among developing nations for scarce jobs, however, can depress wages as countries market their cheap labor and can decrease women's abilities to organize for better wages and working conditions as companies threaten to move elsewhere.”
>> If you have technical or specific questions regarding trade agreements or legislation, please contact Marceline White at 202-884-8394 or email at mwhite@womensedge.org
http://www.womensedge.org/trade/trade.htm
The WTO is the only intergovernmental organization that does not recognize gender as a dimension that needs to be taken into account in its policies. There is also the concern that the WTO does not allow for non-governmental organizations to participate in the process, while allowing corporations to perform an advisory role.
http://www.womensedge.org/trade/uswomeneasy.htm
“Like other cities struggling with deindustrialization, Baltimore has promoted tourism, but without common-sense safeguards to make sure the new jobs have good wages and benefits,” said Greg LeRoy, GJF’s director. “Subsidizing thousands of poor jobs simply perpetuates the cycle of poverty. But reforms from other cities and states show how development can raise standards and create real opportunity.”
http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/balt_release.htm
Are development incentives good or bad? Proponents say incentives create a business-friendly, entrepreneurial climate; promote local job opportunities and worker training; and enhance private sector productivity and competitiveness. Opponents charge that these giveaways divert government money from supporting traditional public goods like education, frequently cost far more than any realized benefits, misallocate resources and make everyone worse off.
http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/research/studies/
This October 2002 study finds that corporate tax avoidance and state policy
have contributed along with other factors to the weakening of Ohio's corporate
franchise tax. Revenue from the state's corporate profits tax fell from 16
percent of the taxes supporting Ohio's General Revenue Fund in the mid-1970's
to 4.6 percent in fiscal year 2002.
http://www.policymattersohio.org/franchisetaxintro.htm