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America Now Dancing to the Tune of the WTO

Published 09/07/07 Dan Merica - Print Article
E-mail - editor@economyincisis.org

Our Sovereign Rights Are in Foreign Control, Our Jobs Are Disappearing

Years ago, the world's corporate elite lusted over the wealth generated by the American economy. So, they devised the concept of globalization and created multi-national 'free-trade' pacts such as NAFTA, WTO and GATS, which allowed them access to our markets to partake of our wealth.

Originally, it was done under the guise of restoring war-torn Europe and Asia, but these countries are now more than able to compete on their own without our help or subsidies. Yet these pacts are still in play today, growing in number and power to the detriment of the American people.

The WTO (World Trade Organization) has now become the world’s super government. Congress is prohibited from passing legislation that violates its bylaws. In other words, our agreement with the WTO curtails what laws Congress is allowed to pass concerning US industrial policies. The WTO is fixed so that each member country has only one vote with no veto powers for anyone. Even though the United States is the benefactor, it only has equal footing with every developing country with cheap goods to dump on our markets.

WTO bylaws include:

  • Congress must change U.S. laws to conform to WTO statutes.
  • All decisions will be determined by the votes of WTO members.
  • The WTO will settle all trade disputes, monitor national responses and enforce its decisions. WTO rulings are final. The WTO can impose trade sanctions and fines on the U.S, if we don't comply. If the U.S. loses a WTO dispute, plaintiff nations may select which US industries will be sanctioned.
  • All WTO members are subject to amendments voted for by two-thirds of the members.

China is a special case in point. Its unchecked flooding of our markets with cheaply made goods has created around a quarter of the $765 billion U.S. trade deficit. The Economic Policy Institute reported that, between 1997 and 2006, the massive U.S.-China trade imbalance took 2,166,000 US jobs, the bulk of which (1.8 million) were lost after China joined the WTO in 2001. Proponents of this affiliation wrongly predicted that China's trade surplus would decline and U.S. employment would bounce back.

The WTO and other "free-trade" pacts are developing into a virtual shadow, one-world dictatorship with the authority to override the sovereignty and laws of the U.S. These are intolerable conditions that most people are not aware of.

Americans have always been proud of the fact that we have lived in a 'free' country, but are we really free if we are forced to live under these dictatorial mandates? Request from your congressional leaders that these bylaws are erased or demand we get out of the WTO.

The above has been excerpted from an article by Dan Merica. Merica is a political cartoonist and commentator. He publishes on his website cartoons-political.com. Email him at danmerica@netzero.net

Click here to contact your Representative in Congress.

Unless the above article is already copyrighted, this article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License, EIC grants permission to use this article in whole or in part provided attribution is given, preferably in the form of a link back to EconomyInCrisis.org.

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Article Comments From Readers

guest says " I agree" on 09/12/07
I have been emailing my congressmen and reps for years. I know of many who do. It is true the American people are interested in entertainment and have lost some of their ability to seek out and criticly think out issues. But,
the news is not covering the issues either, they don't seem to want the people to know. I so agree that our problems are not knowing and following the Constitution. I hate "hate laws" and the Patriot act and the progressive loss of freedom. I see Big Brother coming in too.
The Reps and Senators are not listening to us. The first time I knew how foreign countries had a majority interest in US corporations was this site. People just do not know. That is what makes this site so important, but we don't have the up to date figures on all of these things even now.

guest says "WTO, NAFTA, CAFTA " on 09/12/07
The commentators here seem to think that other nations have some cheated the USA by imposing these trade schemes on the US. In fact, these trade deals were all conceived in the USA and pushed onto the other nations by the USA. If you want to blame someone, then blame the US electorate for not controlling your own government so that it serves the interests of the people of the USA.

NAFTA is a treaty, which requires 2/3s majority to pass the Senate. It got only a majority. The US Steel Workers union tried to take NAFTA to the Supreme Court as not a valid treaty according to the US Constitution, but got no support from the general public nor from the media nor from politicians from either party.

guest says "The constitution" on 09/12/07
America is losing its edge because it doesn't follow the Constitution. People do not respect it any longer and so it has been allowed to be changed by certain bodies who have an interest in changing the constitutional laws of the nation.

Freedom of the speech is a vital freedom, from which all creativity flows. Freedom of speech has been stifled by government censorship in the form of Hate Laws, the Patriot Act, MCA and so on. New laws are made every day that make it a crime to speak your mind.

This means that people fall under a Big Brother mentality and although America, a capitalist country, has always complained about communist countries being exactly like that, it is the reality that capitalist countries like America can also have a form of fascism.

The people are responsible for the mess the country is in.

But it will be hard to change because the new culture of political correctness means the people who try and effect change will probably be silenced.

guest says "Thanks Dan!" on 09/11/07
This is a good article.
America should definately throw off the shackles of the WTO, NAFTA, CAFTA, GATS and any other international treaty or trade organization that hurts American workers.
Nothing less than our national sovereignty, national freedom and national jobs are at stake. These must never be sold out to foreigners or multinational businesses lest we cease to exist as a coherent nation.
America must become independent again as it was in the past.
We must withdraw from "Free Trade" with 3rd world nations like China and boycott their imports lest we de drawn into a race to the bottom for the most pollution, lowest wages, lowest taxes, worst human rights and worker protections,and least secure jobs.
America can do better than that.

guest says "to WTO makes America behave" on 09/11/07
Yes the U.S. is only one nation in the WTO but due to it's corporate ties and invasion of sovereignty for your home country no one should want to be in the WTO, you must be a socialist, no thanks

guest says "WTO are a society unto themselves" on 09/09/07
We are a democratic nation, rule is by the people of this nation of the people of this nation and FOR
the people of this Nation, not for all of the countries in the world. We were never supposed to be involved with foreign entities that made laws on "fast track" flying under the radar that impacted the whole future of our people. I do not give a fig about the WTO, they should have no rule over this nation to decide the course of trade, economics or anything whatsover. We are being destroyed by this globalistic heresy. The people of the US pay the taxes, it is our country. We do not belong "to the world".
The leaders of this country are not supposed to serve the WTO, they are supposed to serve the interest of the citizens of this nation. Once anyone gets this, they can start to see the problem.

guest says "wto" on 09/09/07
The wto agreements are made behind closed door with corrupt deals. The wto does not represent the people of America in any way. The wto is corrupt and should be dimantled for the good of the whole world.

guest says "WTO makes America behave" on 09/09/07
In the WTO, the USA is one nation, equal to the others, required to behave according to the same rules as the others. That is good. It is not "dictatorial madness", it is democratic rule of law. It is apparently a new experience for some Americans.