Yes Bernie, the System is Rigged. Whining about it won't win you Black votes. Here's why.

[Baobab]

108. In the 1990s, the US was instrumental in setting up the WTO, one of the so called

global governance institutions. the WTO is based on a concept called "progressive liberalisation" of the world economy which basically means it sees government as a problem and tries to compel countries to privatize and then globalize those opportunities so corporations everywhere can have a level playing field without discrimination against any corporation based on where they are from, in fact, corporations from continents like Africa and South Asia are given special permission to discriminate for example, by subsidizing various things like agricultural products )food subsidies) or wages.

More developed countries like the US are assumed to no longer need crutches like public health care and education so when they signed the WTO any further expansion of their nonconforming monopoly services was halted by a standstill clause.

The WTO seems to be based on the concept of comparative advantage. Some countries are poor in raw materials but are rich in people, who can work, other countries excel in high tech industry, and export their world famous educational brands, Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, etc. other countries have lots of raw materials other countries can use, other countries farm.

In theory, the concept of progressive liberalisation sounds good to developing countries leadership as it merely encourages them to do what they have done all along which is funnel all the wealth to themselves. However in other countries, the ones that have built cutting edge public healthcare and educational systems, the idea of giving all that up for a promise of economic integration if they just privatize seems foolish and risky. But that is what the oh so modern and successful US, which was able to eliminate welfare programs has done.

The biggest lure if they give up their crutches is the promise of access to a global economic meritocracy in services. If they just work really hard for really cheap they will be able to win business all around the world, even in developed countries, like the US, which have severe labor shortages.

The promise of jobs in developed economies has been a big draw in keeping the developing countries involved in the never ending rounds of WTO negotiations. Some insist that they were never promised jobs in so many words, but it seems as if the evidence is strong that the language of the deals make it clear that if they can shine in terms of offering good value, I think its going to be clear that they were..

Some random reading on global trade in services agreements and economic integration

mpact on the health sector Natalie Van Gijsel - Campaign and Policy Officer at Third World Health Aid, Belgium

The Trade-Migration Linkage: The Impact of GA TS Mode 4- Betts and Nicolaides

A discussion on the public services interaction and the scoping of the privatization mandate