An
article in In These Times discussed how Bush's trade guy Zoellick asked governors last September to sign onto a letter that committed their states to new trade agreements (i.e., CAFTA, FTAA expansions, and/or other new bilateral agreements in the works). Once states are locked in (and the trade deals signed), they would have to compensate all other signatories to the pact in order to get out.
The 24 states that are committed have basically thrown away their ability to mandate social or environmental standards for the goods they purchase and services they contract..including "assurances about prevailing or living wages for contractors, sweat-free goods, recycled-content rules for products, renewable-energy targets, consumer or environmental labeling on packages, pro-union bidding practices, bans on trade with abusive regimes and corporations that have abysmal human rights records, and anti-offshoring and buy local provisions."
What if they stay in, but still try to implement these things? --
"Under investor-protection clauses enshrined in international trade pacts, corporations can demand compensation for state and local laws that conflict with their profit-maximizing motive. Such rules, like NAFTA’s investor-rights Chapter 11, have been used by U.S. corporations to extract millions from the Canadian government for implementing international environmental treaties and by a California company to force Mexico to pay it for blocking a toxic-waste dump. The Clinton administration used these rules to pressure Maryland not to sanction Nigeria for the country’s egregious human rights violations."
CAFTA is likely to be signed soon..do you know whether your state is one of the 24 states which has committed to it?
The corporate oligarchy is solidifying its control over humanity as we speak...?
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