Hans Lovejoy
  • Home
  • Music
  • Journalism
  • Editorials
  • Consultancy
  • Contact

Free market suits the US 

7/10/2013

0 Comments

 
Those looking for reasons not to be cheerful could turn to the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering of representatives from the US and South Pacific countries, held  last week in Bali. 

A focal point was the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free-trade agreement pushed by the US that suspiciously gets little to no mainstream media attention.

While small and medium-sized businesses are spruiked as potential winners if international trade were expanded, critics have pointed out a much different agenda. Director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, Lori Wallach, told www.democracynow.org, ‘The agreement has 29 chapters, and only five of them have to do with trade. The other 24 chapters either handcuff our domestic governments, limiting food safety, environmental standards, financial regulation, energy and climate policy, or establish new powers for corporations.’ 

And many agree; a swag of lawyers and academics have signed an open letter to negotiators of the TPP trade talks.

As reported on www.nzherald.co.nz in May, the letter claims that before 1999, only 69 dispute cases between countries and corporations had been launched. ‘Today,’ the letter reads, ‘there are 370-plus such cases underway, an increase of 436 per cent.’  They say most cases relate to ‘challenges to governments’ natural resource and environmental policies, not to traditional expropriations.’  



And Lock the Gate president Drew Hutton concurred, saying last week it would potentially make it impossible for our government ‘to place environmental and public health restrictions on some of the highest-impact developments in Australia, including coal and coal seam gas mining.’

It’s easy to paint the newly Toned Abbs government as pursuing a ‘pants-down-to-corporations’ foreign policy, but given the secrecy of our government and the US, how are we to know? For what little our federal government is prepared to say on this, see www.dfat.gov.au/fta/tpp.

Hans Lovejoy, editor

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010

    Categories

    All
    Banglaow
    Brunswick Heads
    Byron Bay
    Byron Shire Council
    Capitalism
    Civilisation
    Class Warfare
    Climate Change
    Community Markets
    Conservative Intellectuals
    Corporations
    Counter Culture
    Crime
    Development
    Drugs
    Elections
    Environment
    Federal Coalition
    Federal Government
    Federal Labor
    Festivals
    Finance
    Food
    Health
    Hemp
    History – Australia
    Holiday Letting
    Human Rights
    International
    Journalism
    Language Usage
    Lobbyists
    Mardigrass Festival
    Media
    Mining
    Mullumbimby
    Nationals Party Nsw
    Nsw Government
    Piracy
    Police
    Religion
    Renewable Energy
    Social Contract
    Sovereignty
    State Coalition Party
    Technology
    The Greens
    Transport
    West Byron

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Music
  • Journalism
  • Editorials
  • Consultancy
  • Contact