The Truth on Free Trade as told by some Free Traders and some Economists
Nipawin - February 26, 2001 - by: Mario deSantis
natural	Nobody can argue against international trade, since trade is as natural as our behaviour to
	relate to each other. Today, the problem is not trade per se, the problem is the sanction of
	international contracts which have materialized for example with the World Trade Organization
	(WTO) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)(1). These international
	contracts are known as Free Trade, but we have to distinguish "Free Trade" from free trade
	as our natural propensity to trade within and out of our own geographical confines.
alienated	Free Trade, as the present international contractual framework to do business between
	countries, is alienated from the interest of common people, while at the same time there
	is evidence that our own governments are alienated from the interest of common people
	as well. Therefore, Free Trade is an artificial agreement which is the result of the corporate
	agenda of the multinational conglomerates.
Mike Moore	Mike Moore, Director-General of WTO, wants more international agreement on services
	and responding to WTO's critics supporting more national autonomy he has stated that
	these critics have always taken liberties with the truth(2). It appears that only the proponents
	of Free Trade can speak the ultimate truth and the search for this exclusive truth was explicitly
	synthesized by Labourist Tony Blair's recent statement that WTO's critics cannot be allowed
	to stand in the way of rational argument. I don't agree that the search for the truth is the
	monopoly of our rational elitist Free Traders and as a consequence I certainly don't take
	literally their preaching. However, we have the interest to become a bit more intelligent in
	understanding the social issues affecting Free Trade and as a consequence I would like you,
	readers, to ponder on the intelligence of the language used by our elitist Free Traders as
	opposed to the language used by some social economists.
Dan Ben-David	In reviewing the study "Trade, Income Disparity and Poverty(3)", by Dan Ben-David of
	Tel Aviv University and L. Alan Winters of Sussex University, WTO's Director-General
	Mike Moore has stated:
Korea	This report confirms that although trade alone may not be enough
	to eradicate poverty, it is essential if poor people are to have any
	hope of a brighter future. For example, 30 years ago, South Korea
	was as poor as Ghana. Today, thanks to trade led growth, it is as
	rich as Portugal.
Sharing	In their paper "Sharing the Wealth from Growth: Comparing the Canadian and U.S.
	Experiences(4)" by Jack Mintz and Shay Aba, the authors write:
inequality	With falling barriers to trade, businesses can more easily shift
	low-cost production to low-wage economies. The forces of
	globalization result in greater economic inequality in industrialized
	economies as the demand for low-skilled workers declines relative
	to that for skilled labour, whose wages then adjust upward.
intrinsic values	There is certainly no absolute truth, but we have at least the intelligence to understand which
	language of the above two is more tuned to our intrinsic values; and at least we, as individuals,
	can make our choice.
------------References/endnotes:
	List of relevant political and economics articles http://ensign.ftlcomm.com
1. -	The problem with Free Trade: the structure of WTO and NAFTA, by Mario deSantis and James deSantis, February 23, 2001
2.	Liberate trade, not paranoia, by MIKE MOORE, February 21, 2001, The Globe and Mail
3. -	Trade, Income Disparity and Poverty, by Dan Ben-David of Tel Aviv University and L. Alan Winters of Sussex University http://www.wto.org/wto/english/news_e/pres00_e/pr181_e.htm
4. - -	Sharing the Wealth from Growth: Comparing the Canadian and U.S. Experiences, by Jack Mintz (C.D. Howe Institute and University of Toronto) and Shay Aba (C.D. Howe Institute) http://www.csls.ca/jan01/aba.pdf