Rough Trade: Selling-out Labor, Body & Seoul

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Air date: 
Tue, 10/12/2010 - 12:00am
Interview with Arthur Stamoulis with Oregon Fair Trade Campaign & Cascadia news wrap-up.

The November elections are just a kiss away..and out of the ruins there will arise the worst chimera Labor and the environment have ever faced.  Bear in mind that Labor is about all the Big League support the Democrats have.  And yet amid the post-election fall-out President Obama is expected to push the Korea Free Trade Agreement.  This is a Bush-negotiated Free Trade Agreement -- and the largest since NAFTA itself.  If the Korea FTA is enacted, it’s going to cost the nation hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs, including thousands of jobs right here in Oregon.  Another aspect of this agreement is the investor-to-state legal challenges you may have heard about under NAFTA.  Korean firms own hundreds of businesses across the United States, including some right here in Oregon.  They’ll be given special rights to challenge our laws, regulations and even our court decisions in international tribunals should this deal move forward.  This isn’t like CAFTA, where countries we’re trading with don’t really have investments in the United States.  And then there is this:    The deal was negotiated before the financial collapse.  It contains all sorts of banking and insurance company deregulatory measures at the behest of Wall Street that are completely insane to put into an international agreement in this day and age.  Not one word of the pact has been changed since President Bush signed it over three years ago.

In Oregon, the main way to fight back is to put pressure on Senator Ron Wyden.  He chairs the Senate Trade Subcommittee, and plays an important role in deciding whether or not the Korea FTA moves forward as written.  So call his office, and leave a message saying that you oppose the Korea Free Trade Agreement and that you want him to support a new model for international trade.  His number is (503) 326-7525.

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