During the nationwide debate preceding the congressional vote on the North American Free Trade Agreement in December 1993, opponents denounced the treaty’s economic, political, and environmental implications. A leading critic was Ralph Nader, a lawyer from Connecticut who in the 1960s emerged as a prominent consumer advocate when he published the book, Unsafe at Any Speed, about the dangers of flawed automobile design. In the 1970s and 1980s Nader rallied support for a wide range of consumer and environmental causes, and helped found organizations such as the Center for Study of Responsive Law, the Public Interest Research Group, Congress Watch, and the Tax Reform Group. In 2000 he ran for president on the Green Party ticket, receiving 3 percent of the popular vote. The document I would like you to read (you can read it by clicking here) was published in an anthology, The Case Against “Free Trade.”After reading the document, I would like you to think about and discuss the following: According to Nader, why are multinational corporations so supportive of NAFTA and the new GATT proposals? What will be the economic implications of NAFTA for the U.S. economy, according to Nader? What, in Nader’s view, are the potential political dangers of free trade? Why is Nader convinced that there are “no winners” in free trade? What is Nader’s alternative to an international economy based on free trade? Your thoughts…
3 comments:
Multinational companies are made out to seem like they are only concerned about its own state of being from Naders point of view. This article reminded me of imperialism in the sense that multinational companies are exploiting the countries that they are in and ruining the environment at the same time. They do this by threatening to move their corporation to a new state, which also reminds me of how Japan walked away from the U.N. when confronted about their actions.
It appears that these companies are only trying to do one thing. They jsut want to become as powerful as possible and exploit 3rd world contries.
It seems like these multinational corporations are just going over the heads of national governments and making the world regress to the days of the Industrial Revolution where companies could lower wages and regulations as much as they want except now its on a global scale. The social and environmental impacts seem terrible as well. He makes free trade seem like the worst thing the US could ever do.
Post a Comment