Democracy Under Attack

The WTO does not nor will dictate how Americans choose to do business, nor tell Americans what stores go where. This is WM resorting to intimidation because communities will not cave into their threats.

What does this article have to do with Wal-Mart and small town USA? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. What the article discusses is the lowering of trade barriers in foreign countries, notably China and India. The US has lower trade barriers already but tariffs and special interests keep costs for many of our goods higher than they should be.

US companies are lobbying for trade reform because they want to be able to export US goods to other countries. How does this hurt the US? It helps us. It will give us a greater market for our goods, thus preserving many good manufacturing and service jobs.

This has absolutely nothing to do with Wal-Mart wanting to rape and pillage your small town. Relax.

Yes calm down, TRUST them, They know what they are doing.

War is peace
Slavery is freedom

big brother loves you!

I don’t buy it… Globalization benefits NO ONE but the CEO’s of the biggest corporations and leaves entire economies in ruin!

I totally agree..ENTIRE economies in ruin because of globalization and the big, bad wolf..Wal-Mart.  Blah, blah, blah!  I hate to burst your bubble...but the economy in my community is thriving because of what Wal-Mart has brought here.  I’ve lived in this area for 20 years.  The growth in jobs, housing, wages is has been phenominal.  Not to mention the added culture and diversity that has flocked here from around the world.

Why don’t you do a little research before you speak?

given the fact that the above pro walmart/globalization comments are posted on a site that states otherwise, one can imagine that their statements are only posted on account of their agenda. Tara, did you do any research on your non-quantified statistics (that lack citation) regarding your unnamed town?

Globilization of the World meets the needs of the many via control of the few and there hidden agenda’s.  Examples; The Oil Industry, The Steel Industry, The World Auto Industry, The Textile Industry, The Shipping Industry, The World Bank Industry, Cartels, Artificial Democracy, The Retail Industry via Walmart, Trade Industry, Currency Industry, Computer Industry, Religious Industry.

Not sure what Tara agrees with--Dan. A very amibiguous statement. Should slow down and say what she has to say.

Basically the danger posited here by Public Citizen is from a corporation circumventing local government rulings through international ones and would quality IMO as an attack on our sovereignty as a country. This is a danger that many even conservative thinkers who are opposed to such a thing feel is posed by our association and encouragement of globalization and all the rules and regulations and enforcement agencies that go with it. Why do we need IMF, WTO, WHO, World Bank? Or the UN? Or even Nato? From WM’s perspective it might be just so they can circumvent zoning laws. From the perspective of any corporation so they then can circumvent rulings by municipalities that go against them.

Like Wal-Mart needs any help circumventing planning and zoning laws.  As with any regulatory agency be it local, state or international it is all a matter of who you know, and which palms to grease.

Rotten as this proposal is, I find it hard to fathom how any agreement of the WTO can restrict local zoning codes in the USA. The U.S. constitution leaves the zoning power to state governments which then granted zoning power to cities and counties through the state’s zoning enabling act. The federal government has nothing to say about it (except where local zoning is used to discriminate in violation of the Fair Housing Act, for example). As a zoning attorney and city planner, I’m at a loss as to how the WTO can legally prohibit local zoning practices in the U.S. It may be able to affect other nations under a different constitutional structure, but not the U.S.

-- President, American Planning Association, 1985-86, President American Institute of Certified Planners, 2003-2005, 1992-1994.

I’m sure you know a lot more about it than I do Daniel and I hope you’re right.

Come on guys—this report was a complete stretch by our friends at Public Citizen to scare the general public into believing WTO agreements supercede state and local law.  Nothing could be more false.  A simple civics reminder that the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States says that all unalienable rights not previously stated in the Constitution are inherently given to the states.  It sure would be nice if we could keep the debate centered on the facts and not on false pretenses.