People's Weekly World, 17 Feb 2009, Tim Mills
Given the evaporation of 533,000 American jobs last November, the largest downturn in thirty-four years and the prospects for even greater losses, it is vital that we have a public discourse on the cost of free trade and its twin – runaway corporations. In a free trade advocate’s view, the global marketplace is an idyllic universe of decision makers where everyone is free to buy and sell. In actuality, the exchange between the great masses of humanity and a transnational corporation is neither free nor fair. Does free trade mean that companies can do what they want, no matter the circumstances?
Take the city-state of Singapore. It has been hailed by business executives as one of free trade’s success stories.
The whole truth, however, is quite different. As an employee of Hamilton Sundstrand, I learned about the down side of such a success story as I watched machinery and good jobs being uprooted in Rockford, Illinois -- destined for Singapore.
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