Ftaa, Rammefications, Marxism

[fishamaphone]

FTAA, for those who don't know(it's gotten embarassingly low media coverage) stands for Free Trade Area of the Americas. It's kinda like NAFTA, just applying to Central and South America as well, along with the Carribean.

It's an interesting connundrum. Is it good, or bad? The hope is that, by killing tariffs, it will allow for comanies in developing Latin America to produce for the world's largest consumer, America.

My take on it is that it simply allows for the rich to get richer. Nike, who's had to ship their sneakers all the way from China, can now set up factories in convenient Peru and hire workers for the same wages. Even moreso, they might buy out local shoe companies, shutting out competition and leaving the South American consumer without representation in the shoe market.

But wait, there's more! Now that there are so many shoes being produced in Peru, Nike's decided to shut down some local headquarters, opting to set one up closer to their production lines. What happens to the people working in those shut down HQ's? I doubt they live happily ever after. The Latin American managers don't ask for wages as high as the American ones, either, so Nike's pocketing that money too.

Where does that leave us? All corporations that are multinational today will grow when FTAA is ratified, and they will suck money from those below them.

But what happens when there is nothing left to suck? Capitolism collapses on itself. Marxism, anyone?

[white rice]

Not Marxism... Coorporate Facism.

Outsourcing is the new trend for greedy American companies to tranform themselves into multinational congolmerates. Don't think because they started off American by region that it will benefit all Americans in the future. As more and more American jobs become lost by foreign and cheap labor (as is what Bush is doing), the elitist agenda will become more transparent. Whether lazy and apolitical Americans will realize that before it's too late will have to be seen.

[G. Adams]

I think by Marxism he is saying that all that will be left after capitalism collapses on itself will be communsim, as marxism predicts.

[castille]

Capitalism hasn't existed yet. We're still a long way from real capitalism.


Frankly I see this FTAA as another attempt by the US to set up tariff barriers towards Asia and Oceania.

Lazy American (and South American) corporations can't stand the pressure by hard-working Asian corporations (esp. from Japan and China), so they're trying to put up barriers to prevent the Asian capitalists from coming into the US.


Meanwhile Europe is sealing itself economically from the world....looks like the former colonial masters can't cope with competition by their colonies.


Amazing what working on Saturdays and Sundays can do for the economy....

[G. Adams]

Amazing how bad for quality of life working seven days a week is for people.

[castille]

I work 7 days a week, and my quality of life is excellent.


Any excuse to cover up laziness huh? I bet you also blame the Illuminati and the Moon Conspiracy....oh no, its not my fault I watch TV 4 hours a day, lets go and blame the Moon Aliens!

[G. Adams]

You have a good quality of life and you work 7 days a week? This 8 hrs min per day? Where do you find the time to have big family meals, play footie with your mates, go for a drink now and then, go to the cinema and the theatre etc Those are the things that raise your quality of life. Man I'd like to see your mid life crisis when you realise you wasted your life on impermanent things. Personally, I don't think anything in the world can compare to waking up in bed with your girlfriend and skipping work so you can be with her. Hell I feel sorry for you now I know you see life through the lenses you do.

[white rice]

What I meant by lazy before is not becoming aware of their place in the world. Americans are the most overworked people in the industrialized world. They're the same people who use stimilants and deprive themselves of sleep in order to cheat time. Americans work the longest hours and the most days without vacation. If that's capitalism at work, I'd rather be living in 19th century London.

[G. Adams]

What is the average work week in the US please?

[laserkid]

</span><blockquote><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><hr size="1" />Originally Posted by (white rice,)
What I meant by lazy before is not becoming aware of their place in the world. Americans are the most overworked people in the industrialized world. They're the same people who use stimilants and deprive themselves of sleep in order to cheat time. Americans work the longest hours and the most days without vacation. If that's capitalism at work, I'd rather be living in 19th century London.<hr size="1" /></blockquote><span class='postcolor'>

Thats all very true but its more of a factor of the PEOPLE than the system, under Capitilism you ARE NOT really supposed to be doing that, its more of an overdone work ethic.

[white rice]

Laserkid, don't you think Capitalism and Consumerism goes hand in hand in the US?

</span><blockquote><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><hr size="1" />Originally Posted by (G. Adams,)
What is the average work week in the US please?<hr size="1" /></blockquote><span class='postcolor'>

I've read from 46 hours to 50. I meant most hours in the industrialized world, btw. They're right up there with Japan.

[G. Adams]

I can't find a definitive one for the UK, I have read that we have the longest hours in Europe, typically 48 hours a week. Then I read we average between 34-38hrs, but it didn't count overtime.

I do know that, until Labour took power, we have the lowest average wages in the industrialised world. Thank fuck labour introduced a minimum wage.

Actually its possible that 48 hours was pre labour, where you would have to work that long to get a decent living wage.

[cheesemage]

Wohoo CEO's will be able to have 2 planes now! Woo!

Really it's sad the way greed perpetrates those in high positions of corparations, and what do they get for it in the end? The needless suffering from their domination so they can have a bit more luxury? Gah! If this goes through and the collapse of Capitalism does occur, I don't think we would resort to Marxism, because people albeit they will be bitter, they won't go for communism(plus there would likely be a dictator). Instead I think perhaps the world might degenearate into Greek Like Polis's. Of course this is assuming that we all don't blow eachother up first.

[Bayou]

No ones going to revert to Slavery......which was what the Greek economy was based on.
If you ment Democracy..well that was kinda the inspiration for the modern democracies of Europe, Canada and U.S.
Personally, I am for taking apart NAFTA (the U.S follows NAFTA only when it feels that it convenients themselves) let alone join a larger system of exploitation of 3rd world nations.
Until theirs a FAIR trade system established I will never be for a unified world economy.

But wouldnt such a system be unlike the capitalist's wet dream- it would require people to share with one another.............

[white rice]

This is an interesting read about the inequality of weblogs. Diversity plus freedom of choice creates inequality, and the greater the diversity, the more extreme the inequality.

It creates the idealist conundrum of having a free society with total equality or having a socialistic society with an authoritarian and a largely unaccountable hand.

"The economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that wealth follows a "predictable imbalance", with 20% of the population holding 80% of the wealth."

I find it amazing that brute statistics and math can make sense out of chaotic social patterns, but it should give some idealists big headaches....

[Bayou]

Not surprising though, the internet is in it's infancy in its social stage- I can easily see a synergy taking place where people keep in touch with their friends and colluegues by reading their personal blogg will take up the majority of blogg readership.....or like me would be the only reason to read a blogg is if it was a friend of mine.

Give me a message board anyday.

I cant even imagine a totalitarian force making me read a blogg......I would destroy my computer 1st.

Saying that, this is a whole different ball of wax then redistributing wealth, which I would say this is a result of static political activity in the majority of the population.
I also have an inkling that the problem may be more than just relation to diversity to freedom: after all Canada has about the exact same diversity to the U.S and we are closer to the 20%POP to 80% wealth, while the states has a 3%POP to 80%wealth spread- almost ten times the spread.

[white rice]

....It's because the net (blogs in particular) is at it's infancy that we can see social science unfettered by outside variables. There aren't any meddling corporations or government regulations at play here, just pure choice.

....Well what if a totalitarian force told you that there was a surplus of thinkers therefore you're relegated to solutions management?

....Or perhaps wealth is also calculated in terms of net worth such as a person's home and his property. Most Americans' money is tied to their homes. I'm not sure where you're getting this 3% from since half of the US's 6 trillion debt is owed to Americans.

[Bayou]

Or social structure......thus perhaps making a correlation beetween superficial social systems and apathetic political populace.


I would then set up the BRG: Blogg Resistance Group and sabotage their system with a vyrus and a Guerilla uprising as the cascading effect took out vital systems- making their computer dependent militairy vulnerable.

Well in the search for the statistics I found this Faculty voice which states that 10% of the POP owns 80.7% of the wealth...which is about half of the theoretical papers estimate for the U.S until you see statistics in CEO getting paid 10 times the amount that they were paid in the past which then equals 400 times the amount a blue collar worker earns.

Then theirs the 1ST site I found a page that links to The Cooperative Individualism homepage that highlights the disproportionate distribution of wealth with statistics of the 1% of the population has 2.4 times the wealth of the combined 80% from the bottom.

I tend to like the 1st one I listed cause it seems to have the most recent statistics, but the bottom link highlights how the american worker has not been paid for the increase in productivity at the workplace.

As for canadian statistics I can only find # broken down in famiuly units, so it is hard to see if this breaks down in the percentages for total population.
Anyways 50% of Canadian Family units holds 94% of the wealth leaving 6% wealth for 50% rest of the family units. The stats I found are
Here and unlike the american stats, they are seemingly portrayed the same in every site I looked in.
This suggests their would be a more social and reasonable dialogue on redistributing wealth beetween Canadians then compared with people in the U.S.....the trick is starting it(assuming family #'s break down equally to POP #'s) .
I will continue to look for a more person to person ratio of wealth in Canada.

[white rice]

What is your resistance group's goal? To rule the net in order to normalize the unequal yet populist driven blog society? Or just to throw a wrench towards inevitability and live your life as a fugitive?

The statistics are pretty damning; it's also more believable than 3%. I'm not sure to why Americans aren't alarmed by it, but I do know that Bush is accelerating the process...

[Bayou]

The name is tongue in cheek, but it is under the assumption that their is a totalitarian political power and not just a power on the internet (I can live without the internet access).
Thus the true point is overthrow of the powers that be for a democratic revolution....we will try to limit the number Blogg deaths in the impending rage of bloody revenge for the monotoness misery they put us through...I m not making any guarantees though.

On second thought, you would think that it would be a relative peice of cake to get political change on fair taxation in the united states when you look at the proportions of pop and wealth.
Yet it is canada that has the higher personnel tax rates then the states.
In Canadas case, tax releif cant be the answer, as the percentage of wealth is to disperate for 50% of the pop.
But then again we had nothing but slash and pay debt slogans from all levels of our goverments for the last little while so we havent had anything close to constructive support for the widening disparity.