Is free trade fair?While governments and multinational corporations are boasting the benefits of free trade, the workers and farmers entangled en·tan·gle tr.v. en·tan·gled, en·tan·gling, en·tan·gles 1. To twist together or entwine into a confusing mass; snarl. 2. To complicate; confuse. 3. To involve in or as if in a tangle. in this web of deceit paint a different picture. Shafted" Free Trade and America's Working Poor (First Food Books, $10), edited by Christine Aim, tells a grim tale of how poorly constructed trade agreements have lead to vast global problems including job loss, low-wage labor mad environmental degradation. One section of the book explains how trade liberalization lib·er·al·ize v. lib·er·al·ized, lib·er·al·iz·ing, lib·er·al·iz·es v.tr. To make liberal or more liberal: "Our standards of private conduct have been greatly liberalized . . . has devastated dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. habitat and increased pollution in fishing communities, and another makes clear that environmental deregulation Deregulation The reduction or elimination of government power in a particular industry, usually enacted to create more competition within the industry. Notes: Traditional areas that have been deregulated are the telephone and airline industries. has mostly affected America's poor. Testimony from farmers, factory workers and analysts adds to our understanding of this global crisis. The book concludes with an education-for-action resource section offering tools to fight what one farmer -calls corporate cannibalism, not fair competition. |
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