Why the WTO Doha Round Talks Have Collapsed – and a Path Forward [2]
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关键词:WTOPath Forwardglobal economysocial“neoliberalism”Bush administration’s
1998.
In Latin America, from 1960 to 1980, average per capita income grew by 82 percent – that’s over 4 percent per year per person. However, during the era in which governments in the region began implementing policies of corporate globalization, from 1980 to 2000, income per person grew only 9 percent – less than one half of one percent per person per year. Now its down to 5%.
There is growing consensus that the clear failure of the model – often called “neoliberalism” – to deliver economic growth or better standards of living for most is translating into electoral victories for leaders who have made rejection of this agenda a staple of their platforms. Nowhere is this more evident than in Bolivia, Argentina and Venezuela whose economies all have been decimated under previous neoliberal governments. After adopting alternative domestic economic policies, Argentina and Venezuela now boast the highest economic growth and fastest poverty reduction in the region. Likewise, Bolivia’s new president Evo Morales was elected on a platform of opposition to flawed trade deals after previous neoliberal governments’ policies resulted in a lower per capita GDP today in Bolivia than 27 years ago. Even Costa Rica, Peru, and Mexico, traditionally neoliberal strongholds, have experienced presidential elections almost entirely dominated by debate over trade liberalization.
The number of people living in poverty has also increased in South Asia, while growth rates and the rate of reduction in poverty have slowed in most parts of the world – especially when one excludes China, where huge reductions in poverty have been accomplished, but not by following WTO-approved policies (China became a WTO member only in 2001). Indeed, the economic policies that China employed to obtain its dramatic growth and poverty reduction are a veritable smorgasbord of WTO violations: high tariffs to keep out imports and significant subsidies and government intervention to promote exports; an absence of intellectual property protection; government-owned, operated and subsidized energy, transportation and manufacturing sectors; tightly regulated foreign investment with numerous performance requirements regarding domestic content and technology transfer; government-controlled finance and banking systems subsidizing billions in non-performing debt; and government-controlled, subsidized and protected agriculture. Many of these same policies are those employed by the now-wealthy countries during their period of development.
It’s not as if the status quo is working for most people in the rich countries either. During the WTO era, the U.S. trade deficit has risen to historic levels – from $130 billion (in today’s dollars) in 1994 (the year before the WTO went into effect) to more than $717 billion in 2005. The U.S. trade deficit is approaching 6 percent of national income – a figure widely agreed to be unsustainable, putting the United States and global economy at risk. Soaring U.S. imports during the WTO decade have contributed to the loss of nearly one in six U.S. manufacturing jobs. U.S. real median wages have scarcely risen above their 1970 level, while productivity has soared 82 percent over the same period, resulting in declining or stagnant standards of living for the nearly 70 percent of the U.S. population that does not have a college degree.
Although trade and the failure of corporate globalization will be important issues in many 2006 U.S. congressional r
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