WITH the anniversary of the WTO protest, the protesters once again descended on the city of Seattle. Like a troop of primates, they hooted, threw rocks and bottles of gasoline, even pel- leted a police officer’s eve out. Those who weren't dragged off, left, knuckles still trailing the pavement, and the debate not much more clevat- ed. The WTO must, of course, be opposed with vigour, but not for the rea- sons the protesters trot out, As an organ of the United Nations, the WTO should strike terror in the heart of any true free trader. The orga- nization is the concoction of international statists; it’s a pewerfal bureaucracs y con- cerned with managing trade not freeing it; 3 central plan- ‘nee whose goal i it is to “har- monize” labour, health and ‘environmental laws through- out the world. Wrote commentator Lew Rockwell: “The WTO will convert peaceftl wade into policy imperialism. Ir will aMlow economic exchange with some countries uncer approved conditions, and impose a variety of sanctions on others. The: conditions will mailbo last straw Dear Editor: ee I just. wanted to wit a let-| ter to the losers responsible for breaking: into’ my.. brother's house © in. North Van near comment include all the legislation beloved to the U.S. left-liber- als...” In short, a mercantilist takeover thar bears little resemblance to free trade. Every nation produces and exports what it can generate ‘most efficiently. It imports the products it cannot gener- ate efficiently. The same divi- sion of labour and barter occurs between individuals. The top-notch lawyer may be perfectly capable of repairing his car, but his time is more productively spent in counsel. It pays him to hire a mechan- ic. It is precisely this inequali- ty of human and natural resources that impels nations — rich and poor, developed and undeveloped — to co- operate and trade to mutual advantage. All of which trade barriers obstruct. Poor nations must be able “to use their labour leverage, and they should have free entry into our markets. This -committing a minor: crime, -nothing personal, but it is a lot more than chat. — : While you were ransacking, . breaking and basically. trashing their house, they were, as they have been on and off for months, ‘in. the ICU at ’. Children’s - Hospital. You sec, their year-old daughter i is very. il, and you, my “brave” friend, now have ‘the. distinction of © being the straw that broke: the camel's back. - They came home Saturday |” means abolishing malevolent quotas and anti-dumping reg- ulations, and allowing devel- oping — and all other — nations te tlood our markets, or sell to us below cost to their heart’s content. To duck prosecution under our protectionist laws, a foreign trader must raise his prices. And trom who is this duty confiscated? From the consumer, naturally. “Trade with this foreign price-cut- ter,” governments effectively tell the consumer, “and we'll seize an extra $10 from you.” ts this not naked theft chat our execrable anti-free traders are cheering? Telt me this isn’t a rank violation of the right to contract freely. This protectionism, the kind the protesting monolith advocates, is to the detriment of Third World nations. It also forces consumers to sub- sidize less efficient local industrics, making thens the poorer for it, To keep ineffi- cient industries in the lap of luxury, hundreds of others are doomed to shnnk or go under, While they loitered about the streets, our cherubs chomped on their dirt-cheap tofu and Big Mac burgers. The cheap transportation that got them there, and the tech- nology that disseminates their morning to get a change of. clothes and rush back to their baby, and instead walked into your devastation, You not only broke into a house; you broke into a family and shattered an already fragile situation. You have iced the cake on a year from hell. The next time you plan to so cowardly invade someone else's “space, think about how you “would feel if it was your broth- your mother but, then vinners” like you don’ t issed the p sub-intelligent messages, were once luxuries reserved for few. Thanks to mass production and economic freedom these are now staples for the mass- es. Our humanitarians suffer no shortages, vet they would prevent Third World nations from aspiring to this plenty. And so they vilify Kathy Lee Gifford or Nike for hav- ing created jobs where few likely existed. Bur let us deconstruct a little: Nike is cither offering higher, the same or lower wages than the wages workers were earning before its arrival. This franchise would find it hard to attract workers if the case was that it was offering less, or the same as other companies. It must be then that Nike, and Starbucks are benefactors that offer the kind of wage unavailable prior to their arrival. Moreover, economies where child labour is a sad fact are best compared to medieval England or Europe. Child labour is not the prob- lem in Chad or Bhutan, . poverty is. Child labour is merely a solution to this problem. Had a government in England of the 1500s out- lawed child labour, the death of mitlions of children would have followed. Children, very plainly, must work to survive have feelings, so [ just hope you choke on the six pack you got _for my brother's stereo, or my sister-in-law's jewelry. Leah Carlson Langley Friday, December 8, 2000 ~ North Shore News ~ 7 in these countries. Wages in the U.S. and Canada are high not because of any intrinsic quality of the workers, but because labour is highly productive, which is due to the degree of capital invested in it. The Canadian and American work force is infinitely more productive than that of developing coun- tries, hence it is more expen- sive. The entrepreneur who is int forced to pay Third World workers in excess of their pro- ductivity will go bankrupt. Alas, these realities are not for our street fighting dilet- tantes to fathom or consider. These protesters are, after all, paternalistic westerners who need to preserve their Hollywood image of the authentic — if starving — for- eigner. —guome@nttcanada.net ewalh. ¢ Diesel * Des = Deux ar Deux * Cakewal e Dicsel * Dex « ol, Rube & Fite: 21 pt Safety check, 15 minutes - FAST!:. Includes up to 5 lites of 1O0w30 Quakerstate 1362 Marine Drive 980-9715 .. Mon-Sat 800am-6:90pm, Sun. 9:00armn-5:00pm . . 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