CAFTA Passes: Dirty Tricks and Devastating Consequences

[align=left]CAFTA Passes: Dirty Tricks and Devastating Consequences[/align]

[align=left]Scott Ritsema/Prison Planet | August 3 2005[/align]

[align=left]This past week, CAFTA passed the House of Representatives by a 217-215 vote. This vote, especially on the Republican side of the isle, does not reflect the views of the American people or the U.S. Constitution. Even many Rush Limbaugh listeners have called in to voice their strong opposition to this so-called â??free trade agreement.â?� In fact, one poll suggests that half of the countryâ??s Republican voters opposed CAFTA! Why, then, did roughly 80% of Congressional Republicans favor it? But we all know that the Washington insiders are completely out of touch with the American people and the Constitution. So, letâ??s turn our attention to so-called â??free trade agreementsâ?� and what they are all about, as well as how CAFTA was actually passed.[/align]

[align=left]CAFTA and NAFTA are not simply agreements; rather, they set up authorities that trump federal, state, and local laws and constitutions. When our elected officials signed CAFTA into law, they signed over a piece of our sovereignty. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress and only Congress the power to regulate trade. NAFTA, on the other hand, sets up a tribunal to rule on all maters of trade. For example, one dispute between the state of Massachusetts and a Canadian real estate company was decided in the Massachusetts Supreme Court. The NAFTA tribunal, however, had different things in mind, and overruled the previous court decision. So, these are unconstitutional decision-making, power-wielding bodies that have no business in American affairs.[/align]

[align=left]CAFTA and NAFTA will not/have not improved economic conditions in America; rather, they have (coupled with intrusive government) decimated the manufacturing base of many communities. Ask any American who lives in a community that has lost manufacturing jobs to Mexico, and you will likely get the same strong condemnation of NAFTA. NAFTA has clearly hurt the American economy. Our trade deficit is growing and our manufacturing base is disappearing. Not to mention the often-neglected fact that having foreign nations manufacturing all our goods is a national security risk. CAFTA will do the very same things to our economy that NAFTA has done.[/align]

[align=left]CAFTA and NAFTA are not simply about economics; rather, they are about open borders and political union as part of the New World Order. As has been hidden in plain sight by the CFR, the economic union is only a stepping stone to the long-dreamed of political union. The stones are as follows: NAFTA then CAFTA then the FTAA then the Pan-American Union (and a regionalized world) then the UN or the New World Order (world government). The massive amounts of evidence supporting this assertion needs its own article. Suffice it to say that the CFR globalists have been open about their plans as well as their strategies, seeking to make an â??end-run around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by pieceâ?� (Richard Gardner, CFR; in his piece â??The Hard Road to World Orderâ?� in a 1974 issue of Foreign Affairs, the CFRâ??s publication).[/align]

[align=left]Finally, CAFTA was not passed fairly by the House; rather, immoral scheming got the CAFTA vote through. The Republicans, who are supposedly the â??moral valuesâ?� party, ought to be ashamed of themselves. The CAFTA vote was stolen, and is a total sham. As Kent Snyder of the Liberty Committee noted, CAFTA was defeated after its allotted 15-minute vote window. Unhappy with the results, the House broke the rules by keeping the vote alive for another hour. At the end of that vote, CAFTA had passed. Or did it? One of the two Congressmen who supposedly abstained from voting, North Carolina Republican, Charles Taylor, did vote â??noâ?� on CAFTA, but for some reason his vote didnâ??t show up on the register. [/align]

[align=left]In sum, CAFTA and NAFTA are surrounded by lies, misunderstandings, and misinformation on all sides. The average American, though, senses the danger in these phony free trade agreements. And, the Constitution prohibits them. Itâ??s time for a wake up call in Congress.[/align]

[align=left]CAFTA passage sparks job fears
Engler pushes trade pact, but critics say deal could hurt auto workers, state sugar beet farmers.
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[align=left]Louis Aguilar/The Detroit News | August 3 2005
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[align=left]When President Bush signed a free trade pact Tuesday with six Latin American countries, he was flanked by supporters, including John Engler, head of the National Association of Manufacturers and former governor of Michigan.
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Bush said the Central American Free Trade Agreement would "advance peace and prosperity in the region."

Engler told reporters that the measure was a "win-win" situation.

But the ceremony belies the fierce battle CAFTA has sparked over the future of U.S. trade policy and the bitter opposition from many Michigan players, including labor unions such as the United Auto Workers and sugar beet farmers from western Michigan.

CAFTA eliminates $33 billion in tariffs on goods traded between the United States and Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. That includes a 30 percent auto tariff in El Salvador and an average 11 percent tariff on autos and parts in the other nations.

Critics contend the pact sets a dangerous tone for upcoming trade agreements with Thailand, Argentina and Brazil, which they say could threaten tens of thousands of jobs in Michigan and other U.S. states.

"This wasn't about free trade-against -protectionism," said Sen. Carl Levin, a Democrat who voted against CAFTA.

"But trade has to be expanded in the right way and CAFTA is exactly the wrong way. It doesn't protect the rights of workers overseas and it encourages a race to the bottom in wages."

Michigan exported $35.6 billion in goods to the world in 2004, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, but the CAFTA nations represented a small slice of that market -- about $125 million.

The UAW and other labor groups contend CAFTA doesn't adhere to an international standard of workers' rights set by the World Trade Organization that advocates the right to organize and prevents child labor and discrimination.

While the UAW doesn't expect significant job loss of auto workers as a result of CAFTA, upcoming trade agreements with Thailand, Argentina and Brazil could have "tremendous impact on Michigan workers," said Alan Reuther, UAW legislative director.

"Thailand is the second largest producer of pickup trucks. Argentina and Brazil have auto facilities. We can get flooded with products and tens of thousands of jobs could be affected," Reuther said.

Michigan's sugar beet industry, which contributes an estimated $115 million to the state economy, is sour on CAFTA because of fears it will result in a surge of cheaper sugar. Other Michigan commodities were expected to benefit, including beef, dairy and soybeans, according to the American Farm Bureau.

Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, whose district represents many sugar beet farmers, voted against CAFTA despite provisions that limited the amount of imported sugar.

Bush remained steadfast in his support of CAFTA Tuesday.

"The best way, as far as I'm concerned, to make sure we continue to have sustained economic growth is to promote trade that is fair for the folks here at home and that is leveling the playing field," he told reporters.

http://rense.com/general67/realpurposeofcafta.htm

The world government is almost in place, thanks to the Illuminati. I bet they're familiar with the occult and ceremonial magick as well. May there world government dreams fall and be smashed! That might not happen though, unfortunately.

it seems to be going through without a hitch...without much discussion or care from 'republicans'...or neo-cons to be more exact.

you want to quietly pass cafta, launch a shuttle...you want to quietly pass more provisions of the patriot to destroy the constitution (dec. 13, 2003), then you capture saddam...always a major step to global government and turning us into a dictatorship under a smokescreen...

[align=left]Bank For International Settlements Calls For Global Currency[/align]

[align=left]Joan Veon | August 3 2005[/align]

[align=left]Basel, Switzerland -- The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) released their 75th Annual Report on June 27 to commemorate its founding in 1930. Most countries today have a central bank which is a private corporation that handles its monetary system. Bi-monthly, central bank ministers from 40 countries meet at the BIS to review ways â??to promote the co-operation of central banks and to provide additional facilities for international financial operations.â?� Once a year the worldâ??s central bankers meet in Basel to take a closer look at the status of the worldâ??s central banking system. Besides the annual review, this yearâ??s Report considered the need for â??new mechanismsâ?� to keep the financial system more in balance. [/align]

The BIS report highlighted the uneven global expansion that they see. While world output expanded by 5% in 2004, the highest rate in nearly thirty years, they said its growth showed a new uneven economic expansion. Although the United States is an engine of growth, they noted the key Asian economies as being at the second pole of global dynamism, while slower growth can be seen in other larger advanced economies. The U.S. and China accounted for nearly 50% of the worldâ??s increase in global output with the global economy growing at 4% in 2005, in spite of oil prices which are projected to remain high for a prolonged period of time.

The BIS is at the apex of the global financial system. It was birthed in 1944 when the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were set up. Should we dare to mention that its founders were Harry Dexter White who worked in the Treasury Department and who was a communist spy along with John Maynard Keynes, a Fabian socialist? Keynesian economics is at the heart of the reason for all levels of government being broke.

In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard, which forced all the other countries of the world to follow suit, thus changing the global monetary system from one of fixed currencies to one of floating currencies. When a currency is no longer backed by gold it is then possible to play all kinds of games with its value. By buying or selling a large quantity of one particular currency, an economically powerful individual or bank can literally move the market in their favor by buying low and selling high.

The new patterns of booms and busts which the BIS refer to are not only man-made, as a result of the floating currency, but the highs and lows have been exacerbated by the fact that the barriers between the nation-states are gone. The ability to buy and sell currency on a global basis was seen in the Asian Crisis. For the countryâ??s that refused to open their markets to the World Trade Financial Services Agreement, their currencies were crashed.

Furthermore, the highs and lows of a countryâ??s stock market is a result of the respective central bank buying and selling that countryâ??s treasury bills. For example, when the Federal Reserve adds money to our banking system, interest rates drop and the stock market rises. Since the NASDAQ crash, interest rates in the U.S. have fallen to 45 year lows, stimulating both the prices of real estate to historic highs and the stock market.

The BIS Annual Report cited three such cycles of highs and lows. The first began in the 1970â??s when the dollar was taken off the gold standard. Mr. White said that the change in the gold standard with very important in world affairs. The second cycle began in the mid-1980s, ending in a property bust; and the current cycle began in the mid-1990s. All Americans should be concerned about this report for the worldâ??s bankers are signaling the end of the third cycle which can only end with higher interest rates as money is taken out of the market. Will we have another property bust as seen in the mid-1980s or will we have a repeat of the Nasdaq?

Interestingly enough, the BIS cites household debt being at historic highs. In a way they created it. Of course buyers would seize the opportunity to trade up their home for a bigger one since they can afford more because of lower interest rates. As a result, Spain, the U.K., France, the U.S. and the Nordic countries have had huge increases in property values with household debt-to-income ratios at unprecedented highs.

Furthermore, household saving is not evident in the U.S. to the same extent that it is in the Asian countries. World national savings rose to 25% of Gross Domestic Product or about 1% point more than the annual average for the current decade. This was due to higher savings habits in the developed world and in particular, China, where savings rose to 48%. High debt-to-income ratios and low savings in the U.S. do not bode well for Americans.

The BIS Annual Report notated some â??disturbing patterns of uneven growth worldwide.â?� While the U.S. and China accounted for half of the worldâ??s growth, the Euro area and Japan have much slower growth. They write that the prospect of reducing Americaâ??s fiscal deficit is not encouraging. Citing concerns over disinflation, the BIS stressed the need for interest rates to rise in order to slow consumer spending. The Bankâ??s Economic Advisor, William White, explained, â??The time has come for a measured withdrawal of the stimulus that has been put into the [economic] system.â?� What Mr. White is saying is that it is time for the Fed to withdraw money from the banking system that created low interest rates and corresponding high property values and a high stock market. With the Federal Reserves ninth interest rate increase, we can see the stated direction of the economic cycle.

Lastly, the Report stated that the â??underlying issue seems to be that we no longer have a system that somehow forces countries to alter their domestic absorption and associated exchange rates so as to reduce external imbalances in an orderly way.â?� It should be noted that with a floating exchange rate, there are no ways for any kind of adjustment like there was under the gold standard. The BIS recommends what several academics have suggested by way of establishing a single international currency or perhaps moving to regional currency blocks such as the dollar, euro and renimbi/yen. (This is the first time I have seen renimbi and yen tied together. What it indicates is that the Chinese renimbi appears to be overtaking the yen.) A year ago U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman, Dr. Paul Volcker said, â??A new mechanism was needed for the world financial systemâ?� and that â??in a globalized world, we should have an international currency.â?�

In a world of floating currencies ruled by the rich and powerful, we will always have external imbalances thus creating an evolving system of global economic imbalances which leads to feudalism. Global feudalism is created as the rich and powerful continually skim off the top of the worldâ??s economic imbalances so as to even it outâ??for them!