Fair Deal for Atlasian Workers Bill

[Q]

Oh for God's sake.

I motion to rename this the World Trade Organization Withdrawal Bill.

Seconded, both the exasperation over semantics and the motion for the rename.


Also: Senator Al, I will get back to you shortly on why this bill furthers Atlasian interests as well as aids developing nations.

[MasterJedi]

Oh for God's sake.

I motion to rename this the World Trade Organization Withdrawal Bill.

Seconded, both the exasperation over semantics and the motion for the rename.

I'll third it, for both things.

[12th Doctor]

Wow, the title is acctually what gave me hope that this would be a decent bill.

Anyway, I am no fan of the WTO, but withdrawl could befundamentally damaging to our foriegn relations, so, I must urge against this bill.  We should attempt reform first and then, if that doesn't work, we should threaten withdrawl.  We also should work to set up seperate deals with most of these countries before we withdrawl.

[Bono]

Wow, the title is acctually what gave me hope that this would be a decent bill.

Anyway, I am no fan of the WTO, but withdrawl could befundamentally damaging to our foriegn relations, so, I must urge against this bill.  We should attempt reform first and then, if that doesn't work, we should threaten withdrawl.  We also should work to set up seperate deals with most of these countries before we withdrawl.

I thought you were against trade with China. my mistake.

[12th Doctor]

Wow, the title is acctually what gave me hope that this would be a decent bill.

Anyway, I am no fan of the WTO, but withdrawl could befundamentally damaging to our foriegn relations, so, I must urge against this bill.  We should attempt reform first and then, if that doesn't work, we should threaten withdrawl.  We also should work to set up seperate deals with most of these countries before we withdrawl.

I thought you were against trade with China. my mistake.

I am, but the WTO is not just China.  Anyway, I said that I favored an attemp at reform.  If that doesn't work, we make agreements with the countries we can trade with and we pull out.

[minionofmidas]

Ramifications of withdrawal NOW would be massive and might very well resemble the Great Depression.
Obviously the WTO as it is now is a fairly evil instrument - but Atlasian workers are not its chief victims.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Ramifications of withdrawal NOW would be massive and might very well resemble the Great Depression.

Could the Senator for the Midwest please explain how?

[minionofmidas]

In the same way in which the Great Depression was, not caused (granted), but much aggravated, by protectionist measures introduced by the rich countries of the world in the hopes of shielding themselves from its effects.
[Of course, I'm going along with the now-established fiction that we're running a major country here. A club of 70 people leaving the WTO would have no effects on anybody but these 70 people. End of aside.]
Leaving the WTO would take us right back to the pre-World War II era in how tariffs are set. The agreements America Atlasia had with all its major allies before the introduction of the WTO have all been superseded by it, and have been governed by international treaty (GATT it used to be called) ever since 1948.
Oh, and here's an interesting tidbit specially for you, from the Wiki (yeah, I know, it's not a bible. Still.) "The WTO is effectively the long-delayed successor to the anticipated International Trade Organization, which was originally intended to follow the GATT. The International Trade Organization charter was agreed at the UN Conference on Trade and Employment in Havana in March 1948, but was blocked by the U.S. Senate. Some historians have argued that that failure may have resulted from fears within the American business community that the ITO could be used to regulate, rather than liberate, big business."

It is my position that Atlasia should not leave the WTO, but rather should throw her weight firmly on the side of developing nations in the current, Doha round, negotiations. This might not be strictly in the interests of Atlasian workers, but is in the interest of workers the world over, most of whom live in the developing world.

[Bono]

Why doesn't someone prpose an ammendnet stating that tariff levels would remain the current as now?

[A18]

We should repeal all tariffs and withdraw.