Giant corporations dominate nearly every aspect of our daily life, but there are still some loose ends to be tidied up. When they are, the word "nearly" will disappear from that last sentence. The public sector is still a democratic annoyance to the captains of industry and an all out attack has been launched against it.

The strategy includes:

  • Privatization of public services and resources
  • Deregulation of government oversight
  • Unrestricted international trade including the right of business to sue sovereign governments.

    • They all three go together like symptoms of a disease.

  • "Privatization" involves turning governmental duties and resources over to private business interests. It involves either outright sale of public lands, utilities and other resources or contracting management of them. We've all heard "Government needs to run more like a business!" The unanswered question is: "Exactly which business? Enron? Global Crossing? Adelphia? Conseco? United Airlines?" (Add your own grossly mismanaged and/or fraudulent favorites)
  • "Deregulation"-this is privatization's dark twin. It means eliminating government oversight and allowing the pinstriped crowd to "police themselves." Deregulation is responsible for the energy meltdown in California, the half trillion dollar Savings & Loan Robbery of the 80's, and the more recent notorious Wall Street scandals, to name a few.
  • Last, but definitely not least, are the international trade deals such as North America Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA), Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) and General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). These treaties are sold as "free trade" initiatives but they are basically about investor rights and all impact Indiana.

    Let's look at one of these treaties already in effect-NAFTA between the US, Canada and Mexico. Since its inception in 1994, NAFTA has been responsible for the loss of hundreds of thousands of high-paying U.S. jobs. Corporations have shuttered factories in Indiana and elsewhere to pursue the low wages and lax environmental laws of Mexico. The industrial borderland between Mexico and the U.S. has become an environmental nightmare.

    One of the more horrifying aspects of NAFTA is the "Chapter 11" ability of corporations to sue taxpayers for "lost profits." If an environmental law somehow causes a foreign company to miss potential profits, that company can sue the government. Well, surely no court would make taxpayers pay a company to not pollute. Sorry, courts are entirely bypassed! A three-member panel of professional arbitrators from the World Bank (ICSID) or the United Nations (UNCITRAL) deliberates in secret with no public input allowed. The tribunal has the power to award an unlimited amount of taxpayer dollars to aggrieved corporations. The rulings are final and there's no appeal. Corporate trade lawyers are using Chapter 11 to successfully challenge domestic laws, government decisions and public provisions of services in all three NAFTA countries. So far, no corporation has lost a case!

    The shocking story of Ethyl Corporation vs. the people of Canada is instructive: In 1997 Canada banned imports of a gasoline additive (MMT) produced by Ethyl Corporation of Richmond, Va. MMT is toxic to the human nervous system. Under NAFTA Chapter 11, Ethyl sued the Canadian government for $251 million claiming the ban was an "expropriation" of investor's profits and had damaged Ethyl's sterling reputation. (Recall that Ethyl's lead gasoline additive poisoned America for nearly 60 years until banned in 1986). Fearing a loss at the hands of the NAFTA tribunal, Canadian officials caved! They settled with Ethyl for $13 million, revoked the ban on MMT and even apologized to Ethyl Corp. for damaging the corporation's reputation! Can you believe it? A sovereign nation groveling and bowing before a notorious chemical company?

    Looming on the horizon are two other trade monstrosities: GATS and the FTAA.

  • FTAA (Free Trade Agreement of the Americas) - Congress gave Bush "Fast Track" Authority last year to negotiate this. FTAA will extend NAFTA to the entire Western Hemisphere (all 34 countries except Cuba).
  • GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services) is a part of the World Trade Organization (WTO). WTO is made up of 140 nations and functions as an international court for trade disputes. It's been called "a place where governments can collude against their citizens."

    According to WTO official David Hartridge, GATS is the result of "…enormous pressure generated by…companies like American Express and Citicorp…" Services (70% of the U.S. economy) being negotiated as "tradable" include health care, waste incineration, mining, travel, water extraction…in fact anything you "can't drop on your foot" is considered a service.

    According to trade expert Ruth Caplan, when this gets approved, "The fundamental right to drinking water, public education, essential health care will be replaced by profit-driven ideology that will undermine our democratic right to determine how essential services should be provided." The corporations are hoping GATS & FTAA will become effective January 1, 2005.

    In the meantime, we all need to educate ourselves and our public officials about the impacts of these anti-democratic agreements. It's an almost unbelievable state of affairs, which will have an enormous impact on our way of life here in Indiana. Try to imagine a world where human values of justice, fairness and a clean, sustainable environment are all trumped by unbridled greed.

    Jack Miller is president of the Hoosier Environmental Council Board of Directors.

    For more information see Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch - ... - or the Alliance for Democracy ...