Later this month, my caucus colleagues and I will join thousands of Canadians in Quebec City to protest the secret negotiations concerning the Free Trade Area of the Americas. In recent years, capital has been globalizing at a rate the world hasn't seen since the 18th century. Currency speculation happens in seconds. Thanks to the Internet, money crosses borders at the push of a button.
Investments come and go around the globe with blinding speed.
Transnational corporations have successfully jumped the fences of national borders - and are increasingly impervious to the laws and regulations of democratic sovereign states. Under the WTO, governments have been bullied into believing that if they don't accommodate the 'global market economy' they will be left behind. These guarantees clearly put corporate profit above the public interest. Metalclad vs. Mexico. A geological study had shown that the site was contaminating the local water supply and the government had shut it down.