But hungrier than ever for even cheaper labor, the big investors are trying again. These pacts hold deep threats for the working class and all oppressed. Thus, FTAA threatens to privatize not only postal services throughout the Americas, but also public education and public health care. Then, as the saying goes, both poor and rich will be equally free to send their children to private schools and use private clinics.
Environmental measures taken by individual countries are also in danger.
They also represent attempts to assure the repayment of debts and a quick exit for capital in time of crisis. These seek to generalize unequal trade in favor of patent owners. If overcapacity was bad before, it's even worse now as the economy slows. Withholding patents, or charging outrageous royalties for them, can bankrupt weaker producers. Like WTO, FTAA represents efforts by the biggest capitalists to push the burden of their deepening crisis onto workers and oppressed.