A perfect example of legislative abuse...

[firebee]

On March 1st, the World Trade Organization authorized trade sanctions on the United States by the European Union, China, Russia and Japan due to misuse of the Byrd Ammendment, which has led to international trade violations. The WTO also backed Canada, Mexico, Chile, Brazil and a number of other countries' countermeasures against certain provisions of the Byrd Ammendment due to how these provisions are being used.

Currently, the Byrd Ammendment fines foreign corporations that dump products on the U.S. market, but it violates international trade laws because the money attained through the fines are being redistributed to the American corporations competing with these foreign corporations, which shows a severe conflict of interest by our government. Simply put, the Byrd ammendment is being used by our government to steal money from foreign corporations and then the government subsidizes the American corporations with the money they stole from the foreign corporations.

Essentially, the Byrd Ammendment would be a well functioning ammendment if the government fined the foreign corporations dumping products on the U.S. market and used that money for government controlled programs, which would eleminate the conflict of interest between competing multi-national corporations. However, as always... Our government is stuck in corporate welfare mode and now the citizens are going to suffer because of it.

If you think these sanctions are going to have little effect on the United States, consider this... Why can citizens of the United States go up to Canada and receive flu shots, but Canada won't sell flu vaccines to American corporations for distribution in the United States? This is the kind of effect trade sanctions have. Guaranteed... if their were no sanctions in place, we'd be getting flu vaccines from other countries and this trend is going to keep running it's course until we get some enlightened legislative reform.

[Skink]

1. Robert Byrd is good all over...

:headbang:

[firebee]

2. Notice... This is not an attack on Byrd.

This is an attack on our government's misuse of the Byrd Ammendemnt. The Byrd Ammendment is a well intended ammendment that would've discouraged foreign corporation's from dumping products on the U.S. market, which would've created fair trade for American corporations in the United States and retained jobs. However, as always... extra provisions get attached and ammendments get distorted or improved because of it. Somehow, a provision attached to the Byrd ammendment allocates money from the fines and subsidizes the American corporations competing with the foreign corporations that got fined.

This kind of activity presents a conflict of interest because it appears like the government's stealing money from foreign multi-national corporations and giving that money to American multi-national corporations they're competing with. As a result, countermeasures or sanctions get placed on the United States by organizations and nations that are effected. Now.... I serisously doubt this process of subsidizing American corporations with the fines of the foreign corporations was part of Byrd's original bill, but I'd be interested in who attached that provision or who's in charge of these allocated funds.

Again... this is not an attack on the intention of the bill. This is an attack on the way this bill is being used and how the misuse directly effects the American people.