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North American union? Nope. Partnership? We'd benefit
Vancouver Sun ^ | 28 June 2007 | Barbara Yaffe

Posted on 06/29/2007 7:42:24 AM PDT by BGHater

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1 posted on 06/29/2007 7:42:25 AM PDT by BGHater
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To: BGHater
The next step in the Security and Prosperity Partnership -- SPP -- process, aimed primarily at streamlining business practices among the three countries,

The problem with "streamlining business practices" is that it turns into "common regulatory schemes." With big business the only "stakeholder" at the table, you can bet that regulatory hurdles will be set up that preclude competition from smaller business, usually by means that require economies of scale in the paperwork business (IOW inefficiency). With common regulatory schemes the benefits of federalism vanish and natural law competition among regulatory entities disappears as well. Thus there are no checks and balances to corruption being the engine for how applicable choices are made.

It's stupid, unless you are a monopolist interested in buying favors from unaccountable bureaucrats.

2 posted on 06/29/2007 7:53:47 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (There are people in power who are truly evil.)
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To: Carry_Okie

Free trade agreements carry an inherent imperative toward regulating and harmonizing more and more activities within each of the countries party thereto.

In their quest for successively ever more level playing fields, there is a natural tendency for free traders to inevitably seek to harmonize not just explicit tariff rates, but tax systems, labor laws, environmental regulations and any other differences in internal law that tends to confer an advantage on businesses in one jurisdiction over those of another.

We have seen this in the EU, as it has advanced progressively over the years from a coal and steel union centured on the Ruhr to a European-wide federal government, and the forces that produced NAFTA are pushing in the same direction, though we are at a much earlier stage of the process.


3 posted on 06/29/2007 8:15:36 AM PDT by SirJohnBarleycorn
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To: SirJohnBarleycorn
Correct, and well stated.

If an elected government can't do what voters expect because of international "agreements" (in our case equivalent to unconstitutional treaties), democratic representation has then become a virtually meaningless exercise meant only for public mollification, nor is there transparency in these unaccountable international bureaucracies subject only to the whims of "stakeholders."

I like to call it, "Highly Organized Crime."

4 posted on 06/29/2007 8:27:11 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (There are people in power who are truly evil.)
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To: BGHater

That’s why Bush is very flustered. These politicians and big business had this grand idea of a North American Union all along and we came along and kicked them in the teeth in the first round by sinking amnesty. How the hell is that border wall going to fit into their schemes? It just won’t look right and that’s why the damn thing is not being built! Never mind that terrorists can walk right in...It just doesn’t fit into our plans....Well boys!...your plans are about to change courtesy of a lot of very upset Americans!


5 posted on 06/29/2007 9:16:06 AM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: BGHater
Conservatives, and the Liberal government before them, haven't explained the SPP issue to voters, and so are leaving the enterprise vulnerable from a public relations standpoint.

When the Commons standing committee on international trade held hearings on the SPP in May, Council of Canadians chair Maude Barlow voiced a legitimate objection: "The SPP process has been done without any parliamentary debate or public input.

"To date, the only stakeholders involved or consulted in the SPP process have been representatives of big business. Apparently when it comes to the future of North America, the public doesn't count, nor do elected officials."

Here are the red flags waving in this lady's face, and not only is she writing the above, she's also pooh pooing "conspiracy theorists." It's obvious she doesn't see the real danger in all of this.

I'm not an alarmist by nature, but even I can see that a wall on the US southern border doesn't fit into sombody's big plan!

6 posted on 06/29/2007 9:29:10 AM PDT by Lauren BaRecall (Illegal aliens do not have Constitutional rights.)
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To: hedgetrimmer
Ping
7 posted on 06/29/2007 10:14:10 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (There are people in power who are truly evil.)
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To: Carry_Okie

Thanks for the ping.


8 posted on 06/29/2007 6:27:14 PM PDT by hedgetrimmer (I'm a billionaire! Thanks WTO and the "free trade" system!--Hu Jintao top 10 worst dictators)
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To: calcowgirl; nicmarlo; texastoo; William Terrell; Tolerance Sucks Rocks; cinives; Czar; ...

NAU ping


9 posted on 06/29/2007 6:28:07 PM PDT by hedgetrimmer (I'm a billionaire! Thanks WTO and the "free trade" system!--Hu Jintao top 10 worst dictators)
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To: hedgetrimmer

in chat already?


10 posted on 06/29/2007 6:32:42 PM PDT by nicmarlo
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To: hedgetrimmer
"To date, the only stakeholders involved or consulted in the SPP process have been representatives of big business. Apparently when it comes to the future of North America, the public doesn't count, nor do elected officials."

A major problem!

11 posted on 06/29/2007 6:34:04 PM PDT by nicmarlo
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To: hedgetrimmer
Conspiracy theorists can rub their hands in glee

Whenever the "journalist" starts out with snide remarks against people who ask questions, I'm tuned out instantly. Whether it's protecting the border, the ports, the country, the globalists simply love to mock us. And pretend they are so much more intelligent than us.

12 posted on 06/29/2007 6:35:16 PM PDT by Borax Queen
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To: nicmarlo
("Apparently when it comes to the future of North America, the public doesn't count, nor do elected officials.")

A major problem!

I agree. According to the writer, though, all Ottawa has to do is "fully explain the enterprise and bring Canadians on board."

Also, according to the writer, the (not so) dire consequences of Ottawa not doing so means "books will be published and protests planned."

I thought the writer sounded like a flippant boob.

13 posted on 06/29/2007 7:06:27 PM PDT by DumpsterDiver
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To: DumpsterDiver
I thought the writer sounded like a flippant boob.

I agree. It's an attempt, imo, to downplay what should make any sane person genuinely alarmed.

14 posted on 06/29/2007 7:17:32 PM PDT by nicmarlo
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To: hedgetrimmer
Thanks for the ping. The NAU and SPP is getting more attention than most people think. I have heard a lot a bout this on talk radio since the amnesty vote.

It is interesting to think that the census of Canada is approximately the same as the illegal population in the U.S. Actually, I didn't realize the disparity of the populations of the 3 countries.

15 posted on 06/29/2007 7:56:13 PM PDT by texastoo ((((((USA)))))((((((, USA))))))((((((. USA))))))))
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To: nicmarlo

Whoops! What happened?


16 posted on 06/29/2007 11:34:12 PM PDT by hedgetrimmer (I'm a billionaire! Thanks WTO and the "free trade" system!--Hu Jintao top 10 worst dictators)
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To: Borax Queen
And pretend they are so much more intelligent than us.

That's exactly why Barack Hussein Obama is campaigning for aid to Africa as his platform for the presidency in the US in 2008.
17 posted on 06/29/2007 11:38:24 PM PDT by hedgetrimmer (I'm a billionaire! Thanks WTO and the "free trade" system!--Hu Jintao top 10 worst dictators)
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To: Carry_Okie
Insiders, establishment, cabal, oligarchy, globalists, elites, plutocracy...
18 posted on 06/29/2007 11:41:31 PM PDT by endthematrix (a globalized and integrated world - which is coming, one way or the other. - Hillary)
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To: texastoo
The NAU and SPP is getting more attention than most people think

We can pray that this is true.
19 posted on 06/29/2007 11:42:17 PM PDT by hedgetrimmer (I'm a billionaire! Thanks WTO and the "free trade" system!--Hu Jintao top 10 worst dictators)
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To: hedgetrimmer
Re: Aid to Africa

In the shadow of GWB’s grand aid package to Africa.

20 posted on 06/29/2007 11:43:43 PM PDT by endthematrix (a globalized and integrated world - which is coming, one way or the other. - Hillary)
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