There's No Such Thing As Ethical Consumption Under Capitalism

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > There's No Such Thing As Ethical Consumption Under Capitalism

asdf32: May 15, 2010; I lust for childrens' deaths. Ask me about how I don't care if my kids die.

McDowell posted:

Please provide proof that TPP has meaningful labor and environmental projections beyond "Obama promised"

The idea put forward in the article is that consumption is shifting from rich countries to developing ones who care even less about labor laws. If you're vietnam it's far better to have a U.S. customer than an Indian one.

To whatever extent the TPP increases trade with the U.S. it's a good thing for the countries involved

quote:

This shift is already eroding the meager gains we�ve made protecting labor conditions and the environment in poor countries. The timber sector in Gabon, for example, used to specialize in high-quality, processed lumber for European customers. Exporting to OECD countries meant that all the wood had to comply with local labor laws and Forestry Code guidelines on sustainability and biodiversity.

By 2007, however, the sector was selling 80 percent of its timber to China and India. Exporters shifted to selling unprocessed logs, which generate less profit and create one-quarter as many jobs as plywood. Since they now compete on quantity, rather than quality, they cut down three times as many trees to make the same revenue. Their new buyers don�t require environmental and labor certifications, so they�ve fallen away.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2015 00:50

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 12:51

asdf32: May 15, 2010; I lust for childrens' deaths. Ask me about how I don't care if my kids die.

StudlyCaps posted:

US free trade agreements typically allow foreign, private companies to sue governments who make laws which can be seen to harm profits.
How does that reconcile with the article saying that the solution is strong, active local governments?

Mostly because that Tea-Party esque fear over sovereignty is unjustified based on past experience with trade agreements.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2015 17:14

asdf32: May 15, 2010; I lust for childrens' deaths. Ask me about how I don't care if my kids die.

StudlyCaps posted:

There have been a few examples of countries being successfully sued over public health or environmental laws and a few cases ongoing. It's not directly applicable to the labour laws stuff in the OP but ISDS clauses are a legit thing to be concerned about.
I'm not really sure what the tea party has to do with it though, I'm not from the US.

Signing a treaty means ceding authority over something by definition. Your question was like asking how you can have strong local governments and UN membership at the same time (a thing conservative types actually worry about). The point is that these suits don't come up that often and arn't that strong anyway.

The lawsuit thing is an enforcement mechanism. If a treaty says do XYZ and you don't do XYZ the possibility of getting sued is a consequence. This is completely consistent with how most liberal states operate internally.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2015 14:08

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