Example #982 Of Media Peddling Biased & Debunked Economic Theories as Fact

To see just how the corporate regularly incorporates right-wing assumptions into its economic reporting, check out this new Associated Press story about the upcoming World Trade Organization negotiations. The piece states as fact that the Doha round of negotiations "sets out to boost the global economy and lift millions worldwide out of poverty by lowering trade barriers across all sectors." We are simply expected to accept as fact that free trade will automatically "lift millions worldwide out of poverty" - as if there is a long record of free trade pacts helping the world's poor.

The actual facts, of course, are quite different. For instance, since the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement - a pact, in part sold to the public as a way to help Mexico's poor - Mexico has seen its ranks of the poor jump by 19 million. After the PNTR pact with China, Chinese workers wages have risen some, but as I noted recently, companies are now looking for new ways to undercut those wage gains - mainly by creating new free trade pacts with other oppressive regimes.

The truth is, both the elites who run the Party of Davos and the corporate media have a vested interest in pushing free trade zealotry because it increases their profits. They desperately want to prevent any discussion of the actual facts that show eliminating trade barriers in the way the WTO does has primarily enriched the already rich, while leaving the rest of us behind. They don't want to consider, for instance, that the Carnegie Endowment for Peace recently released a comprehensive study showing that "a glaring contradiction exists between what the negotiators claim their proposals will accomplish and what they would actually do," according to the New Republic's John Judis. "While the talks were officially aimed at benefiting poorer nations, the proposals being put forth would increase the gap between rich and poor. They wouldn't answer the WTO's critics, but would help make their case against the embattled institution."

But that hasn't stopped the WTO and the Big Money forces pushing its agenda. The longer they are allowed to pursue these policies without any opposition or even factual questioning by the media, the more both American workers and those in the developing world will suffer.