Thursday, August 28, 2014

How "free trade" is helping Ashley Madison get money for nothing in South Korea

When the government of Canada announced the Canada South Korea Free Trade Agreement they probably weren't thinking about the free trade in spouses that Ashley Madison specializes in.

Nevertheless, Ashley Madison is first into the docket pressing a claim against South Korea for lost profit opportunities. Seems those dowdy Koreans are so backward that they have laws making adultery illegal, if you can imagine such a thing!

The Koreans voluntarily signed on to this trade deal (although it has yet to be ratified, so maybe this case will give them pause for thought) so they shouldn't be surprised. The main purpose of Free Trade Agreements is to enshrine in law the principle that corporate rights trump the rights of sovereign nations.

As for the dozens of times Trade Minister Fast has announced the "thousands of jobs for hard-working Canadians" that will ensue from this deal, that's what's known in the PR biz as a "whopper."

From us they buy raw materials and beef.

From them we buy cars and manufactured goods.

There's a lot more high-value jobs in manufacturing than in modern coal-mining or beef farming. And by the way, the tariffs we charge on their cars will be eliminated over two years - they'll take off the tariffs on our beef over 15 years.

Any jobs created by this deal will be in Korea... with the exception of the lawyers working for Ashley Madison!

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