This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Pde (talk | contribs) at 02:24, 15 December 2003 ( removed text on money laundering etc.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 02:24, 15 December 2003 by Pde (talk | contribs) ( removed text on money laundering etc.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)I can't for the life of me think of a single good thing to say about a race to the bottom. Someone else should try to dig up a few balancing statements here, like saying that global trade was never rules-based to begin with, or that the elites in each country benefit from complex regulations and from protectionism.
But are those arguments in favor of a race to the bottom, or in favor of a WTO? Another way to see it is that protectionism is just another race to the bottom.
Perjorative idioms like this one are kind of hard to explain without sounding as if you agree with their application in every case. Especially if almost everyone does agree that the phenomenon exists, is bad, and ought to be stopped.
I've removed this paragraph from the text, until someone is able to explain or rewrite it:
- Global money laundering, terror finance, tax evasion and drug dealing also tend to gravitate to jurisdictions where local laws permit them to thrive.
While it is possible that such "gravitation" may be associated with races to the bottom, this text makes no attempt to demonstrate or explain why regimes would compete for these activities. Maybe states with no other sources of finance may find some of these industries to be better than nothing.
-- pde 02:24, 15 Dec 2003 (UTC)