My thoughts on Free Trade (Life and Debt)

Life and Debt is one of the most compelling documentaries that I have seen till now from a social as well as an economic point of view. The movie depicts beautiful shores of Jamaica from the perspective of a regular American tourist who seeks to find pleasure through the beauty of Jamaica on their vacation unaware of the adversities that the indigenous people of Jamaica undergo. The title “Life and Debt” touches hearts when the viewer is exposed to the irony of situation where on one side tourists are seen to enjoy the phenomena called ‘life’ and at the same time the people of Jamaica are struggling to survive the same phenomena. Their lives are getting harder day by day cause of enormous debt. Thanks to the clever manipulations of modern- day economic agendas like free trade and a stable global economy lead by the world’s greatest economic organizations like International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Before voicing my views on the situation based on critical economic aspects I want to make it clear that I truly believe in the fundamentals of global economic agendas like free trade.The purpose of free trade is or should be the mutual benefit of both the parties. It is an essential tool through which big businesses can increase their revenue while at the same time uplift the underprivileged. It is a concept which should lead us towards eradication of poverty but the present-day scenario seems to work counter-productive to this concept. Taking the example of Jamica, free trade has completely destroyed the country’s agriculture and milk industry which are two major pillars of its economy. Big American companies have taken over their markets in the name of free trade and development leaving the country’s indigenous people out of business as they don’t have enough resources to compete with such elite organizations. This has made unemployment to rise among the people and destroyed the nation’s self-sufficiency.

On the other hand, corporations have shifted some of their industrial operations which one could only hope to provide true employment to people. As an already established fact, labor exploitation comes under one of the many ‘cost cutting’ trends of corporate giants. The workers of Jamaica are underpaid and forced to work for long hours. When it comes to trade their money for basic necessities we see the same giants selling them goods on ‘normal’ prices. So, they pay abnormal wages and sell at normal prices forcing the nation to sustain in debt. This clearly seems like an eyewash where the true motives of objectives like free trade such as eradication of poverty are lost and the only ulterior motive that is being full-filled is ‘profit maximization’ be it on the cost of people’s lives.

As far as people working for these companies are concerned, they are just doing their job. I am sure that is what they tell themselves to sleep, but what about the regulators. Does IMF refuses to acknowledge such economic realities in all of their meetings? Is World Bank happy to pass another loan to a nation which is already under severe debt? Or are we stupid enough to ask these questions and scared face the corrupted reality of our global economic systems? As strong as it may sound, I believe it is time for us to educate our economists with some morals too.