Recommendations

For example, this applies - and may even be used by the WTO to remove Medicare and Social Security from their protection from the GATS in the US, (which would immediately require its conversion to just another commercial investment, with low yields, a bonanza for Wall Street but a disaster for the people of the US, especially those millions of us who have no other retirement savings )

India's government in trade negotiations to offshore millions of US jobs, represent SS as standing in the way of that long planned "services liberalization" the jobs portion of the GATS, and other FTAS etc (See "GATS Mode 4") India also claims, (and no doubt Wall Street is overjoyed by this)  that it is unfair for their now millions of "temporary" guest workers to work here for, in many cases decades, contributing into our Social Security, and not be able to "take their money out of the system".
So the long term trend, because of GATS is likely the privatization of these benefits, they will likely be turned into 401ks. Thanks to GATS. Similarly, public healthcare benefits will likely be turned into vouchers applyable towards the payment of commercial health insurance around the world.

(Developing countries provide their skilled laborers, such as computer programmers, engineers, nurses, teachers, etc. at competitive rates, even insisting that we not be required to pay them our minimum wages. (this is disputed) They also promote their health care systems as cost effective alternatives to your local hospitals and doctors.

Here is a position paper which gives India's feelings about Mode Four as its called generally.)

Its true, it is unfair to make US workers train their replacements, pay them less than what they are worth, in some cases a lot less, and then not give them a path to citizenship or the money they paid in to benefits back.

But thats what India wants, more than the totalization agreement (which they would need a real Social Security and national healthcare plan to deserve, as I understand it, not fake ones set up for this reason entirely)

It seems that Social Security was intended to protect domestic laborers in an era where most people worked, and those people were nationals of the country where they were working.

The winners of many contracts: new services subcontractors - foreign subcontracting firms often don't want to "hire locals".

Why would they when their own country is having riots over the lack of jobs?

The facts are, Social Security was a promise made to the people of America in order to create a social contract. One which has vanished in all but name only but politicians are pretending it still exists much more than in reality it still does, and hiding this covert scheme to dismantle the little of it that is left under a confusing "bocage" of good cop bad cop shenanigans-in order to deceive the public.

Legislators protected Scocial Security and Medicare- and the NHS in the UK, from privatization up until GATS. And it seems, many of them still don't know that GATS endangers them.

Now many people are retiring early involuntarily.

Does Capitalism really want out of its responsibilities to society. Or was GATS a trick?

(Not just in the US, also in other entities such as the EU that also are bound by it.)

Most people don't seem to know about it or that it applies to so many things.

The WTO Annex on Financial Services presents such substantial dangers to existing public services such as Medicare and Social Security it deserves its own treatment.

Such a treatment is waiting for me to be able to learn more about it.

Pages that discuss this issue:

GATS and Financial Services Regulation

Publications by Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch (PCGTW) and Canada's Policy Alternatives' Trade and Investment Research Project (of the Council of Canadians NGO).

And several others.

See especially our links on the governmental authority exclusion, (i.e. GATS Article I:3 b+c and this Annex) but also many other pages, including those on necessity, proportionality, trade restrictiveness,  necessity testing, etc. Links are below, in the tags area.

PLEASE SEE THESE LINKS: