Davos, Switzerland: UN Seeks End of Nation-States, UN Tax on Americans

by Jim Kouri
January 30, 2006
The Conservative Voice
Original Source: http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/11954.html


While the American press concentrated on Democrat Senator John Kerry's call for a filibuster of Judge Samuel Alito's confirmation to the US Supreme Court, the story of why Kerry was in Davos, Switzerland is widely being overlooked. 
American government and business leaders were in Davos attending an international forum sponsored by the United Nations. The group acknowledged that the most potent threats to life on earth -- global warming, health pandemics, poverty and armed conflict -- could be ended by moves that would unlock $7 trillion or $7,000,000,000,000 of previously untapped wealth, the United Nations claims. 

The price of attaining solutions? An admission that the nation-state is an old-fashioned concept that has no role to play in a modern globalized world where financial markets have to be harnessed rather than simply condemned, according to the British newspaper, The Independent.

It says an unprecedented outbreak of cooperation between countries, applied through six specific financial tools, would slice through the Gordian knot of problems that have bedeviled the world for most of the last century.

If its recommendations are accepted -- and the authors acknowledge this could take years or even decades -- it could finally force countries to face up to the fact that their public finance and growth figures conceal the vast damage their economies do to the environment.

One of the short-term solutions is an international tax on air travel. Others appear to be taxes disguised as investment. For years there have been grumblings at the United Nations that an international tax should be levied for so-called prosperous nations in order to help develop poorer nations.

At the heart of the proposal, unveiled at a gathering of world business leaders at the Swiss ski resort of Davos, is a push to get countries to account for the cost of failed policies, and use the money saved up front to avert crises before they hit. Top of the list is a challenge to the United States to join an international pollution permit trading system which, the UN claims, could deliver $3.64 trillion of global wealth. In other words a tax on United States businesses and citizens.

The UN also recommended allowing migrant workers into rich nations and allow these workers to send home money to their home nations. According to critics of the UN proposals, this would mean allowing migrants to have jobs Americans actually do want which are higher paying.

One observer believes this is the beginning of international taxation on America and the European Union which will help to fight the pathologies plaguing Third-World nations. According to reports in the European press, the delegates discussed finances using the American monetary system, an indication they expect the US to foot the bulk of the bill. 

Critics believe the reason for using US dollar amounts is that the US is recognized as the wealthiest nation and so Americans should bear the brunt of redistribution of wealth.

Besides Democrat Senator Kerry's attendance, Republican Senator John McCain participated in forum.