Korean Free Trade Agreement Bolsters Hollywood at the Expense of Manufacturing

The Treatyist, a Center-Right web site, breaks down the South Korean Free Trade Agreement. American manufacturers lose, but Hollywood and pill makers score some points.

Up for public comment, the South Korean Free Trade Agreement was signed by the Bush administration but never ratified. Caught in the midst of two wars and the beginnings of a global economic meltdown, Americans never really had a chance to study this important deal. To lend a hand, the Treatyist, at http://www.treatyist.com, decided to have a look and published a quick and easy to understand overview of the deal. First, the Treatyist lists what each nation's obligations and benefits are, by industry. Then, the Treatyist breaks out winners and losers by state. Essentially, the deal keeps the status quo on manufactured goods, allows Koreans to place quotas on farm products, but creates new rights for intellectual property and investors in South Korea. Manufacturers get the shaft, farmers get something, and Hollywood, software, and pharmaceuticals make out. Check out http://www.treatyist.com/issue1/aboutkoreanfreetrade.aspx

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Founded in 2009, the Treatyist is a general interest journal with a center-right political bias. The Treatyist publishes technological information, general reviews, humor, and politics.