[Marxism] Free trade, electoral cretinism and Nancy Pelosi

[Anthony Boynton <northbogota@xxxxxxxxx>]

As some of you on this list know, I am a fan of Nancy
Pelosi. You might say she is my favorite imperialist
designer-jean-wearing grandmother. And one tough broad
(I did not use that other word that begins with B).

Some of you may have noticed that she just royally
reamed George W. and Alvaro Uribe on their electoral
plans and on the so-called Free Trade Treaty between
Colombia and the USA.

The amazing thing about that treaty, which is the
number one foreign policy goal of the Uribe
government, is that it has ABSOLUTELY nothing good in
it for the Colombian capitalist class, at least not
those who are engaged in legal capitalist behavior.

The deal is amazing. Right now more than 80% of
Colombian exports to the USA enter duty free. And
about 80% of US exports to Colombia face high or even
prohibitive duties. Right now Colombia basks under its
own intellectual property rights laws, which mean that
there are lots of generic pharmaceuticals available
here dirt cheap that you can not legally buy in the
USA. Right now Colombian law requires that foreign
companies operating here must hire Colombian managers
and professionals.

All of this, except the first point, will change. US
rice will enter Colombia duty free, corn will enter
more easily, etc. Colomiban agriculture - the legal
part, will be bankrupted except for big industrial
farms. The generic pharmaceutical biz will cease to
exist, and lots of Colombian managers and
professionals will be out of jobs.

Supposedly textile makers, apparel firms, and shoe
factories will benefit, but that is not really very
likely because the China price will still be a lot
lower than the Colombia price.

In other words, nobody in the legal economy of
Colombia will benefit.

The odd thing about this is, almost everyone here
THINKS Colombia will benefit because Alvaro Uribe says
it will.

The truth is, the only people here who will benefit in
the short run are the drug dealers because the deal
will move goods like cut flowers through US customs
faster. (And make it easier to slip dope through.)

So, Nancy Pelosi, for her own awful, and awfully
electoralist reasons, has struck a blow against ....
the empire.

Good on ya Nancy.

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