Image at left of George W. Bush in Pittsburgh on December 2, 2003(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The hypocrisy of the American Free Market and the fallacy of Productivity: Agricultural subsidies, steel tariff, quota on bras, and casualties of wars
Nipawin - Wednesday - December 3, 2003 - by: Mario deSantis
"America's productivity revival may be nothing more than a transition from one way of doing business to another, a change in operating systems" Stephen Roach, Economist
embedded ideology	I simply can not stop accusing the Free Market for our societal predicament. This Free Market ideology is so embedded into our social and economic infrastructure that we are unable to discern the fact that it is the culprit of division among people and countries, it is the culprit of wars, it is the culprit of poverty. When you dig just a little bit deeper we find it is greed that feeds this Free Market ideology. It then becomes clear that the Free Market breaks down the rules of law as attested by the American unilateral foreign policies. When I read the stories of ongoing corruption in the justice system in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Canada, I wonder if this greed of the Free Market is the same greed which motivates some members of our justice system to deliberately put the wrong people in prison.
agri subsidies	American capitalism as a Free Market system to enhance the freedom of people is a BIG LIE and that is why the free marketeers are hypocrites. The New Economic Order preaches the Free Market and yet the richest countries have provided US$320 billion in agricultural subsidies last year while dumping the poorer countries with their supposed cheap staples. Now one billion people live with $1 or less per day and we can only think how the lives of these poor people would improve if this $320 billion had been allocated to the poorer countries to help themselves.
tarriff	President Bush slapped a tariff against the import of steel to protect the domestic steel industry; as a consequence, the United States has been found guilty of unfair trade practices and the World Trade Organization (WTO) has authorized retaliatory tariffs of $2.3 billion by Europe unless president Bush removes the steel tariff.
target China	The United States is experiencing a trade deficit of about $130 billion per year with China and as a consequence the Bush administration first demanded that China re-evaluate the yuan against the dollar, then accused China of stealing manufacturing jobs from America, and now has accused China for dumping brassieres into the American market. Now we must all understand that the American economy is driven by the doctrine of the Free Market and the so called gospel of productivity increases (ever bigger GDP per unit of labour time). Wouldn't you think that all these American problems are a reflection of the lie of the Free Market and the fallacy of the productivity mantra? Let me point out that in this Free Market the Chinese wages are about 14 times lower than the American wages.
war in Iraq	In the name of the Free Market president Bush has waged a never ending war in Iraq at a cost of hundreds of billion dollars for the next few years. I feel baffled when I watch the CNN News and I hear some American soldiers saying "I am doing my job [I am paid for]" while their fellow soldiers and civilians continue to be killed in vain. This is another extreme example of the fallacy of the productivity mantra: doing the wrong job by waging war rather than doing the right job by waging peace.
	Mario deSantis
References:
	Pertinent articles published in Ensign
	Roach, Stephen Global: The Productivity Paradox November 30, 2003 New York Times, http://www.morganstanley.com/GEFdata/digests/20031202-tue.html#anchor0
	njusticebusters  http://www.injusticebusters.com
	New York Times The Rigged Trade Game July 20, 2003 http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/econ/2003/0721rigged.htm
	Becker, Elizabeth and David E. Sanger President in a Political Vise Over Steel Tariff Decision (PDF) December 2, 2003 New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/02/national/02STEE.html
	Scherer, Ron US-China trade tensions rise. Cheap imports draw growing complaints from US companies, prompting Congress and the White House to weigh new tariffs December 1, 2003 Christian Science Monitor, http://www.chinastudygroup.org/newsarchive.php?id=3664
	Baum, Caroline Bush Gets Double `D' in Handling China Bra Flap November 20, 2003 Bloomberg, http://www.chinastudygroup.org/newsarchive.php?id=3490
Return to Ensign - Return to Saskatchewan News   This page is a story posted on Ensign and/or Saskatchewan News, both of which are daily web sites offering a variety of material from scenic images, political commentary, information and news. These publications are the work of Faster Than Light Communications . If you would like to comment on this story or you wish to contact the editor of these sites please send us email.   Editor : Timothy W. Shire Faster Than Light Communication Box 1776, Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Canada, S0E 1T0 306 873 2004