Socialism for capitalists, capitalism for the rest
OPINION
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that will be fully paid by our grandchildren. That the three free trade deals will sail unquestioned through Congress in 15 minutes and the China currency deal won’t make it out of Congress in 15 years is more proof of our democracy’s growing dysfunction. People come second to profit. Only one major ag leader, Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union, questioned the need for the trade deals and the principles of our soon-to-be biz partners. While “agriculture has been one of the few sectors (in the U.S. economy with) … a trade surplus,” Johnson noted Oct. 3, it also has had “a net trade deficit in seven of the past eight years with countries that the U.S. has trade agreements.” That red bottom line is written in blood for some of the pending trade partners. In Columbia, for example, Johnson added, more than 2,800 trade unionists have been murdered since 1986; “51 in 2010 alone.” So that’s our business plan; become partners with folks we wouldn’t share a cup of coffee with in the hope — a vain hope, according to the record — of selling them a bushel of corn or a pound of ribs? Little wonder so many people in this glorious nation think we’re headed straight off a cliff. ••• Alan Guebert’s “Farm and Food File” is published weekly in more than 70 newspapers in North America. Contact him at agcomm@farmandfoodfile.com.
THE LAND, OCTOBER 14, 2011
than later, we pay for it. Farming and ranching have always involved a lot of straightness. Straight The deregulated, failing banks. An fence lines, straight rows, straight dealenergy policy built on unsustainable ing. fuels. A food inspection system that inspects almost nothing. Meaningless Politics not so much. Twisted thinking, antitrust laws. Corporate “free” trade. circular debate and, more often than we Unlimited campaign spending. care to admit, crooked people litter the political scene. Add it up and it amounts to socialism for capitalists and capitalism for everyIn fact, today’s politics are dominated by the inside-out logic that doing nothing FARM & FOOD FILE one else. The Big Boys bend and buy government to do their bidding — fewer is better than doing anything. We even regs, lower taxes, more subsidies — while pay dozens in Congress at least $174,000 By Alan Guebert you, with little money, no influence and per year to ensure it. no lobbyist, are told to compete. Small wonder then that so many The first week of October showed with so little are so willing to fight so this crooked approach to democracy in dirty to attain, then keep, political office. full bloom. On Oct. 3, the White House sent to Congress three Life after office ain’t so bad, either. According to the “Revolving Door” database main- trade deals (Panama, South Korea and Columbia) that have been hanging fire for years. Easy, swift — tained by the Center for Responsive Politics (www.opensecrets.org), 370 former members of Con- as in two weeks — bipartisan Congressional approval is predicted. gress currently “receive handsome compensation That very day the U.S. Senate agreed, by a biparfrom corporations and special interests as they tisan 79-19 majority, to impose import tariffs on attempt to influence the very federal government” any nation whose currency is purposely “misthey formerly served. aligned” against the dollar. This auction of public trust virtually guarantees The legislation, aimed directly at China, has zero special interests a 24/7/365 lock on national interchances of enactment because Big Ag and Big Biz ests. will send its lobbyist poodles to nip it to death in For example, if you’re a trans-national meatthe House so China’s Western-owned factories can packer you can purchase all the influence — fake continue to send us stuff we don’t need at prices economic studies, key committee people in Congress, astro-turf farm and ranch groups, solemn lobbyists — to make market-leveling regulations simply disappear. And the laws, like the competition, soon do. It might seem like sleight of hand but it’s not. We see it. We even write and talk about it and, sooner
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