Free Trade Deal With Colombia Seen As Win For Both Countries

[Fade the Butcher]

These people honestly have no shame. Does anyone remember how NAFTA was touted as being an anti-narco-trafficking measure?

CNS News (http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200602\NAT20060228b.html)

The United States has struck a major trade agreement with Colombia -- part of an effort to engage economically with Latin America at a time when a growing number of Latin American countries are tilting to the political left.

Congress must ratify the free-trade pact before it takes effect.
"This deal opens the door to huge opportunities for American business and agriculture in Colombia," said Daniel W. Christman, U.S. Chamber senior vice president for international affairs.
"The U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement is one of the best tools imaginable to help our friends in Colombia lock in their progress in the fight against narco-trafficking and terrorism by developing sustainable economic alternatives to the drug trade." . . .

[Nordicist]

narco-trafficking and terrorism

and terrorism too? If you want to sell anything to the bovine American public just say that will fight terrorism and [I]voila! Done!

[Fade the Butcher]

Behold the philanthropy of the free traders. You would think the United States would stop propping up one of the most murderous regimes in the Western hemisphere if America wanted to do something to improve the lot of the people of Columbia. The War on Drugs is such a farce. The U.S. really doesn't want billions upon billions of dollars of drug money circulating in its major banks. A free trade agreement would facilitate narco-trafficking, not the other way around, but that's the whole point.

[Olin D. Johnston]

$725 billion dollor trade deficit, and yet we need more "free twade" ? Just how crazy are these "free traders"? They sound like they need to be locked up in a mental institution.

[Fade the Butcher]

$725 billion dollor trade deficit, and yet we need more "free twade" ? Just how crazy are these "free traders"? They sound like they need to be locked up in a mental institution.

Their reasoning goes something like this: The trade deficit is wonderful because exporting jobs overseas erodes our tax base, depresses real wages, renders us dependent upon foreigners, undermines unions and all sorts of progressive legislation, and pushes down the value of our currency. The Chinese and Japanese use their earnings to snap up American assets and purchase U.S. Treasury bonds (half of which they already own). This is great because an increasing percentage of federal outlays goes to servicing the interest on the national debt held by foreign bond holders as opposed to being reinvested in America.

The yardstick we should use to measure national well being is consumption. If Americans are consuming more goods, then Americans are better off. That Americans are going into debt to finance this overconsumption or working longer hours because of their real incomes are stagnating or declining isn't of much concern. Don't go there. Look, the working poor are consuming more than ever before even as their real wages are falling, ergo, the working poor are better off. This can be attributed to free trade, not to all sorts of government legislation and programs that underwrite everything from their health care, education, legal expenses, food, housing and so on.

[Roland]

"The U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement is one of the best tools imaginable to help our friends in Colombia lock in their progress in the fight against narco-trafficking and terrorism by developing sustainable economic alternatives to the drug trade." . . .

I fail to see how the further devaluation of non-coca crops that will inevitably follow this aggreement will help curtail narco-trafficking and the subsequent bourgeoning para-military population.

[Kodos]

Behold the philanthropy of the free traders. You would think the United States would stop propping up one of the most murderous regimes in the Western hemisphere

How is the government in Columbia one of "the most murderous regimes in the western hemisphere" the FARC is a narco terrorist group... legalize everything but crack and crystal meth...

[Fade the Butcher]

How is the government in Columbia one of "the most murderous regimes in the western hemisphere" the FARC is a narco terrorist group... legalize everything but crack and crystal meth...

Search the human rights websites for Columbia.

[Kodos]

I don't like "human rights" groups generally...

[Generator]

I don't like "human rights" groups generally...
Dear, oh dear, Palpatine. Spare your disdain for the "human rights groups" so despised by your comfortable self when referring to Colombia. Here, there are no pussy-footing, politicking hypocrites to behold - human rights groups in such countries are about genuine survival, and usually at great cost to those who engage in such activities. The ADL they are not.

[Generator]

Behold the philanthropy of the free traders. You would think the United States would stop propping up one of the most murderous regimes in the Western hemisphere

How is the government in Columbia one of "the most murderous regimes in the western hemisphere" the FARC is a narco terrorist group... legalize everything but crack and crystal meth...
I'll ask the same question that I asked regarding Iran, Palp. How familiar are you with Colombian politics and ethnography?

That the Colombian government has, for half a century, been one of the most murderous in the Western Hemisphere is not disputed by anyone who is aware of elementary Colombian history.

Nowadays, they retain the proud status by proxy - see the AUC and their merry bands for more details. This does not exculpate the equally corrupt and vicious leftist paramilitaries, of course.

[Blond Knight]

You can see it coming:

July 4, 2010, Communist News Network

"The World Trade Organization announced today a ruling in favor of the Columbian Coca Growers Alliance in their suit against the United States of Azatlan requiring the United States to dismantle the Drug Enforcement Administration due to interference in the free flow of agricultural products from Columbia into the United States....More details at the top of the hour...Meanwhile Archer Daniels Midland and Tyson Foods stocks soared to records levels on the New Jerusalem Stock Exchange today..."