[Dialogue] More on Raw Capitalism vs Free Enterprise

[Karl Hess]

Jim,

I don't know when 'free trade' was used in public general speech to 
mean what the dictionary says, but if you listen to any politician in 
the last 25 or so years, it means some idealized market where the 
buyer and seller have equal knowledge and power.  Joe Stiglitz got a 
Nobel Prize a few years ago for proving that that doesn't exist in 
the real world.  So we have rampant predatory lending under the 
banner of free trade.  We have destruction of markets and communities 
around the world under the banner of free trade.  NAFTA+ farm 
subsidies has caused American corn to be cheaper in Mexico than local 
corn.  So lots of the illegal aliens are farmers who used to be able 
to make a living before NAFTA are heading North where they hope to be 
able to eke out some kind of living.  Republicans seem to have a 
bizarre idea of public interest and the corporate media have filled 
Amerians' minds with these ideas, constantly being repeated.

In Ohio there is a consumer sales practices law which (lemon law) 
applied to about every kind of business, specifically exempting 
financial institutions - thus the predatory lending epidemic which is 
transferring billions of dollars from the middle class to the 
plutocrats. A couple of years ago, it was extended to financial 
institutions, but last fall in the dark of night the Republican 
legislature removed the penalties for violating it.

"Free trade" is the banner of all those who want to continue 
shattering the remaining safety net, to the extent of letting 
children die without medical care that their parents cannot afford. 
What the dictionary says doesn't seem to make any difference.

Karl

>The GOP presidential candidates gathered in Dearborn, Mich., 
>yesterday for, what the Washington Post characterized as  "a group 
>defense of low taxes and free markets and warned that Democrats, 
>particularly 
><http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/c001041/>Sen. 
>Hillary Rodham Clinton, pose the greatest danger to the nation's 
>future prosperity. Former senator Fred D. Thompson 
>(<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Tennessee?tid=informline>Tenn.) 
>finally joined his rivals in a televised debate, adding his voice to 
>the chorus singing the praises of free trade, a reduction in 
>regulation, private health care and reduced government spending."
>In short, the GOP (and far too many Democrats) are dead set against 
>"regulation necessary to protect the public interest and to keep the 
>national economy  in balance. "   And that, of course, is an 
>essential part of the definition of "Free Enterprise."
>
>So I repeat:  In our world today, there is precious little Free 
>Enterprise and both the public interest and the national economy are 
>in deep trouble as a result.   
>
>Today, there are far too many politicians toadying to big business 
>interests because that's where the money is.  When women do this, we 
>call them whores.
>
>The full text of the article is at:
><http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/09/AR2007100902348.html?hpid=topnews>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/09/AR2007100902348.html?hpid=topnews
>Jim Rippey
>
>
>
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