http://brasil.indymedia.org/pt/blue/2003/08/262137.shtml download the .mov! De Amerikaanse ambassadeur in Brazilie is op 28 augustus tegen een taart opgelopen. Hoje, dia 28 de agosto, s 17:30, no Palcio do Itamaraty, no Rio de Janeiro, um ativista da organizao poltica e recreativa Confeiteiros Sem Fronteiras tortou o co-presidente da ALCA, o embaixador americano Peter Allgeier. from indymedia.org: On August 28, an anti-FTAA activist pied American Embassador Peter Allgeier, co-president of the FTAA, during a press conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. [photo | video] The activist, a member of Bakers Without Borders, released a note protesting the negotiations of the FTAA. The FTAA will concentrate wealth, increase poverty, and destroy labor, consumer and enviromental rights, said the note. The protest also focused attention on the disregard Brazil's government has shown for a September 2002 unofficial plebiscite in which over 10 million people voted "No" to the FTAA. Last month, President Inacio Lula da Silva said at a meeting with George Bush that negotiations will proceed and should finish by 2005. Brazilian social movements and NGOs protest the continuation of negotiations. The pieing comes just two weeks ahead of a WTO meeting in Cancn, which will be met with massive protest.23 responses total.
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I didn't see where to download the .mov.
allen ginsberg proposed that all the world leaders get into a boxing rink nekkid and slug it out with socks full of shit. i think socks full of shit is a more appropriate tool for polititians than a sumo diaper.
actually i heard the pie was filled with shit and vomit.
"MY GOD, THAT'S MOOSE-TURD PIE! It's good, though."
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"Free Trade Area of the Americas" The FTAA is an expansion of NAFTA, a Proven Disaster # Its being negotiated without Citizen Input # The FTAA will undermine Labor Rights, Push Down Wages and cause Job Loss # It will hasten Environmental Degradation # The FTAA will hurt Family Farmers # It will lead to privatization and extreme deregulation of Essential Services # Corporations will be given outrageous rights to sue Governments # The FTAA will jeopardize consumer safeguards # It will spread the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) # It will deny access to lifesaving medicines for millions of people # The FTAA will make the rich richer and increase poverty throughout the hemisphere can also read some here: http://www.citizen.org/trade/ftaa/
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The current administration reps are apparently in PRC right now. I gather from the government press over there that the issue of 'floating' the RMB is an issue. I don't get this at all. Supposedly it is a bad thing that the PRC keeps tight control over the RMB allowing it to float in a range of less than 1% and maintaining it a 8.26 RMB/$US exchange rate. Supposedly it is good for the US for it to float. I don't get that. Supposedly it would be a good thing if the $US was worth less. I go over there to visit and I am supposed to be happy that things are more expensive? Plus the benefit to the PRC with a controlled currency was for example it was able to withstand the asian bust recently - so floating it would be good for them? Why would they want to do that? Why would we want them to? I don't get this one.
It's pretty simple. Letting the RMB float would make it easier to sell goods manufactured in the U.S. in China. Bush needs to win at least part of the labor vote to win the next election. Get it?
(Actually, that's a bit of an oversimplification. The issue isn't so much selling American-made goods in China, it's making the Chinese goods more expensive in the U.S. so American-made goods can compete here.)
re#11: That doesn't make sense. If the RMB goes up, our goods are more expensive making the average PRC citizen less likely to be even able to buy. IF the RMB goes down everything we buy there is more expensive so how does that benefit the US citizen? re#12: Hah. Now I understand. It is protectionism wearing free-trade clothing. If the chinese worker is willing and able to build a cheaper mousetrap of equal quality and pay to ship it here such that the US citizen will buy it then where is the problem? If it is not of equal (or better) quality then the US citizen won't buy it. I mean I dunno about you but I tend to buy what I think is the best deal for the bucks. Where does it benefit either the PRC or the US citizen to change what seems to be working pretty well. They are happy building the stuff and we are happy to buy whatever. What disadvantage to the US consumer is there in the PRC exchange rate controls?
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problem is if they do make it cheaper and better, and they drive the jobs out of the auto plants, who is going to be able to buy the car?
Just about everybody else? Depends on how much cheaper in terms of hours of take-home pay required to purchase.
Depends on the time-frame. If nobody in the US has a job, then there's no market for cars, even if they're cheap Chinese cars made with prison (slave) lahor. That's one of the classic stories of US free-market industry, actually. Henry Ford gave his workers well-above-average salaries, and as a result his workers were able to afford Ford cars.
Cheap, shoddily made goods will always drive more expensive but well-made items out of the marketplace, because there are always a lot of people who can't tell the difference. Look at tools, for example -- even Craftsman tools are poor-quality junk made in Asia, these days.
Auto workers cannot comprise the *entire* market for cars - or even a large fraction. As they expect to buy other things as well with their paychecks (ie, food, housing) and the car company has other expenses besides labor, there has to be income from outside the group of auto workers.
(sure there are. in a simple economic system, it could include the very food sellers and landlords you cite in your third sentence. alternatively, it also could include those damn tax-avoiding rich people that aren't paying their fair share for government expenses.)
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All SUVs look like shiny toys to me. What's your point? ;>
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