Labor, Trade, & Finance Archives - Page 92 of 235

Food Security and National Security

by Jim Harkness | Feb 23, 2011

Sounding the alarm about various threats posed by a rising China has become a cottage industry among pundits and politicians. One of the oldest warnings is that China’s increasing demand for food will wreak havoc on international markets, causing mass starvation in food-importing countries. But this concern ignores the safeguards China has in place for food shortages and the lessons the rest of the world could learn from this approach.

Poverty Capitalism: Interview with Ananya Roy

by Josh Leon | Feb 17, 2011

The last decade of officially celebrated growth left behind a vast underclass. The world’s richest 500 people, hardly enough to fill a movie theater, command more wealth than the bottom 416 million. From the varied vantage points of affluence, the poor are many things — victims, citizens, objects, profit opportunities. Ananya Roy’s recent book Poverty Capital brilliantly captures a growing global consensus about poverty, and a brave new world of ideas aiming to fulfill oft repeated declarations of “making poverty history.”

Trading with the Enemy

by Jason Hickel | Feb 16, 2011

In 1875, as Europe set its sights on Africa’s vast riches, King Leopold II of Belgium wrote to his ambassador in London, “I do not want to miss a good chance of getting us a slice of this magnificent African cake.” It’s America’s turn now, and it appears that the Obama administration – like Bush before him – is driven by a similarly disturbing vision: a new scramble for Africa.

Free Trade Kills Korean Farmers

by Christine Ahn, Albie Miles | Feb 15, 2011

The Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (Korea FTA), which the Obama administration is promising to send to Congress for ratification in the next weeks, would be the largest international trade deal since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Korea is the seventh largest U.S. trading partner and the United States is Korea’s third largest trading partner. Commerce between the two countries is estimated at $86 billion annually. The Korea FTA was originally signed in April 2007 by President Bush and later amended by the Obama administration in December 2010. But neither the U.S. Congress nor the South Korean parliament has yet to sign it

Tahrir Square a Product, in Part, of the Perversion of Microcredit

by Russ Wellen | Feb 12, 2011

Microcredit’s odd link to police brutality.

Peru Trade Deal Unravels

by Tereza Coraggio | Feb 7, 2011

In 2007, a determined Democratic caucus put their collective feet down. They refused to consider any more free trade agreements without a new model, with stronger protections for labor, human rights, and the environment. And so in May, the caucus and its supporters cut a deal with the Bush administration for a new and improved FTA with Peru.

Republican Calls to Drain the Pentagon Swamp Provide Window for Democrats to Climb Through

by Peter Certo | Feb 2, 2011

Citing canard that moderates are more inclined to respect Republicans on national security matters, libertarians and Grover Norquist call for defense cuts than Democrats.

WikiLeaks XXVIII: Organized Crime Squeezing the Life Out of Bulgaria

by Michael Busch | Jan 6, 2011

Organized crime in Bulgaria dates its inception to the demise of communism, but has already become a tradition.

Inspiring Story of Tunisian Protests Ignored by Washington

by Rob Prince | Jan 4, 2011

Even though President Ben Ali and his wife have used privatization as an excuse to buy up state property at bargain basement prices, the U.S. still supports them.

Recovery Recedes, Convulsion Looms

by Walden Bello | Jan 3, 2011

The dominant mood in liberal economic circles as 2010 drew to a close, in contrast to the cautiously optimistic forecasts about a sustained recovery at the end of 2009, was gloom, if not doom. Fiscal hawks have gained the upper hand in the policy struggle in the United States and Europe, to the alarm of spending advocates like Nobel laureate Paul Krugman and Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf who see budgetary tightening as a surefire prescription for killing the hesitant recovery in the major economies.