http://www.chomsky.info/articles/20070515.htm
This relates to illegal immigration, free trade, and US Economic/Foreign Policy
"Recently, in many regions of Mexico, tortilla prices jumped by more than 50 per cent....In part the price-hike threat to the food staple for Mexican workers and the poor is what we might call the ethanol effect — a consequence of the US stampede to corn-based ethanol as an energy substitute for oil, whose major wellsprings, of course, are in regions that even more grievously defy international order."
"In the United States, too, the ethanol effect has raised food prices over a broad range, including other crops, livestock and poultry..."
A leading goal of US foreign policy has long been to create a global order in which US corporations have free access to markets, resources and investment opportunities. The objective is commonly called "free trade," a posture that collapses quickly on examination...."
"Despite the huge, taxpayer-supported agricultural subsidies, the prices of corn — and tortillas — have been climbing rapidly. One factor is that industrial users of imported US corn increasingly purchase cheaper Mexican varieties used for tortillas, raising prices....
"One-sixth of the Mexican agricultural work force has been displaced in the NAFTA years, a process that is continuing, depressing wages in other sectors of the economy and impelling emigration to the United States. Max Correa, secretary-general of the group Central Campesina Cardenista, estimates that "for every five tons bought from foreign producers, one campesino becomes a candidate for migration."
Is Chomsky just an extremist nutjob, or is anything he is saying worth taking another look at?
Please read the link.
This relates to illegal immigration, free trade, and US Economic/Foreign Policy
"Recently, in many regions of Mexico, tortilla prices jumped by more than 50 per cent....In part the price-hike threat to the food staple for Mexican workers and the poor is what we might call the ethanol effect — a consequence of the US stampede to corn-based ethanol as an energy substitute for oil, whose major wellsprings, of course, are in regions that even more grievously defy international order."
"In the United States, too, the ethanol effect has raised food prices over a broad range, including other crops, livestock and poultry..."
A leading goal of US foreign policy has long been to create a global order in which US corporations have free access to markets, resources and investment opportunities. The objective is commonly called "free trade," a posture that collapses quickly on examination...."
"Despite the huge, taxpayer-supported agricultural subsidies, the prices of corn — and tortillas — have been climbing rapidly. One factor is that industrial users of imported US corn increasingly purchase cheaper Mexican varieties used for tortillas, raising prices....
"One-sixth of the Mexican agricultural work force has been displaced in the NAFTA years, a process that is continuing, depressing wages in other sectors of the economy and impelling emigration to the United States. Max Correa, secretary-general of the group Central Campesina Cardenista, estimates that "for every five tons bought from foreign producers, one campesino becomes a candidate for migration."
Is Chomsky just an extremist nutjob, or is anything he is saying worth taking another look at?
Please read the link.
