Month: February 2013

By Karl Reiner

At the behest of Florida growers, the U.S. Department of Commerce was investigating the charges of low
price dumping of Mexican fresh tomatoes in the U.S. market. The tomato dispute could have triggered a trade war with Mexico because Mexican authorities threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs on American exports of meat, poultry and grains.

A few days ago, the Commerce Department announced that it had negotiated a solution with the Mexican government and growers.  A draft agreement had been initialed.  The proposed agreement covers imports of all fresh or chilled tomatoes of Mexican origin, except tomatoes for processing.  Mexican fresh tomato exports to the U.S. are valued at approximately $1.9 billion per year.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The media arm of the GOP establishment in Arizona, The Arizona Republic(an), has issued its decree that there shall not be a recall of Crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio. No need for new vote on Arpaio. Columnist Laurie Roberts is so incensed that she has written two opinions just since last Friday. Arpaio … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The GOP does not do introspection and reflection. Its answer to "What went wrong in 2012?" is not to question its policies that the public has rejected — because that would be heresy on the right — but rather to question its messaging and marketing strategies.

So the GOP turns to the "Madmen" of Madison Avenue to create an ad campaign based upon a "New and Improved!" packaging for its product, but with the same poisonous product.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said, "It's not the platform of the
party that's the issue. In many cases, it's how we communicate about it.
It is a couple dumb things that people have said."

Similarly Jim DeMint, the former senator and now head of the Heritage Foundation, believes his
party simply needs better communication skills — and nothing else.

And then there was Louisiana Governor bobby Jindal: “We’ve got to stop being the stupid party. It’s time for a new
Republican Party that talks like adults,” he said. “We had a number of
Republicans damage the brand this year with offensive and bizarre
comments. I’m here to say we’ve had enough of that.”

(Of course, the King of Stupid in the GOP took exception because he resembled those remarks. Donald Trump: 'Stupid' for Bobby Jindal to warn GOP to 'stop being the stupid party'.)

Posted by Bob Lord

Chris Hedges has a great post up at Truthdig today. He explains how debt is used by our corporate state to control the working poor.

Workers who are unable to meet their debts, who are victimized by constantly rising interest rates that can climb to as high as 30 percent on credit cards, are far more likely to remain submissive and compliant. Debt peonage is and always has been a form of political control. Native Americans, forced by the U.S. government onto tribal agencies, were required to buy their goods, usually on credit, at agency stores. Coal miners in southern West Virginia and Kentucky were paid in scrip by the coal companies and kept in perpetual debt servitude by the company store. African-Americans in the cotton fields in the South were forced to borrow during the agricultural season from their white landlords for their seed and farm equipment, creating a life of perpetual debt. It soon becomes impossible to escape the mounting interest rates that necessitate new borrowing.

And raising the minimum wage to $11 per hour, the same level as 1968 in real dollars, is the key to breaking the chains of debt peonage.