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May 1, 2007 8:28 AM
Reading the Trade Talking Points
The third in a series of live blogs from the international economic summit in Butte, Montana
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is now speaking here at the International Economic Summit in Butte, and I'm struck by how much his speech sounds exactly like most of the speeches of the other keynoters. Every major speaker, save Sen. Jon Tester and Gov. Brian Schweitzer, are attacking as "isolationists" those who want our trade policies reformed and are demanding Congress continue passing lobbyist-written trade policies that crush ordinary Americans. It is as if these speakers have come here specifically to pressure Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to keep listening to K Street when it comes to trade policy. The message discipline is impressive - but the message itself is incredibly scary for its brazenness. These people are coming to Butte - a town that, as the picture to the right shows, has the physical scars of corporate-tilted policies - and demanding that Congress continue its war on the middle class. I'll have more specifically on the Bernanke speech later today. Stay tuned.
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Discussion
If people want a reason why we need better written trade treaties and inspection of foreign goods just look to the Menu foods(a pet food co)and their use of imported and contaminated Chinese wheat,rice and soybeans.
Its killed thousands of dogs and cats and the FDA is continually expanding the list of recalled products that now include vegatables. Hell anything edible from China suspect at this point.
And thanks to the GOP we inspect only 1% of imported foods and related products from China.
If the Democrats in congress want a ready made soapbox with public support to resist the CoC and their Wallstreet masters this issue is it.
And heres another link courtsey of Dkos dealing with imported foods:
"Dingell Dispatches Investigators to West Coast Ports"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/1/131936/6888
Folks this is the issue that so called progressives should be using to clobber the free traders.
People like Tester, Webb, Brown and Kennedy should be holding press conferences and demanding a beefed up FDA and more inspections pronto along with country of origin labeling in regards to ingredients.
Nice view of the Orphan Girl headframe and the Anaconda mountains in the background.
She wasn't a copper mine, but a silver mine, and was called the Orphan Girl because she was off by herself.
I wonder if any of the gurus were impressed by the StGaudiens statue of Copper King Marcus Daly who fed the late 19th century tech revolution by providing much of the copper to string wire all over this country for telegraph, telephones, and electricity.
Maybe not, they probably wouldn't have thought much of Daly's establishing a park for the miner's families to enjoy on their days off, or the fact that he installed the water system in Butte, and established a hospital in Hamilton.
He had a reputation for being a hard, but fair boss. He'd go down into the stopes, himself, to see how things were going, which the miners respected. A practice that most modern CEOs would look upon in horror.
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