So much for progressivism and environmentalism in Ecuador. Money talks and politicians walk. Indigenous leaders have already declared that any more enclosure of the commons will result in war. And, yes, they have seen Avatar, and they aren't waiting for a white savior either.
“To hurt the government, they are hurting the country, the poor, that Amazonian region,” Correa said, adding that “we are not with the multinationals, we are with the poor.”
“We cannot be beggars sitting in front of a bag of gold,” he said.Yep, that old bag of gold gets 'em every time. There can be no accommodation with unbridled capitalism over either human rights or the environment, which is really the commons. Correa's calling himself a "socialist" is an oxymoron.
The Raw Story
Ecuador’s president vows to push large-scale mining despite indigenous protest
Agence France-Presse
"Correa, a socialist, said his goal was to use the country’s mining and oil wealth to eliminate poverty...."
ReplyDeleteWhy does he think a nation needs mining and oil to "eliminate poverty"?
Is he going to use the Foreign currency balances obtained by selling the resources to import goods that will then "eliminate poverty"?
Why dont they just build stuff themselves to "eliminate poverty"? Too stupid down there?
Or does he believe that the foreign currency (ie USDs) balances that they will obtain and put into foreign official reserve accounts is the "poverty eliminating" act in itself?
ie "We're not poor if we have billions of USD balances at the Fed!"?
These people probably all think thus:
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Documents/mfh.txt
"Look at us world, look how "non-poverty" we are!" ... what a bunch of moron zombies...
ISSUE YOUR OWN "MONEY" YOU MORONS!
Matt, it gets worse. Ecuador does not issue its own currency. It uses the USD, so it has to obtain $ by selling its "gold," i.e., its commons to the highest bidder for enclosure and stripping. This is the new "socialism," justs like the old capitalism.
ReplyDeleteThe problem Correa has is that 90% of the population favors keeping the US dollar as the currency of record. If that is the case, the Ecuadorians have to export to get the US dollars. Therefor mining and the export of raw materials becomes essential.
ReplyDeleteCorrea has used the income to improve infrastructure and to increase education and healthcare for the bottom 50%. That is the basis for his popularity, and also essential if youwant Ecaudor to become self sufficient. See Bill Black's comments on the Ecuadorian situation.
I'm jus' sayin' that before progressives get all effusive over Correa they should look at the big picture.
ReplyDeleteOf course, Ecuador needs USD under the current monetary policy. Correa should be explaining the consequence of that choice and why it is a poor choice over time once the country is stable and no longer benefits from it.
Furthermore, the countries natural resources should be nationalized and managed transparently by the the government with full public accounting of where every penny went. Contracting this out to multinationals is asking to get ripped off, along with a lot of domestic corruption as bribes get paid.
And, obviously, the human, civil, and legal rights of the indigenous population should be scrupulously respected with oversight by the nation's judiciary.
Cheap shot. These are difficult issues, and there are winners and losers no matter what choice is made. Correa's whole program is based on taking national control of the resource wealth of Ecuador so that it can be used to benefit the people of Ecuador, and not just a few capitalist owners, many of whom live outside the country. He's in a struggle with US imperialists and multinational capital.
ReplyDeleteMatt, are you saying that a country doesn't need real resources to build prosperity and eliminate poverty? I fail to see
ReplyDeleteDan, you are one of the "progressives" I am afraid of. :o
ReplyDeleteDan I figure they have domestic building materials for unfrastructure, schools, they could establish their own industrial sector for key plant and equipment...
ReplyDeleteI see a zealousness to acquire "premier" foreign (western)currency outside the west (or even here in this "third world" economy in Latin America) and then these societies think "they have made it" or something once they acquire large surpluses of these foreign currencies...
They too could just issue their own FFNC state currencies and eliminate a majority of their "poverty" with their own domestic efforts imo.... some key components may have to be imported but that could most likely be accomplished via balanced trade policies with the nations that would source those items...
It just pains me to see a guy like this get so zealous to extract and export these resources with a view towards acquiring foreign currency balances (thus his "ending poverty") when this is not looked at a just one small part of an overall domestic policy of a robust and well ordered economy to deliver the best results for their own people there...
It seems like he is jumping the gun and going right for the exports and does not have an overall plan for how that is just a perhaps key part of an overall economic policy that will deliver the best results for his nation....
It looks like he is just succumbing to the "greed factor" towards the acquiring of other nations financial assets as "Job No. 1" (to me) with no coherent plan beyond that...
I look at all the many nations outside the mainstream of the west who end up with huge Current account surpluses this way... I do not understand why they would want to do this...
rsp,
It's not about the money, Matt. It's about what the money buys. People want dollars because in the world we actually live in you can still you can buy a lot of things with dollars. If Ecuador wants to convert some of the wealth that they can produce domestically - from purely domestic resources - into the kinds of goods and services that can only be obtained from abroad, then they need to procure the media of exchange that people will accept for those goods and services. And if they have surpluses of resources that surpass what they need for domestic production then it makes perfect sense to try to trade those resources for something else.
ReplyDeleteFor smaller, developing countries, it is a difficult question as to whether to issue a national currency, or to conduct business in an established international reserve currency. There are costs and benefits of each approach. One has more direct monetary policy control over one's own currency. But the willingness of people to accept that currency abroad might be more limited and depends on how much valuable industrial output the country has. There is no easy uniform choice for developing countries to make here.
You are amazingly quick to assume that everybody who doesn't follow your preconceived opinions is a moron or an idiot. If you think Correa is making mistakes, OK. But the guy has followed a fairly heroic course so far and has succeeded in accomplishing a lot of things that people said he couldn't accomplish. The folks at the Economist magazine seem terrified of him, which gives him extra cred in my book.
The next stage in the attack on him - as it frequently is in the history of Latin American attempts to chart a course independent of US imperailist capitalism - will be to try to enlist useful, feckless liberal idiots in the US into the anti-Correa cause by eliciting kneejerk reactions to some of his policies.
Do Correa's policies have the support of the Ecuadorean people, or don't they?
Tom, after 40 years of an advancing neoliberal takeover of the western economies, with greater inequality, less security, and the perversion of every aspect of our social lives into an expression of purely commercial and narcissistic values, I think the left needs a more aggressive and organized approach than it has practiced in its recent history. This is a battle for a decent life for the next generation, and in the end it comes down to who owns what.
ReplyDeleteDan, what I am talking about is progressives that worship their heroes and are not willing to admit their failures and abject compromises of principle. Obama is a good example, and so is Correa. Yes, they have "done some good things," but they have also done some very bank things when it comes to human rights. To me, human right is the bottom line. After all, even Marx admitted that capitalism results in enormous advances economically that benefited most people. But this didn't get in the way of his criticizing its weaknesses in doing and point ou that there was a better way.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have to torture people, commit genocide, exploit the environment and enclose the commons to make life generally better for all.
Point taken about this guy in Ecuador Dan agree he has some balls at least and is making some progress for his people as a whole via the ballot box... and perhaps I am too hard on this guy specifically... but there is the larger issue...
ReplyDelete"It's not about the money, Matt. It's about what the money buys..."
But Dan, if it is not about the "money" what are these people doing with all of this:
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Documents/mfh.txt
Look at Japan, the only month in recent history that they did not add to this total was the month of the tsunami in 2011.. and they are probably kicking themselves about it more than their broke dick response to the tsunami itself for their own people ... and now are devaluing the Yen to acquire more USDs and Euro.. and China has people jumping off dormitory roofs committing suicide in response to working conditions at export factories.... I'm tellin' ya this is NOT RATIONAL (in my view).....
"You are amazingly quick to assume that everybody who doesn't follow your preconceived opinions is a moron..."
Only on these issues related to those among us who lack a view of our govt's God given authorities Dan (Romans 13).
Yes I am quick to exhibit indignation in this regard, I simply cannot help it usually...
"Stupid and blind!" Mat 23
I certainly can't "change their minds" for them, just like the Lord couldn't change the minds of the lawless unjust in His day, and strong personal indignation automatically follows for me....
... seems all folks like myself can do is point out this blind stupidity to others who may not yet be so deceived... it's all I can really do at this point... what else can I really do? I cant change their thinking...
Consider giving me a break on this.
Believe me it is NOT personal for me with these people, I am not given to believe in any form of "free will"... for me it is that "they know not what they do"... ie to quote the Lord "stupid (moron) and blind!"... they are being disgraced by God.
My view of them as being made morons in this regard is NOT gratuitous to myself or any other human.
"Alleging themselves to be wise, they are made stupid (morons)" Romans 1:22
In my view, it is completely out of the Lord's (and then accordingly any possible form of mine own) control at this point... all I can do is point out what I see in this regard for possible benefit to the yet to be deceived others...
this guy in Ecuador seems like he is another that is made blind to the most basic authority of the govt that he has taken an executive position within... it's holding him back from doing an even better job for the people of his nation...
rsp,