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NO FREE TRADE Deal With Colombia!

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:13:19 GMT

clipped by: dulios

Rice Lobbies for Colombia Trade Deal

Rice's visit Friday is the latest, most high-profile one in a coordinated campaign by Colombia and the White House to win over skeptical Democrats and revive the trade pact, which was first signed in 2006 but has not yet been passed by Congress.

Colombia is the world's most dangerous country for labor organizing. Rice and nine Democratic lawmakers met in Medellin with union leaders who oppose the deal to hear complaints that President Alvaro Uribe has failed to stamp out the violence, including murder.

More than 700 trade unionists have been killed in Colombia since 2001, according to the government. The number murdered annually has fallen sharply since Uribe took office in 2002, but the 25 killed in 2007 was still more than in any other country in the world. Only a small fraction of the killings have been solved.

Tags: free trade, colombia

Bill Gates and Wal-Mart to Save the World?

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:09:06 GMT

clipped by: dulios
clipper's remarks: "Even if you dismiss both speeches as self-serving grandstanding, it's still worth noting the direction in which the rhetoric is flowing. That Lee Scott should feel compelled to pledge that Wal-Mart is going to do the right thing, because it's the right thing to do, signals that the once all-conquering ideology of free-market greed-is-all-we-need-ism is no longer acceptable to tout in polite company.

The world's problems need fixing, and unregulated markets are not up to the job. Bill Gates and Lee Scott said so. Pass the word."

Clip Source: www.salon.com

Bill Gates and Wal-Mart want to save the world

The Wall Street Journal has the scoop: Bill Gates "has grown impatient with the shortcomings of capitalism."

In particular, he said, he's troubled that advances in technology, health care and education tend to help the rich and bypass the poor. "The rate of improvement for the third that is better off is pretty rapid," he said. "The part that's unsatisfactory is for the bottom third -- two billion of six billion."

Scott, if taken at his word, proposed a platform even more radical than Bill Gates':

In the next three years, we would like to build a very different system. We believe that there should be one framework of social and environmental standards for all major global retailers. And there should be one third party auditing system for everyone.

Tags: gates, walmart

Is Selfish Capitalism Driving Us Mad?

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 07:28:36 GMT

clipped by: dulios

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Is Selfish Capitalism Driving Us Mad?

The growth in greedy consumerism over the past 20 years is taking a heavy toll on the mental health of English-speaking nations.