Chomsky Profit over People part 1

American politics under the cloak of free trade manipulate others for their own profit, the profits of U.S. investors/corporations. Free trade is a system of trade policy that allows traders to trade across boundaries without interference from the respective governments. This demonstrates how companies/corporations are able to legally increase their profit on the back of other nations. It seems that U.S. companies benefit from desperate leaders in different countries that are willing as far they can make money to trade their labor to an extend that is out of balance. Those countries don’t have much more than labor and that’s what the companies are focusing. They need cheap unregulated labor from other countries that produce the items of a company for the least amount of money.

As we read in Chomsky’s Profit over People, we learn that the free trade agreement came through the view of neoliberals. Neoliberal is a new liberal view, and is a set of economic policies that have become widespread during 1980 – 2008. Although the word is rarely heard in the United States, you can clearly see the effects of neoliberalism here as the rich grow richer and the poor get poorer.

first draft of third essay

Corporations like Nike and IBP corrupt the American democratic system. In Fast Food Nation we see that meatpacking companies came together and created a “monopoly” without any votes of others. Corporations like Nike enacted “corporate personhood” without any public vote. How can decisions be made without any legislature or any public votes. For example in unequal protections: No branch of the US government ever formally enacted corporate personhood “rights”: the public never voted on it, it was never enacted into law by any legislature, it was never even stated by a decision after arguments before the Supreme Court (Hartman 11). It is contradictive that a company can be called a person even if they don’t have a body. They benefit from the right “freedom of speech” but the law won’t find a person to sue that violates the law.

 It is even obvious that the system is corrupt, because as we read in crude world, political leaders and company chiefs know and act in favor for each other. As Maas writes: Obiang was guest of honor at a private Washington luncheon organized by the corporate council on Africa, a lobbying group composed of American companies with investments in Africa (Maas 47). The luncheon was held at the Army and Navy Club, and Obiang was seated at the head table with fawning oil executives and senior State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Walter Kansteiner (48). Even a dictator like Obiang celebrates together with officials of the corporations to maintain the business. This leads to the conclusion that global business is more important than democracy in our economy.

Through globalization countries are focused on resources to maintain the constant flow of supplies they need. A democratic country like America trades with communistic countries like the Middle East. How can a country keep up the democracy if they follow the demands of communistic leadership? This country is all about consume. Resources Wars example…. (will be continued)

Immigration Week

I think the presentation on monday about immigration was really interesting. There were a few cases, like the guy from Ecuador, that showed me how people try to make a change happen and struggle in both countries. To leave one country and enter another is sometimes more difficult then expected. It's seems that not just the system makes things complicated, also the people in the country a person tries to live in. People tend to show their fear through bad talk. That one guy gave us an example of peoples behave when they called him "go back to mexico jalapeno". Once a person masters the daily challenges like language and social behavior, the system steps forward and a person feels again not welcomed in America. It is for a foreigner a big challenge to integrate personally and on paper. I liked specially the speeches from the students at the end. I share same feelings with them and that's why I like the immigration week. If a person wants to live in America and work in and for the system, the country should not deny these people, because they could make our economy and country better. Foreigners often come with a lot of passion and energy to america and that's what made our country so big and powerful. New People with a lot of ambition and creativity can make changes happen, no matter where they're from.

Resource Wars

Countries will fight for resources in the future, because the world is running out of resources. The resources are depleting and the prices will raise and that leads countries to fight for and protect their resources. Michael T. Klare writes in Resource Wars; Why have resources become so important? As suggested earlier, the adoption of an econocentric security policy almost always leads to an increased emphasis on resource protection - at least for those states that depend on raw material imports for their industrial prowess. The almost complete disappearance of ideological conflicts in today's world has also contributed to the centrality of resources issues, in that the pursuit and protection of critical materials is viewed as one of the state's primary security functions.

Meat packeting corporations use this method of resource protection with their cattle's. Corporations like IBP have captive supplies to secure their flow of resources and to keep the price of supplies stabile. The World acts on the global stage similar to the corporations in the USA. Corporations and countries want to benefit as much as possible from the resources given by the nature, without thinking about any consequences for the future. People look at resources as an opportunity to make money, no matter the consequence.
Written in class of Mr. Rogers

The World will fight in the future for resources. Their goals are to provid the supplies of oil as long as possible. Resource Wars written by Klare, shows that countries want oil resources and that emphasis to an increased on resource protection. Economic developed countries will try to keep lesser developed countries under control  that have these resources. Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation leads to the corporations like IPB, which has captive supplies to keep the farmers and prices under control. Captive supplies are used to control the resources and keep the price low as possible on the market.

Stroking

In “The Fast Food Nation” written by Eric Schlosser, he discusses the meaning of “stroking”. In chapter 3 he writes “stroking, a form of positive reinforcement, deliberate praise, and recognition that many teenagers don’t get at home. Stroking can make a worker feel that his or her contribution is sincerely valued.” That’s a way to make an employee happy, without spending money and a way to create a “team spirit”. The effect of ”team spirit” includes, arrive on time, work hard, and feel good.

At a later point in chapter 4, we see the same strategy of “stroking” coming up, in Peter Lowe’s “success seminar”.  He focuses on the managers, franchisees, and salespersons. He motivates the people by giving them confidents. It’s a psychology way to push and motivate people. At the end of this chapter one of the speeches’ comes from Christopher Reeve. He was an actor in the 80’s. When he comes on stage, he says, “I see people who achieve these conventional goals. None of it matters.” Basically means that the goal of these people is not what really counts in live.

Human rights

Human rights

The way IBP treats their employees and even the animals is not acceptable. The farmers lose their business, the employees don't have any rights, and the food IBP produces/packages is not healthy. The employees of IBP are generally unskilled immigrants, and they work for the lowest salary and don't get any healthcare. There jobs are terrible and dangerous and the consumer has almost no choice then buying their product and though supporting corporations with every purchase. The poor consumer supports with it's taxes corporations like Mc Donald's, Burger King, Subway, Taco Bell that are allowed to treat employees like tools and produce cheap unhealthy food. The way they produce a simple burger or taco, violates human rights, animal rights and has nothing to do with farming. It is time to make a change and stop supporting these corporations in exchange of a greasy burger/taco. Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation" gives people an opportunity to look behind the shiny storefront.

Democracy as a resolution in the middle-east

Is democracy a resolution for the middle-east? Perhaps most importantly, a parliamentary system could address the huge task of creating democratic and effective political parties better than presidentialism would. Fortunately, some Egyptian democratic activists and theorists are already debating the parliamentary alternative. In that case, Egypt's first free and fair election could create a constituent assembly that would immediately provide a democratic base for the government, as well as a means to amend or rewrite the constitution.
According to Matt Welch, an editor in chief of Reason magazine:
"When we talk of democratic systems, we mean, without ambiguity, genuine democracy," the declaration states. "Democracy is based on respect of all rights for all the people, including freedom of thought and expression, and the right to organize under the umbrella of effective political institutions, with an elected legislature, an independent judiciary, a government that is subject to both constitutional and public accountability, and political parties of different intellectual and ideological orientations. This genuine democracy requires guaranteed freedom of expression in all its forms, topmost among which is freedom of the press, and audio-visual and electronic media."
Democracy can create freedom in egypt because the people who empower there leaders can limit there powers to limit freedom. I believe that the future will show us if democracy is really the best resolution to effort peace in the middle-east. It is at least a step in the right direction to break out of the regime they had under Mubarak.

Shock doctrine

Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, published on September 4, 2007

These laws are always connected to capitalism, the western economic model featuring investment risk for rich return. Klein explains, for example, that the attacks on America on September 11, 2001 gave the legal and political foundation for President George Bush to launch a war in Iraq in order to create a free-market economy there.

Klein argues that "extreme capitalism loves a blank slate" meaning that if a western power can wait until a disaster strikes somewhere else in the world, the vacuum created by the disaster will suck in capitalism. The intent here is to suggest capitalism is a way for western powers to encroach upon new land - a type of modern lebensraum - executed when mother nature or local political instability has run its course.

I for one have great faith that we are not in Afghanistan today to spark McDonalds restaurants there. I also do not believe we are fighting in the middle east to buy cheaper gasoline. I believe these things because even though our government is very effective, it is very much limited in what it is allowed to do (the Constitution) and it is all contained on 100 square miles of land (Washington, D.C.).

Christopher Lomtevas