Taking dinosaurs off this island is the worst idea in the long, sad history of bad ideas. And I'm gonna be there when you learn that.
Posted on 12/26/2008 1:14:07 PM PST by BGHater
President George W. Bush cleared the way on Tuesday for Costa Rica to formally join a regional free trade agreement between the United States, the Dominican Republic and four other Central American countries.
Bush issued a proclamation that brings the pact into force between the United States and Costa Rica on January 1.
"This step marks an important milestone in our relationship with Costa Rica, building on our strong economic and political partnership," U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said.
Costa Rica began negotiations with the United States on the agreement in January 2003, along with Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and later the Dominican Republic.
It was the last of the five Central American countries to strike a deal with the United States, and then the last of all the CAFTA countries to ratify the pact.
Costa Rica's voters narrowly approved the trade deal in a referendum in October 2007, but the nation's lawmakers continued to haggle over its terms. The legislature finally voted to implement the agreement in November.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
What will something like this do to a country like say Belize that is in the area but not in on the agreement?
Hmmmm....
I guess J.Orlin Grabbe is rolling over in his grave. Costa Rica was his haven from W.
My husband and I were living in Costa Rica for 5 months prior to the TLC vote and for one month more after the election. We were both attending language school at the time and spent a great deal of time reading the Costa Rica newspapers daily and discussing the free trade agreement in class.
The election was **very** close and I was shocked an appalled at the blatantly Marxist and anti-captilist rhetoric used by the anti-free trade side.
Anyone who buys property or invests in business in Costa Rica is, in my opinion CRAZY! Costa Rica could turn Marxist in a heartbeat!
Also....Their colleges, universities, and especially their government K-12 schools are heavily infiltrated with Marxists and ( just as in the U.S.) are hard at work preaching anti-capitalism, and the religion of Marxism to the children of that nation.
I wish everyone in the US had to be in the military to understand what limits people can stress people. Globalist Americans think free trade is all fun and no suffering. People in the world know that if their country opens itself to compete a cost effective US economy, there will be winners and losers in society. Latin America will gain factory jobs because US factories will move to their country for cheap labor, however, the farmers in these countries will lose out to highly efficient US agri business. If most of the people in these countries are farmers, guess what popular support for globalism is going to be very lukewarm. In many of these corrupt latin american countries, the dominant families will make sure they get first divs on all the goodies and opportunities leaving the rest of the unconnected people to fight for the scraps. That is why there is violent rioting in Greece against “capitalism” and free trade. Just imagine if the US trades with a nation that can provide highly efficient office workers, and every American who works in an air conditioned offices will be unemployed and are told that the only jobs open for them is summer season backbreaking 16 hour shifts in the heat as fruit and vegtable pickers on US agri businesses at 1/3 the salary of their former jobs. Free market proponents will say main street will swallow their pride and accept such conditions, Marxists will say bring it on, I am going to have a successful revolution.
I know if we pretend to live in the 1950’s everything will be alright..
Ford’s Most Advanced Assembly Plant (Rural Brazil)
www.ritholtz.com/blog/2008/11/fords-most-advanced-assembly-plant-operates-in-rural-brazil/
The Ticos are a warm and friendly people but unsuited for the rigors of an advanced capitalistic environment. Which is why I think the ChiComs are putting big bucks into the country. The population is soft and looking for the benefits of trade without wanting to undertake the sacrifices. They will sell out in a latin minute when the Chinese present the bill. In fact all of central america will be a Chinese banana plantation in 10 yrs.
The Marxists could easily have full control of Costa Rica at any time. That the TLC vote ( and the Marxist rhetoric used) is a clear indication of that.
I am astonished that so many Americans are buying homes and other investment property in Costa Rica. Many of these Americans are retirees who have taken their meager savings and bought small homes or businesses hoping that their retirement dollars will buy a higher standard of living in Costa Rica. Sadly many of them do not speak or read Spanish well enough to read the Costa Rican newspapers. They rely solely on the English “Tico Times” for their news. These American investors could lose their property and all their life's savings in the next election.
Taking dinosaurs off this island is the worst idea in the long, sad history of bad ideas. And I'm gonna be there when you learn that.
I used to tell anyone who would listen that the place is a third world country with a deep seated socialistic world view and, behind the facade of American fast food joints in Escazu, was no place to end your days. Few listened and now are stuck with a collapsing infrastructure and a growing violence problem.
Have to say though, the people are wonderful and sweet and very inventive in a chicken-wire-hold-things-together sort of way.
Outsource all jobs and print more cash with your hosts George, Paul, and Ben.
And ol' PJ was a guest at that haven in Costa Rica 10 years ago.
Fortunately, in America we had Zorro. He ended the patrician rule imported from Spain.
Blue Point to help China firms expand in U.S.
Fri Dec 26, 2008 By Samuel Shen and Pilly Zou
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - U.S. private equity fund Blue Point Capital Partners, which helps mid-sized firms in the United States invest in China, is eyeing new opportunities to help Chinese companies invest abroad, its Asia managing director said.
With U.S. companies cash-strapped by frozen credit markets, private equity firms such as Blue Point are changing strategy.
Blue Point aims to spend a quarter of its newly-raised, $400 million fund in China, helping local manufactures acquire U.S. companies, Chip Chaikin said in an interview in Shanghai.
“A couple of years ago, private companies in China weren’t ready to do it. Now, they recognize they need to grow somewhere else too, and they are more sophisticated and bigger,” he said.
“Entrepreneurs in China have a once-in-a-life-time chance to buy overseas technology, brand, market channels at a bargain.”
Blue Point, 3i Group Plc (III.L) and other private equity firms are suffering from the impact of a deepening global credit and economic crisis that has hurt the value of their investments and made exiting more difficult.
Blue Point has previously funded China expansion by five U.S. companies, including auto parts maker QSR and architectural & design firm Callison Architecture, but now, many U.S. companies are too cash-strapped to expand overseas.
“If they have cash, they want to do it. China is the only place they can grow,” Chaikin said. “But most of them don’t have cash.”
Meanwhile, Chinese companies are more eager to buy assets abroad, as an appreciating yuan makes overseas acquisitions cheaper, and the government calls for a change in China’s growth model, which relies too much on low-cost manufacturing.
“Many Chinese manufactures are at the bottom of the global industry value chain, struggling with thin margins,” said Chen Xiaoming, director of Blue Point Asia.
“We could help them climb up the value chain, by acquiring overseas brands and sales channels.”
Blue Point seeks to invest $15 million to $50 million of equity capital in mid-sized companies which generate revenue of between $25 million and $250 million, according to its website.
The 18-year-old firm set up an office in Shanghai in 2004, to help its U.S. portfolio companies tap growth opportunities in China, the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
In a nutshell, Belize's exports to the U.S. will be placed at a competitive disadvantage to the CAFTA countries that have ratified the agreement.
Ah, but wait . . . I typed too quickly. Belize is a member country of the Carribean Basin Initiative (I forgot to check), so essentially the CAFTA countries’ exports to the U.S. are now (or will be, depending) treated equally as Belize’s exports to the U.S.
That would be possible if the jobs created by the factories replace most of the farming jobs. Every country and society has to weigh the new jobs versus the loss jobs. That is why not every country will embrace globalism and free trade. Look at our own industrial midwest after NAFTA, MFN and WTO passed. Most of our good paying manufacturing jobs disappeared and these former manufacturing communities never fully recovered. Example New York state, up state has high unemployment while New York City (center for global trade financing) flourished. Just to refresh the freepers, a poll was taken before the NAFTA vote, about 60 percent of the US opposed to it. So alarmed was our financial elites that the treaty deadline approached they applied pressure to a Dem president (Clinton) who relied on union support to win elections, that he was willing to work with the GOP to pass the treaty over Dem opposition. After that I became a political athiest (Dems and GOP are all the same) because neither party will stand up for main street when pressured by Wall Street.
Thanks.
A neighbor happens to be from there and is its biggest supporter.
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