colonel@gloria.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman) (05/11/85)
> > >=Paul Dubuc > > > >Surely the American public isn't much > > >aware of what's going on (we just enjoy relatively stable and cheap > > >prices on bananas without realizing that the countries which produce > > >those bananas have to produce more and more of them to buy the same > > >amount of manufactured goods that they depend on for their productivity), > > I guess we're not aware of what's going on. Are you telling us that > we are somehow forcing these countries to sell products for prices lower > than others are willing to pay? If so, why don't they just well their > products elsewhere? Or do you mean that the world is just unwilling to > spend as much on bannannas as these countries need? > -- > Jeff Sonntag Not that I want to take part in this debate, but ... I think that the issue is whether the U.S. is forcing Central America to _produce_ bananas cheaply, by depressing wages. -- Col. G. L. Sicherman ...{rocksvax|decvax}!sunybcs!colonel
dlo@drutx.UUCP (OlsonDL) (08/16/85)
> = From my previous posting. >...The vast >majority of the crops grown in Mexico are staples (corn, beans, wheat, >soybeans, livestock, seafood). About 10% of its cotton 7% of its sugar, >and less than 5% of anything else it produces is exported. Argentina >grows huge amounts of corn and wheat. About 36% of its fruits and >vegetables, 15% meats, 13% wine, beer, and tobacco, and less than 10% of >anything else it produces is exported. Brazil grows wheat, corn, rice >in about the same amounts as tropical fruits. About 29% of its coffee, >11% of its minerals, and less than 10% of anything else it produces is >exported. Nicaragua produces about as much corn as it does bananas. About >36% of its coffee, 12% of its cotton, 6% meats, and less than 5% of anything >else it produces is exported. For El Salvador, 44% of its coffee, 10% of >its cotton, and less than 4% of anything else it produces is exported. >In fact, staples of many kinds (mostly grains) are grown throughout Latin >America; most of which stays inside that particular country. The above percentages came from the _Encyclopedia_Britanica_. After looking them over again, I am not sure whether they mean that it is a percentage of what is produced that is exported or if what is produced accounts for that percentage of the exports. In either case, it didn't add up to 100%. But still, in Nicaragua, for instance, it lists bananas as 1.4% for export. In any case, that means that a lot more than just exported bananas are produced there. David Olson ..!ihnp4!drutx!dlo "To laugh at men of sense is the privilege of fools". -- Jean de la Bruyere