mjk@ttrdc.UUCP (Mike Kelly) (05/16/85)
>From: colonel@gloria.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman) >I think that the >issue is whether the U.S. is forcing Central America to _produce_ >bananas cheaply, by depressing wages. Or, more precisely, what is the effect of the U.S. policy of supporting stable dictatorships in Central America and around the world? These dictatorships crush opposition. One powerful form of opposition is trade unions. Without trade unions, wages are generally held at a lower level than they would be if strong trade unions were part of the scene. The products that result from these wage-depressed industries are then sold on the world market at a lower price than similar products from countries with strong trade unions. So it is that Korean steel, for example, is much cheaper than U.S. steel. Now that's partly due to superior technology, but it's also partly due to the repression of trade unions in that country. The U.S. supports the Korean dictatorship with military and economic aid. It is a perverse truth that U.S. foreign policy hurts Americans indirectly. U.S. workers are pressured to work for lower "world wages" that are low because trade unions are repressed in other countries with the support of the U.S. In the case of the bananas, a different dynamic is at work. Large areas of land in Central America are dedicated to growing cash crops for export, like bananas and coffee, rather than crops for local consumption. The foreign currency is needed in order to pay off bank loans and purchase products such as oil and non-domestic minerals. In some cases, the population goes hungry because farmland is being used to grow these cash crops rather than the food needed to feed the nation's hungry. What's the solution? Hard to say, since the problem is very complex. The Brandt Commision in Europe suggested a massive transfer of wealth and technology from North to South, both for humanitarian reasons and to help stabilize an obviously very volatile situation; we can't forever have massive wealth coexisting with terrible poverty without an explosion. Those looking for the forces behind the revolutions in Central America need look no further than that. Mike Kelly