| Republicans are quick to praise the virtues of the free market and to deride government handouts until their corporate contributors (or colleagues) want government money. |
| Cotton subsidies for U.S. farmers are unfair to producers in Brazil, the World Trade Organization said Friday [6/18/04]. Brazil alleged that the United States has kept its place as the largest cotton exporter by paying $12.5 billion in subsidies to American farmers between August 1999 and July 2003.
Source: "U.S. cotton subsidies ruled unfair by WTO" from Associated Press via Dallas Morning News - 6/19/04 Giving Cheney's company Halliburton an open ended contract in Iraq without bids is not an example of free market economics. On September 7, 2003 in an address to the nation, Bush requested $87 billion for the purpose of occupying and rebuilding Iraq. Who do we make the check out to? Remember that this money doesn't go directly to the Iraqi citizens that have suffered first under Hussein and then under the "coalition" bombardment. Instead, the checks are made out to U.S. contractors. This is a blatant and transparent move to transfer massive amounts of taxpayer money to corporations and other commercial entities that are in league with the Republican party and with the Bush administration. In the days before deregulation, government dictated the price of electricity. It was a simple formula. The companies got back their costs and a set profit. If they tried to charge more, they went to prison. But the California Legislature, well lubricated with campaign contributions, pulled the lid off prices and covered it with a lie. The lie was written into the law's preamble -- that a free market in electricity would cut home power bills by 20 percent. In 1999, electricity surcharges jumped 327 percent in a single year in California. The free market in electricity was -- and is -- a fixed casino. Power tricksters use such game-tilting techniques as "false scheduling" and "megawatt laundering," which, in 2000, cost California consumers $6.2 billion. That calculation comes from Dr. Anjali Sheffrin of the California engineering group assigned to keep the lights on. She documents how three companies locked up the market with false power bids every day for the last three months of the year. But under our new regime, [Bush administration Secretary of Energy Spencer] Abraham's power commission has informed California that the public won't get back one dime. Source: Boston Globe via Greg Palast.com - "Sheriff Bush Lets The Bad Guys Ride Off In The Dark" by Greg Palast -- August 27, 2003 |
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