This is good news, if it is (4.00 / 1)

more than rhetoric and is real action.

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by: Tom Wells @ Wed Apr 01, 2009 at 09:09:32 AM CDT

If there is not a "food" element to this (4.00 / 3)

it will be the same old thing.  Labor and environmental world standards are needed.  But the guerilla in the room is Monsanto and big AG.  Monsanto bribes legislatures in countries like Mali in Africa to put a law requiring farmers to only buy Monsanto seed rather than the 1000 year custom of using your own seed corn. (See John Perkins' Secret History of American Empire).  This was written into the constitution in Iraq (See Naomi Klein).

A diary here from The Green Fork exposed Monsanto's drive to buy up seed companies.  The documentary "The Future of Food" just aired in the U.S. but has been seen around the world since 2004.  A professor at Berkeley talks about how he has been harassed for studying the negatives of GMOs.

Fair Trade means buying directly from chocolate growers and giving those farmers fair price.  

Fair Trade means not flooding countries with our cheap subsidized pop tarts.  

Let's see what this guy does and let's educate him that we actually know what is really going on.

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by: FeralCat @ Wed Apr 01, 2009 at 10:25:23 AM CDT

Which is more likely? (4.00 / 1)

Gary Locke changed his views because

Bloggers, who were ignored when they called for Geithner to be fired, successfully lobbied to change his stance.

OR

He's now working to enact the policies of his boss, Barack Obama.

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by: sugarfree @ Wed Apr 01, 2009 at 10:49:26 AM CDT

Just like Geithner (4.00 / 1)

is working to enact the policies of his boss, Barack Obama.  That is, screwing autoworkers, bailout banks, and protecting Wall Street bonuses and power.  Yep, that argument works both ways, doesn't it?

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by: Tom Wells @ Wed Apr 01, 2009 at 13:25:02 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Yep (0.00 / 0)

and I approve of Geithner's performance so far as well.

Of course, your assessment of his performance doesn't really track with reality, but I expect that here.

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by: sugarfree @ Wed Apr 01, 2009 at 15:29:00 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

So you define reality now? (4.00 / 2)

Anything Obama or his appointees does, by your definition, is good.

I'll pass on immature hero worship and idolatry.

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by: Tom Wells @ Wed Apr 01, 2009 at 15:59:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm sorry (0.00 / 0)

that I don't subscribe to the Gospel of Saint Paul.

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by: sugarfree @ Wed Apr 01, 2009 at 16:31:52 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The problem has always been what are minimum standards... (4.00 / 1)

Is political freedom a minimum standard?
Is the freedom for workers to organize a minimum standard?
Are pollution standards a minimum standard?
Are worker safety rules a minimum standard?

The list can go on and on.  Who will establish these standards?  Who will enforce them?  How do you enforce them in authoritarian countries like China?  You cannot.

The only real answer is a product equalization tarriff, that would not reward countries for exploiting their people or their environment.  This would also be difficult but much more fesible than a unenforcible global minimum standards.

Regards,

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by: FLGibsonJr @ Wed Apr 01, 2009 at 11:03:01 AM CDT