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It appears that Costa Rica, the lone hold out in not ratifying the CAFTA-DR trade agreement, is now under enormous pressure and strong arm tactics.   

We are on the eve of discovering 

whether the bullying, propaganda, and threats worked or not.  The ratification vote is tomorrow.

From Eyes On Trade

Just when you thought the Bush administration was at its most shameful, it gets even worse.  Just hours before Costa Rica goes to the polls to decide the fate of CAFTA, the Bush administration released yet another statement trying to intimidate Costa Ricans into approving CAFTA

Late Saturday night, the Bush Administration issued more threats to demand Costa Rica approve this bad deal.  A few Senators isssued a complaint about this most “undemocratic” behavior.

Similar remarks earlier in the week from U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab elicited a complaint from Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. In a letter to Bush sent Friday, they urged him “to make it clear that the United States is not threatening retaliation against the people of Costa Rica for exercising their right to vote.

Senator Bernie Sanders on trade:

Free trade is very good for the large multinational corporations who can throw American workers out on…

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_{^{cross posted at DailyKos by New Deal Democrat}}

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  In Part I of this series, I examined the 1992 best seller entitled “Bankruptcy 1995”,which had predicted that the US would become unable to service its national debt as early as 1995 due to soaring budget deficits.  So dire and well-documented was the warning that it affected the outcome of the 1992 presidential election, helping to elect Bill Clinton.  In light of new looting of the national treasury by George W. Bush and the Republican Congress, I re-read the book to see if any of its predictions were now coming true.  I posted those predictions, and the book’s thesis that continued budget deficits would drive up interest rates and lead to “Death by Hyperinflation” or “Death by Panic” in Part I.
    But “Bankruptcy 1995” obviously didn’t happen, in spite of the fact that deficits have continued to be run nearly every year since then.  Only part of the reason was the fiscally responsible Clinton tax and budget plan that began in 1993.  In this diary I examine how a long-term, continuous decline in interest rates has actually reduced the carrying costs of the National Debt, and why that means the sky isn’t falling –…

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What a surprise, when the nation is about to go over a cliff a little squeak comes from The Federal Reserve chairman.   Ben S. Bernanke, said today that a global “savings glut” has helped keep interest rates low, but he warned that
major trade imbalances between emerging and industrial nations may prove “counterproductive” to the global economy over time. That’s one roar in full battle gear to fight economic Armageddon huh?

Notice he talks about a global savings glut. Well, that means everyone but us. I’m so glad the United States Federal Reserve Chairman is noticing the rest of the world and failing to mention the U.S. savings rate is negative.

Economist Paul Craig Roberts wrote a damning article today, American Economy:  R.I.P.  The entire article is full of damning statistics and this paragraph stuck out:

When US companies offshore their production for US markets, the consequences for the US economy are highly detrimental. One consequence is that foreign labor is substituted for US labor, resulting in a shriveling of career opportunities and income growth in the US. Another is that US Gross Domestic Product is turned into imports. By turning US brand names into imports, offshoring has a double…

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