U.S. and Philippines Stage War Games

REUTERS | APRIL 25, 2012

U.S. and Philippine commandos waded ashore on Wednesday in a mock assault to retake a small island in energy-rich waters disputed with China, part of a drill involving thousands of troops Beijing had said would raise the risk of armed conflict.

The exercises, part of annual U.S.-Philippine war games on the southwestern island of Palawan, coincide with another standoff between Chinese and Philippine vessels near Scarborough Shoal in a different part of the South China Sea.

China has territorial disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan across the South China Sea, each searching for gas and oil while building up their navies and military alliances.

China said last week the drill would raise the risk of confrontation. On Wednesday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said China was committed to dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the dispute.

“We are certainly worried about the South China Sea issue,” Cui told a news briefing in Beijing, saying “some people tried to mix two unrelated things, territorial sovereignty and freedom of navigation”.

The comments come before high-level talks with the Obama administration. China, which claims the South China Sea based on historical records, has sought to resolve disputes bilaterally but its neighbors worry over what some see as growing Chinese assertiveness in its claims in the region.

“Location (of the drill) is irrelevant,” Ensign Bryan Mitchell, spokesman for the U.S. Marines, told reporters.

“These exercises take place on a regular basis. This year it happens to be in Palawan. The planning for this took place months ago prior to any events that are currently in the headlines.”

U.S. President Barack Obama has sought to reassure regional allies that Washington would serve as a counterbalance to China in the South China Sea, part of his campaign to “pivot” U.S. foreign policy towards Asia after wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Philippine military officials sought to play down the exercise. Lieutenant General Juancho Sabban, military commander for the western Philippines, said the drill “simply means we want to work together, improve our skills”.

Sabban’s area of command includes Reed Bank and the Spratlys, a group of 250 mostly uninhabitable islets spread over 427,350 sq km (165,000 sq miles) west of Palawan.

The Spratlys are claimed entirely by China, Taiwan and Vietnam and in part by Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.

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BRICS Denunciam a Manipulação da Moeda

POR LUIS R. MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | 06 ABRIL 2012

Na mudança de poder que o mundo está enfrentando hoje, ambas as economias ricas e emergentes parecem que querem garantir grupos coesos com objetivos comuns. Enquanto o bloco anglo-saxão governou o mundo por mais de um século, as novas potências emergentes nas regiões subdesenvolvidas do mundo estão apostando na unidade pública para pressionar os governantes presentes.

Enquanto as nações dominantes da Europa e os Estados Unidos se escondem atrás dos resgates financeiros para evitar enfrentar o desastre bancário patrocinado pela crise da dívida, os BRICS querem mostrar ao mundo que existe uma outra maneira de fazer as coisas que pode ser mais benéfica para todos. Embora o nascimento dos BRICS, um grupo composto por China, Brasil, Rússia, África do Sul e Índia parece ser uma boa iniciativa para alcançar um equilíbrio econômico e talvez até mesmo político na luta pelo poder, a verdade é que os BRICS são um exemplo do que o império anglo-saxão era há 200 anos: Um grupo de líderes ou candidatos que não conseguem encontrar muito terreno comum para criar e aplicar políticas que melhorem as condições de vida de seu povo, mas que tomam o tempo para mostrar suas insignificantes recém-adquirida medalhas.

É fácil ver por que os BRICS são simplesmente mais do mesmo. No último comunicado emitido pelo grupo, os membros criticam os Estados Unidos e Europa pela sua manipulação do dólar e do euro. Esta critica valida, não estão a China e o Brasil fazendo o mesmo? Sim. China manipula sua moeda para mante-la com um valor baixo que mantenha os custos das suas exportações baixos. Brasil, por sua vez, também usa manipulação cambial para manter o Real em torno de 1,75 por dólar. Recentemente, líderes de empresas do Brasil têm feito lobby no governo liderado por Dilma Rousseff para continuar a desvalorizar o Real, a fim de ser mais competitivos no mercado internacional. A idéia de acordo com estes líderes empresariais, é desvalorizar o Real, pelo menos a 1,85 por dólar, o que lhes permite reduzir o custo de exportação de seus produtos aos mercados europeu e americano, e não ter que pagar salários mais altos para seus trabalhadores. Em outras palavras, a indústria brasileira está pedindo ao governo para impor mais impostos sobre o seu povo por meio da desvalorização do Real, o que realmente significa o aumento da inflação.

Em um comunicado anterior, alguns membros do BRICS falaram sobre suas reservas para denunciar a manipulação da moeda, porque a China, um dos mais influentes membros do grupo também se engaja em tal comportamento. Foi só depois que a China soube sobre a posição dos outros Estados membros e entendeu que a declaração oficial seria feita para criticar a Europa e os Estados Unidos que o documento foi tornado público. “O Brasil fará seu melhor para fazer com que grandes companheiros em mercados emergentes como a China denunciem o que considera injustas políticas monetárias na Europa e nos Estados Unidos, aumentando as apostas em um confronto de desequilíbrios econômicos globais”, relatou a Reuters. Em seguida, os representantes de algumas das empresas mais influentes multinacionais que operam no Brasil, se reuniram com o Ministro de Comércio na capital de Brasília, Brasil, para pedir ao governo para lidar com o Real para que as empresas obtenham uma vantagem no exterior em mercados internacionais.

Segundo a Reuters, o Brasil acusa os países ricos de usar políticas que conduzem a um “tsunami de dinheiro” através da adopção de políticas que ampliam os benefícios e as taxas de juro baixas e programas de compra de títulos. Essas políticas, o relatório diz, foram concebidas para estimular o problema dos EUA e economias europeias. Esta é a explicação oficial, no entanto, o objetivo real é fazer um buraco enorme de dívida, do qual a economia mundial não pode sair.

Líderes bancários na Europa e na América estão deixando o colapso da dívida ocorrer em um modo progressivo e gradual até um ponto em que a liquidez criada artificialmente não será capaz de resgatar as nações. Os chamados mercados emergentes como o Brasil têm, direta ou indiretamente, absorvido os novos fundos que os bancos e grandes investidores — em muitos casos transferidos como empréstimos ou investimentos em infra-estrutura — a fim de vincular os países em desenvolvimento ao aumento da dívida e terminar assim o processo de centralização do poder. Isso não é relatado na mídia local ou é discutido por economistas de renome, que acreditam que o investimento vem como resultado de uma atração mágica que o país possui, ou talvez porque o Brasil é governado por uma mulher, ou porque as pessoas aqui são muito amigáveis. Os poucos economistas que sabem sobre as verdadeiras intenções que os banqueiros e grandes investidores têm em mente, não tem coragem de falar sobre isso publicamente.

Em público, o BRICS parece ser liderado pelo Brasil, cujo ministro da Indústria e Comércio, Fernando Pimentel, acredita que apesar de suas queixas sobre manipulação da moeda e as políticas protecionistas de outros, não poderá convencer os países poderosos para parar estas políticas, mas de alguma forma, suas queixas permitiram a adoção de políticas protecionistas que foram previamente relatadas, incluindo aumento de tarifas, a implementação de mudanças nas políticas comerciais e outras medidas originadas em órgãos supranacionais como a Organização Mundial do Comércio.

Alguns anos atrás, quando o Brasil tornou-se “magicamente” o alvo de um investimento maciço, ninguém reclamou sobre tais investimentos, ou sobre manipulação da moeda ou o protecionismo de qualquer tipo. Mas depois que o país começou a sentir os efeitos da depressão global atual, os defensores começaram a falar de razões externas para explicar porque a economia estava em queda. Embora o Brasil tenha ultrapassado o Reino Unido como a sexta maior economia do mundo, internamente os resultados de tais realizações não podem ser vistas em lugar nenhum. Na verdade, as empresas brasileiras e internacionais que operam aqui não estão nem perto de abraçar mercados abertos e livre comércio. Em vez disso, eles estão antecipando medidas protecionistas futuras para salvar-se da decisão da Europa e América. Brasil e Argentina estão conduzindo uma guerra comercial que limita o livre fluxo de bens e serviços. As empresas são obrigadas a negociar a venda de menos produtos, a fim de receber pagamentos menores e assim evitar que os bancos centrais confisquem seus dinheiros pela venda desses produtos e serviços.

“O Brasil, culpou o excesso de liquidez global pela supervaluação de sua moeda. Enquanto as indústrias locais estão em crise, a economia cresceu apenas 2,7 por cento em 2011, abaixo dos seus colegas do BRICS, caindo 7,5 por cento em 2010 “, relata Reuters. Enquanto isso, as autoridades brasileiras não reconhecem que é a sua incapacidade para governar o que causou o colapso da produção industrial. O país sofre de um dos esquemas de corrupção mais importantes do mundo que resulta em uma produção ineficiente, altíssimos impostos, e infra-estrutura pobre que faz do Brasil um dos países mais difíceis onde fazer negócios.

BRICS Lloran por la Manipulación de Divisas

POR LUIS R. MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | 6 ABRIL 2012

En el cambio de poder que el mundo está experimentando hoy en día, tanto los países ricos como las economías emergentes quieren asegurarse de aparecer como grupos cohesivos con objetivos comunes. Mientras que el bloque anglo-sajón ha gobernado el mundo durante más de un siglo, las nuevas potencias emergentes en las regiones subdesarrolladas del planeta están apostando por la unidad pública para ejercer presión sobre los gobernantes actuales.

Mientras que las naciones dominantes de Europa y Estados Unidos se esconden detrás de los rescates para evitar enfrentar la debacle de la banca patrocinada por la crisis de la deuda, los BRICS quieren mostrar al mundo que hay otra manera de hacer las cosas que puede ser más beneficiosa para todos. Aunque el nacimiento de los BRICS, un grupo compuesto por China, Brasil, Rusia, Sudáfrica y la India parece ser una buena iniciativa para lograr el equilibrio económico y tal vez incluso político en la lucha por el poder ocurriendo ahora, la verdad es que los BRICS es un ejemplo de lo que el Imperio anglo-sajon era hace 200 años: Un grupo de líderes o aspirantes que no pueden encontrar mucho terreno común para crear y ejercer políticas que mejoren el nivel de vida de su pueblo, pero que se toman el tiempo para mostrar sus insignificantes recién adquirida medallas.

Es fácil ver por qué los BRICS son simplemente más de lo mismo. En el último comunicado emitido por el grupo, los países miembros critican a los Estados Unidos y Europa por su manipulación del dólar y el euro. Esta crítica es fundada, pero no están China y Brasil haciendo lo mismo? Sí. China manipula su moneda artificialmente para mantener su valor bajo beneficiando así el bajo costo de exportar sus productos. Brasil, por su parte, también recurre a la manipulación de la moneda para mantener el Real en alrededor de 1,75 por dólar. Recientemente, líderes empresariales de Brasil han estado presionando al gobierno encabezado por Dilma Rousseff para devaluar aún más el Real para que puedan ser más competitivos en el mercado internacional. La idea de acuerdo con estos líderes de negocios, es devaluar el Real a al menos 1,85 por dólar, lo que les permitiría reducir el costo de exportar sus productos a los mercados europeos y americanos, así como no tener que pagar mejores salarios a sus trabajadores. En otras palabras, la industria brasileña está pidiendo al gobierno que imponga más impuestos a su pueblo a través de la devaluación del Real, que realmente significa el aumento de la inflación.

En una declaración anterior, algunos miembros de los BRICS hablaron acerca de sus reservas para denunciar la manipulación de la moneda debido a que China, uno de los miembros más influyentes del grupo, también se involucra en tal comportamiento. Fue sólo después de que China supo sobre la posición de los otros estados miembros y entendió que el comunicado oficial estaba destinado a criticar a Europa y los Estados Unidos que el documento fue hecho público. “Brasil hará lo posible para que sus grandes compañeros de mercados emergentes como China denuncie lo que considera como políticas monetárias injustas de Europa y los Estados Unidos, suben las apuestas en una confrontación global sobre los desequilibrios económicos”, informó a Reuters. Después, los representantes de algunas de las corporaciones multinacionales más influyentes que operan en Brasil, se reunieron con el Secretario de Comercio en la ciudad capital de Brasilia, Brasil, para solicitar que el gobierno manipule el Real con el objetivo de que las empresas obtengan una ventaja en el extranjero y los mercados internacionales.

Según Reuters, Brasil acusa a las naciones ricas de la utilización de políticas que provocan un “tsunami monetario” mediante la adopción de políticas que extienden los beneficios como bajas tasas de interés y programas de compra de bonos. Estas políticas, según el informe, fueron diseñadas para estimular la problemática de EE.UU. y las economías europeas. Esta es la explicación oficial, sin embargo, el verdadero objetivo es hacer un agujero enorme de deuda del que la economía mundial no puede salir. Líderes de la banca en Europa y Estados Unidos están dejando que el colapso de la deuda suceda de una manera progresiva y gradual a un punto donde la liquidez creada artificialmente no será capaz de rescatar a las naciones. Los llamados mercados emergentes como Brasil han, directa o indirectamente, absorbido los nuevos fondos que los bancos y los grandes inversionistas — en muchos casos transfirieron como préstamos o inversiones en infraestructura — con el fin de atar a los países en desarrollo a una deuda mayor y poner fin a su proceso de centralización de poder. Esto no se informa en los medios de comunicación locales o es comentado por los economistas famosos, que creen que la inversión está llegando como resultado de una atracción mágica que tiene el país, o tal vez porque Brasil es gobernado por una mujer, o porque la gente de aquí es amable. Los pocos economistas que saben acerca de las verdaderas intenciones que los banqueros y los grandes inversionistas tienen en mente, no tienen las agallas para hablar de ello públicamente.

En público, los BRICS parecen estar liderados por Brasil, cuyo ministro de Comercio e Industria, Fernando Pimentel, considera que a pesar de sus quejas sobre la manipulación de la moneda y otras políticas proteccionistas no convencer a los países poderosos para detener estas políticas, de alguna manera les permitirá adoptar políticas proteccionistas que han denunciado con anterioridad, incluyendo el aumento de los aranceles e implementar cambios en las políticas comerciales y originadas en organismos supranacionales no electos como la Organización Mundial del Comercio.

Hace unos años, cuando Brasil se convirtió “magicamente” en el objetivo de la inversión masiva nadie en este país se quejó de ello, o acerca de la manipulación de la moneda o el proteccionismo de cualquier tipo. Pero después de que el país comenzó a sentir los efectos de la depresión mundial actual, los defensores empezaron a hablar de los motivos externos por los que la economía del país estaba cayendo. Aunque Brasil ha superado al Reino Unido como sexta economía más grande del mundo, a nivel interno los resultados de tales logros no se ven en ninguna parte. De hecho, las empresas brasileñas, así como las corporaciones internacionales que operan aquí no están ni siquiera cerca de abrazar los mercados abiertos y el libre comercio – ni siquiera entre ellos mismos. En cambio, están previendo las futuras medidas proteccionistas para salvarse de la decisión tomada por Europa y Estados Unidos. Brasil y Argentina están llevando a cabo una guerra comercial que limita el libre flujo de productos y servicios. Las empresas se ven obligadas a negociar la venta una menor cantidad de productos con el fin de recibir el pago en pequeñas cantidades de dinero para que los bancos centrales no confisquen los pagos debidos al alto volumen de las transacciones.

“Brasil ha culpado al exceso de liquidez global por la supervaluación de su moneda. Mientras  las industrias locales entran en crisis, su economía creció sólo un 2,7 por ciento en 2011, por debajo de sus compañeros BRICS, cayendo de 7,5 por ciento en 2010 “, informa Reuters. Mientras tanto, los funcionarios brasileños no reconocen que es su incapacidad para gobernar lo que provocó la caída de su producción industrial. El país sufre con uno de los mayores esquemas de corrupción en el mundo que se traduce en ineficiencia de la producción, los impuestos por las nubes, y la infraestructura deficiente que hace que Brasil sea uno de los lugares más difíciles y costosos de hacer negocios.

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Buy Apple, Support Slavery

By LUIS R. MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | MARCH 30, 2012

Unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock for the past decade or so, it may come as a surprise to learn that large technology corporations such as Apple use and abuse workers in third world nations where governments do not provide any protection for their labor force. A new chapter in the modern slavery book is being written this week as more proof of Apple’s slavery scheme is uncovered.

According to AFP, a recent audit conducted in the company’s factories reveals serious workplace abuses in China, where Apple products are built. Previous to this audit, Apple contractors have been accused of abusing factory workers in the Asian country. Apple officials have even confessed to knowing about the abuses for a long time, but did nothing about it. In the specific case of Foxconn, the largest manufacturer of electronics an computer components in the world, the long working dates combined with low wages caused many workers to threaten to commit suicide; many went through with the threat and jumped off the factory roof. Foxconn is the producer of components for Mac mini, iPod, iPad, and iPhone, as well as electronics for companies like Dell, HP, Playstation 2 and 3, Wii, Xbox, Motorola, Nokia, and the Amazon Kindle.

Back in January, The New York Times published an article regarding the abuses committed in China against factory workers who in addition to working endless hours everyday, had to put up with unsafe working conditions. An explosion in one factory caused the death of 2 workers with dozens suffering serious injuries. “… the workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions, according to employees inside those plants, worker advocates and documents published by companies themselves. Problems are as varied as onerous work environments and serious — sometimes deadly — safety problems,” reported the NYT.

“We’ve known about labor abuses in some factories for four years, and they’re still going on. Why? Because the system works for us. Suppliers would change everything tomorrow if Apple told them they didn’t have another choice,” said an Apple executive back in January. Former Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, preaches this kind of philosophy in his book, which has been read by millions of people around the world. He himself would squeeze every drop of sweat from many of his workers, which was one of the reasons why Jobs left apple before returning to take the company from the technological shadow to one of the richest in the world. But that success, as we have learned, is based on the abuse of hundreds of laborers who live, work and die in factories where Apple products are made. In several factories, workers usually accumulate between 76 and 80 hours before taking a rest. This is the limit established by Chinese labor laws. In other cases, people worked for a week in a row, before having a 24 hour break.

“The Fair Labor Association gave Apple’s largest supplier the equivalent of a full-body scan through 3,000 staff hours investigating three of its factories and surveying more than 35,000 workers,” revealed FLA president Auret van Heerden. “Apple and its supplier Foxconn have agreed to our prescriptions, and we will verify progress and report publicly.” Aside from this audit, Apple and its partners seem to have the lack of laws and working rights as its best allies to force workers into modern slavery camps. According to the report presented by the FLA, the abuses do not stop at long working periods. The audit also revealed dangerous working conditions which directly threaten the health and well being of the laborers.

For the most part, Apple and its contractors have operated off the hook, with no monitoring that ensures fair conditions and wages for workers or basic safety conditions. Up until last January, Foxconn had ignored requests to improve working conditions at its factory in China. According to FLA’s van Heerden, if Foxconn respected its commitments, at least 1.2 million employees’ lives would be improved as the company would establish a new set of standards for factories in China. Any protection for the workers have been limited to rhetoric, as in the case of China’s future Premier, who simply suggested that Chinese workers should be treated more humanly, as supposed to requesting immediate action to end modern slavery practices.

In the past, Li Keqiang has said that corporations “should pay more attention to caring for workers.” The Vice Premier’s passivity resembles how little China cares for its people, who are often treated by the governing Communist Party as a little less than animals, especially when it comes to individual and labor rights. While middle-class and wealthy consumers enjoy the benefits and perks of owning Apple products around the world, slave workers continue to be overworked and underpaid by Apple and Foxconn.

The Fair Labor Association also conducted and overview of Apple contracted factories in Taiwan, where companies like Quanta and Pegatron also produce Apple products. While he was Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs defended the current working conditions at factories in China. “You go in this place and it’s a factory but, my gosh, they’ve got restaurants and movie theatres and hospitals and swimming pools. For a factory, it’s pretty nice,” he said during an interview. “It’s not a sweatshop.”

“The work at Foxconn’s Shenzhen plant can be repetitive, exhausting, and alienating—like manufacturing jobs anywhere in the world,” reported Tony Law for Wired Magazine in February 2011. His in-depth report told “the wonders” of Foxconn’s labor camps, where workers had everything from counseling to dormitories. According to Low’s report, a Chinese newspaper reporter saw first hand what working for Foxconn is all about. ” … tales of hopelessness and voluntary overtime affidavits.” Up until April 2011, at least 17 workers had committed suicide at that factory alone. While people in the United States and Europe talk and worry about the dangers of finger strains that teenagers face in light of the heavy use of iPads and iPods, in Asia factory workers die or are worked to death to provide Americans and Europeans with the opportunity to screw up their articulations.

After FLA released its report about the lousy working conditions and long working days people who make Apple products deal with in Asia, the company’s stock price only suffered a minor loss and stayed at $608.18 per share. Most likely, Apple customers were too busy feeling trendy and straining their fingers to notice that their loyalty to Apple directly sustains modern slavery in the world.

Why is it that technological advancement must always have these sort of strings attached? It has been the same for decades.

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BRICS Denounce Currency Manipulation

By LUIS R. MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | MARCH 29, 2012

In the power shift the world is experiencing today, both the rich nations and the supposed emerging economies are making sure they appear as cohesive groups with common goals. While the Anglo-Saxon bloc has governed over the world for well over a century, the emerging new powers in the underdeveloped regions of the planet are betting on public unity to exercise pressure over the current rulers.

While the dominant European nations and the United States hide behind bailouts to avoid facing the debacle of the banker-sponsored debt crisis, the BRICS want to show the world that there is another way to do things that may be more beneficial for all. Although the birth of the BRICS, a group composed by China, Brazil, Russia, South Africa and India seemed to be a good initiative to bring about economic and perhaps even political balance in the power struggle now occurring, the truth is that the BRICS are an example of what the Anglo-Saxon Empire was 200 years ago: A bunch of wannabe leaders who cannot find significant common ground to create and exercise policies that improve their people’s standard of living, but who do take time to show off their newly acquired insignificant medals.

It is easy to see why the BRICS are simply more of the same. In the latest communique issued by the group, it member countries criticize the United States and Europe for their manipulation of the Dollar and the Euro currencies. This criticism is well founded, but aren’t China and Brazil doing the same thing? They are. China artificially manipulates its currency to keep its value low and with that benefit by keeping the cost of exporting its goods low. Brazil on the other hand, also resorts to currency manipulation to keep the Real at about 1.75 Reais per dollar. Recently, business leaders in Brazil have been lobbying the government led by Dilma Rousseff to further devalue the Real in order for them to be more competitive in the international market. The idea according to these business leaders, is to take the Real to at least 1.85 per dollar, which would allow them to reduce the cost of exporting their products to the European and American markets as well as not having to pay better wages to its workers. In other words, the Brazilian industry is asking the government to tax its people by devaluing the Real, which will increase inflation.

In a previous statement, some members of the BRICS talked about their reservations to denounce currency manipulation because China, one of the most influential members of the group, also engages in such behavior. It was only after China learned about the position of the other member-states and understood that the official communique was meant to criticize Europe and the United States that the document was made public. “Brazil will push for its large emerging-market peers including China to denounce what it sees as unfair monetary policies by Europe and the United States, raising the stakes in a global confrontation over economic imbalances,” reported Reuters on Wednesday. On Thursday, representatives of some of the most influential multinational corporations that operate in Brazil, met with the Secretary of Commerce in the capital city of Brasilia, Brazil to request that the government manipulated the Real in order for those companies to gain an advantage on foreign competitors and international markets.

According to Reuters, Brazil accuses rich nations of using policies to cause a “monetary tsunami” by adopting policies that spread benefits such as low interest rates and bond-buying programs. These policies, according to the report, were designed to stimulate the troubled U.S. and European economies. This is the official explanation, however, the real goal is to cause a massive debt hole from which the global economy cannot come out of. Banking leaders in Europe and the United States are letting the debt crisis collapse in a progressive and incremental way to a point where the artificially created liquidity will not be able to bail nations out. So-called emerging markets like Brazil, are directly or indirectly absorbing the new monies being put out by the banks and large investors — in many cases as loans or investments in infrastructure — in order to hook developing countries into deeper debt and terminate them once their power grab process is completed. This is not reported in the local media or talked about by mainline economists, who believe that the investment is coming in as a result of some magical attraction that the country has, or perhaps because Brazil is governed by a woman, or because the people here are friendly. The few economists who do know about the real intentions the bankers and large investors have in mind do not have the guts to talk about it.

Publicly, the BRICS seem to be led by Brazil, whose Trade and Industry Minister, Fernando Pimentel, believes that although their complaints about currency manipulation and other protectionist policies will not convince powerful countries to stop such policies, it will somehow allow them adopt other protectionist policies they’ve previously denounced including raising tariffs and implement changes in trade and commercial policies at supranational unelected bodies like the World Trade Organization.

A few years ago, when Brazil magically became the target of massive investment no one in this country complained about it, or about currency manipulation or protectionism of any kind. But after the country began to feel the effects of the current global depression, apologists started talk about the external reasons why the country’s economy was tanking. Although Brazil has overtaken the UK as the world’s 6th largest economy, internally the results of such achievement are nowhere to be seen here in Brazil. In fact, Brazilian companies as well as international corporations that operate here are not even close to embracing open markets and free trade — not even among themselves. Instead, they are envisioning future protectionist measures to save themselves from decision made by Europe and the United States. Brazil and Argentina are carrying out a trade war that limits the free flow of products and services. Companies are having to trade smaller amounts of goods in order to get paid smaller amounts of money so that the central banks do not hold payments due to the large volume of the transactions.

“Brazil has blamed the global liquidity glut for making its currency one of the world’s most overvalued. As local industries struggle, its economy grew only 2.7 percent in 2011, below its BRICS peers and down from a blistering 7.5 percent in 2010,” reports Reuters. Meanwhile, Brazilian officials do not recognize that it is their incapacity to govern which caused their industry’s growth to slow down. The country suffers with one of the largest schemes of corruption in the world which results in inefficient production, skyrocketing taxes,  and poor infrastructure which makes Brazil one of the most difficult and expensive places to do do business.

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Daftar Akun Bandar Togel Resmi dengan Hadiah 4D 10 Juta Tahun 2024

Togel resmi adalah langkah penting bagi para penggemar togel yang ingin menikmati permainan dengan aman dan terpercaya. Tahun 2024 menawarkan berbagai kesempatan menarik, termasuk hadiah 4D sebesar 10 juta rupiah yang bisa Anda menangkan. Anda perlu mendaftar akun di Daftar Togel yang menawarkan hadiah tersebut. Proses pendaftaran biasanya sederhana dan melibatkan pengisian formulir dengan informasi pribadi Anda serta verifikasi data untuk memastikan keamanan transaksi. Setelah akun Anda selasai terdaftar, Anda dapat berpartisipasi dalam berbagai permainan togel berbagai fitur yang disediakan oleh situs togel terbesar.

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Bagi pemain togel yang ingin menikmati diskon terbesar, mendaftar di situs togel online terpercaya adalah langkah yang tepat. Bo Togel Hadiah 2d 200rb tidak hanya memberikan jaminan keamanan dalam bertransaksi, tetapi juga menawarkan berbagai diskon untuk jenis taruhan tertentu. Diskon yang besar ini memungkinkan pemain untuk menghemat lebih banyak dan memasang taruhan dalam jumlah yang lebih banyak. Dengan begitu, peluang untuk mendapatkan hadiah juga semakin tinggi, sekaligus memastikan bahwa setiap taruhan dilakukan di situs yang aman dan resmi.

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Dengan Situs Slot Depo 5k, Anda bisa bermain dengan modal kecil namun tetap memiliki kesempatan besar untuk meraih hadiah. Banyak platform judi online kini menawarkan pilihan deposit rendah ini, sehingga pemain dengan budget terbatas tetap bisa menikmati permainan slot favorit mereka. Bermain slot dengan deposit kecil seperti ini tentu memberikan kenyamanan bagi pemain baru maupun veteran.

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