White House Brags about Exporting our Pyramid Schemes to Korea

/in /by

The list of statements of support for the Korea Trade Agreement the White House sent out last night tells you a lot about what you need to know about the trade agreement. Among others on the list are Tom Donohue, whose laundering of foreign money into election coffers had a significant role in the shellacking Democrats took in November. Donohue thinks this deal is great:

This agreement will create thousands of new jobs, advance our national goal of doubling exports in five years, and demonstrate that America is once again ready to lead on trade. The administration has done its part. Now it’s time for the new Congress to make passage of KORUS a top priority in January. We will do everything in our power to round up the votes.

Then there’s John Engler, who for a while as head of the National Association of Manufacturers instituted a policy of refusing to meet with Democrats.

Then there’s the CEOs of credit card nation, Vikram Pandit and Jamie Dimon.

But to me, the most telling endorser of this agreement is Dick DeVos, the CEO of Amway and perennially one of the biggest single funders of the Republican Party. DeVos is thrilled because this will help Amway meet their growth targets.

Like most companies, we support a more competitive playing field. This new trade agreement allows Amway to continue meeting aggressive growth targets, and gives a much needed boost for all export business in Michigan.

So we’re going to push through this trade agreement so Dick DeVos can expand his pyramid scheme, get richer, and funnel that money into the Republican Party.

But then, I guess that’s what Pandit and Dimon have in mind, too.

  1. radiofreewill says:

    Wow, the Money Party is out in force on this one…

    It’s “Everyone look busy” Day in the Federal Government – while the Senate figures out how to craftily orchestrate this afternoon’s Tax Cut Kabuki.

  2. klynn says:

    I see a tie between this post and your chicken post… this deal is____.

    Thinking of all the wonderful businesses in your area… Pyramid King, Pizza King and Mercenary King which reside there. Creepy connection they have as well as with Donohue.

    Did you read this by chance?

    Rove and Donohue together…toxic.

      • emptywheel says:

        Wait. I take that back. We account for 5% of Korea’s beef and 4% of their pork, but not a significant amount of their chicken. At least not yet.

        Our subsidized corn accounts for 38% of the corn Koreans eat though. Lots of wheat too.

        • klynn says:

          Vikram Pandit interestingly enough went to Gannon University which happens to be a Catholic university.

          The connections seem to grow in that list of support for this deal. I am not surprised. The Catholic church has been the fastest growing Christian tradition in South Korea.

          The Roman Catholic Church in South Korea has seen prodigious growth in recent years, increasing its membership by 70% in the past ten years.[2] Part of this growth can be attributed to the Church’s relatively positive perception by the general public for its role in the democratization of South Korea, its active participation in various works of social welfare, and its respectful approach to interfaith relationship and matters of traditional Korean spirituality. There are now over 5.1 million Catholics in South Korea — over 10% the population. South Korea (and by extension the Catholic Church in all Korea, north and south) has the fourth largest number of saints in the Catholic Church since 1984 as categorized by nation. There are 15 dioceses including three archdioceses of Seoul, Daegu and Gwangju, and the military ordiniate. The North Korean Catholic Church is ecclesiastically united with South Korea, composed of two dioceses of Pyongyang and Hamheung (suffragen to the Metropolitan of Seoul) and the only territorial abbey outside Europe, that of Dokwon.

          and…

          Mission Asia: The Laboratory is South Korea

          After the summit on China, the audience with the prime minister of Vietnam: Benedict XVI sees in the Far East the future terrain of the Church’s expansion. An interview with the archbishop of Seoul…

          …Another country of the Far East in which the Catholic Church is especially vigorous is South Korea. The faithful there have almost doubled in number over the past ten years, and now make up 10 percent of the population. Here, unlike in Vietnam and China, religious freedom is guaranteed, there is a good standard of living, and the challenges facing the Church are more like those found in the West.

          I am sure it is just coinkidinky so many on this deal have an association in common with the Pope.

  3. DWBartoo says:

    Thank you, Marcy, for all that you do, for the record you have provided those willing to think, for the cogent anaylsis of implication, for seeing the whole picture and sharing those insights so eloquently well (and several other million things as well).

    How long?

    How long until the Ameican people wake up?

    How long until American-style “Capitalism” destroys the capacity of Earth to support human life?

    How long until everyone else in the world runs out of patience with the American people?

    How long until what “goes” around … “comes” around?

    How long?

    DW

  4. Gitcheegumee says:

    Isn’t Erik Prince’s(Blackwater?Xe) sister,Betsey, married to a DeVos?

    Betsy DeVos – Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaElisabeth “Betsy” DeVos is the former chairman of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Michigan and wife of former Alticor (Amway) president Dick DeVos …

    Current and former leadership … – Biography – Controversy
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_DeVos – Cached – SimilarDick DeVos – Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaHis wife, Betsy DeVos, is the sister of Blackwater Worldwide (now Xe …
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_DeVos – Cached – g

    MediaMouse: Grand Rapids Progressive Left News Blog » Archive …May 19, 2004 … Betsy DeVos, current chair of the Michigan Republican Party, has a little known connection to war profiteering and private security forces …
    http://www.mediamouse.org/news/2004/05/betsy-devos-con.php – Cached

    • DWBartoo says:

      It is interesting how well the percentage of the population who are the true “deciders” corresponds to the percentage of sociopaths postulated to exist in any given populatiion.

      Pure coincidence.

      No doubt.

      How you be doing, Gitchee?

      Been a while since I’ve commentet here, but I’ve been reading and learning when time permits.

      DW

      • Gitcheegumee says:

        Dee Dub. I been wonderin’ what ever happened to you.

        Great to see you commenting again!

        And speaking of things that go “coincidental” in the night,sure seems synchronistic that this trade agreement comes on the heels of the escalating “kerfuffle” between N and S Korea…or maybe it’s just me….

        • DWBartoo says:

          Hmmm. My. My.

          Tell me, Gitchee, jus’ how long have these “symptoms” of your’s been going on? This foreboding sense of dis -ease?

          This very same affliction has, for long, been upon me, I confess …

          ;~DW

        • DWBartoo says:

          Once upon a time, two small quarks, at opposite “ends” of a rather “small” universe, began a wee instantaneous correspondence.

          The first queried, “Have you ever thought about what goes on between us?”

          “Sometimes.” Was the initial response, followed by, “Usually, it is de- light full, however, sometimes matters darken and i wonder if sentiency really does exist beyond beings such as ourselves?”

          The first replied, “Someday we may have the equiptment to detect it, but until then … it remains pure speculation.”

          And then, after a space … they went about their business… a continuum, played between waves and particles … over time … and through space.

          DW

        • Mauimom says:

          I’m particularly interested in the astroturfing that Jane discovered last night with regard to “alex” posting from the DNL/OFA list of “great things about this trade bill.”

          There are some dark forces at work here, and I’m interested to see if other sites [Great Orange Satan [mistyped as “Great Orange Stan,” which I thought was humorous], HuffPost, TPM, et al. are aware of this hijacking of their “discussion.”

        • prostratedragon says:

          Or maybe not (just you).

          @17 — that is the same John Engler then? I’d been exceeding my own lofty standards of filtration by blocking out all memory of him till now.

  5. Mauimom says:

    Only slightly OT: Marcy, what’s the deal with Dick Durbin? I thought he was — as least as much as someone can be in this administration — one of the “good guys,” yet I see he’s a “yes” on the Catfood Commission.

    What gives?

  6. PeasantParty says:

    The New World ORder, it’s what’s in. Man, we get war and fruit salad, while the rest of the universe gets jobs and free trade. /s

    The elites are in complete control, I have no idea how to throw the wrench in their wheels, but by gosh, I’m not going willingly!

  7. biglake says:

    So sorry that John Engler is now inflicted on the entire nation, instead of just Michigan- where he trashed the bonded indebtedness.

  8. felicity says:

    It’s beyond time that we come to grips with the reality (s) of the economic system/neoliberalism/imperialism/neoliberal globalisation we’ve chosen as the American economic system.

    Neoliberal globalisation is capital (large corporations financial and non-financial) using governments and especially leadership of the US government to make it easier to exploit the world’s resources and its people. The capitalist, ideally, needs to be able to sell where and when, to invest where and when, to move money and products in and out of countries and to repatriate profits at will.

    If we don’t like the way it works, get the people out of office who like the way it works.

  9. alank says:

    You make the Democratic Party seem rather hard done by the trade deal being pushed. This is perhaps more representative of the ineffectualness and utter failure of the party to get anything done that even approximates the core values that are the pillars of the party.

  10. justbetty says:

    Mauimom,

    I saw Dick Durbin on Fox News explaining that he hated voting yes for the deficit plan like the devil hates holy water, but he had to do it- for our own good?? I think the devil has more principles than any D’s in office today.

  11. Adam503 says:

    The deal is going to get a whole lot worse when Korea reunifies too. China seems to have given it’s approval to a S. Korean led reuinification.

    Hard to find labor cheaper than China, but I’m sure we’ve never seen a sweat shop like the ones we will see in the former North Korea

    • Synoia says:

      Hard to find labor cheaper than China

      Really? Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, maybe India.

      And in 2030? The US.

  12. Synoia says:

    DeVos, head of an empire where all the members of his empire work for no pay, and make little money.

    Good luck with your future customers, DeVos, it’s no wonder you have to enter new markers, because your US customers are being squeezed dry. How do your future US revenue projections look? Outstanding or desperate?

  13. Fractal says:

    Marcy, you were so right last night about this KORUS FTA announcement being dropped into a black hole as far as news coverage goes. There’s nothing on the front page of NYT about this today, although NYT’s biz section inside had a story which buried the lede that Sen. Max Baucus is opposed to the deal. WaPo buried a short hed in the fine print on its front page and carried this boring story on the inside, time stamped 8:52 pm, which buried Baucus at the end. Bloomberg carried a fairly long item (for Bloomberg) which also put Baucus’s opposition lower in the piece. Turns out (who knew?) Koreans rioted over the prospect that U.S. beef with mad cow disease might pollute their meat supply!