Comments on: A Reader Asks About the Effects of CAFTA

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:46:23 +0000

Yes and yes… but not too long.

By: JP Perez

JP Perez — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:58:16 +0000

do you think cafta will open up quick opps for us health insurance companies? or will this take a while?

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:15:00 +0000

CAFTA gives corporations more rights than people. If trade is to be free, so must migration.

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:22:04 +0000

Call me out on my ignorance? Oh… I think not.

If you think I was or am worried about someone disagreeing, then you might ask yourself how YOU were even able to read his comment! I welcome comments for or against!

I stated my opinions and everyone is welcome to disagree. They are not welcome to use foul language, call other people names, or just submit the same words over and over again. That is boring.

I printed his comments word-for-word just like I have printed yours. In fact, I have never NOT printed a comment except for SPAMMING, language abuse, or promulgation of anything that is against the law.

Saying that, I have noticed that people who are against CAFTA treat everyone else like they are just idiots. And… if I understand you, because I am not against CAFTA; then I am an idiot? LOL!! That means he and maybe you, are also calling over HALF the adult Costa Rica population idiots? Arias as well? Have you even the slightest idea how arrogant that is?

OK, so he thinks I am an idiot… so be it. However, one comment is enough. The comments area is not an area for debate. It is for COMMENTS. Make your comment known and move on. That person wrote three more comments, added nothing, and each one stated that all his comments were all FACTS and were not just his opinion. I disagreed and still do.

There were and are many, many people who think CAFTA is great, but he, and maybe you as well, think everyone else is wrong and you are right! Sorry… It does not work that way.

I am guessing that, by the way you started out about someone calling me out “on my ignorance”, that you are the same clown just using a different email. Sorry… your negative opinions on CAFTA are welcome, but because others disagree, they are not idiots…

Now your 15 minutes on this topic are up as well.

By: Thom Johnson

Thom Johnson — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:43:05 +0000

Hilarious. I love it. Someone is finally calling you out on your ignorance, Tim, and you threaten to ban them from your blog because he’s expressing his opinion. Isn’t that what blogs are all about? That’s rich.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:23:10 +0000

Of COURSE it is opinion! It is Your opinion and you have a right to it. However, opinions are like feet… everybody has ‘em but and most think theirs don’t smell.

What you do NOT have a right to do is to think is that your opinion is better than anyone else’s as that is just plain arrogant and will not be tolerated here.

The majority of Costa Rican citizens voted for CAFTA, and good or not, their opinion far outweighs yours. There are also a ton of people who think CAFTA is great, but according to you, only your opinion should be considered because you know it all and the rest of us are idiots. Incredible arrogance!

So we will wait, and in 5 years or so, if all YOUR opinions turn out to be correct, then just think how happy (and arrogant) you will feel then! At that time, come back here and post a “I told you so” comment, but until then, your comments on this topic will no longer be accepted. You stated your opinion… twice… and I published them. Now move on…

By: B. Brist

B. Brist — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:23:05 +0000

It’s not opinion. Union busting, lack of access to ARV treatment, an influx of subsidized U.S. grains that disrupts local markets and causes increased migration, and increased foreign investment in things like cyanide-leaching gold mines, megatourism developments that steal land from indigenous peoples: these are all FACTS about the effects of CAFTA that have been documented and studied. If you’d like to educate yourself, I’d happily refer you to people who know about and are studying the situation.
But I suspect you’re just as happy to spout off ill-informed opinions based on casual observations and guesswork.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:40:22 +0000

Thank you for your opinion.

By: B. Brist

B. Brist — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:24:22 +0000

You obviously have no idea about what goes into a FTA, much less what went into CAFTA and why it’s harmful to U.S. citizens and Central Americans. First off, such privatization opens programs to private ownership without the guarantee that citizens will be served. Such programs may well be expensive and mismanaged, but it’s not correct to assume that the best remedy is to allow for Carlos Slim to buy them. Reforms can be instituted without turning an entity over to a blood-sucking international corporation. You would be well served to read up on development economics before blogging about such things.
More broadly, CAFTA contains provisions to protect U.S. and international corporations that go far beyond those written into other FTAs. I’ll give you an example: Read chapter 16, which concerns intellectual property provisions. And then, go do some research. The “IP protections” granted under CAFTA are, effectively, killing AIDS patients in Central America because they afford drug makers de-facto patents on drugs that should be made available to Central American governments.
Or how about reading into the chapter 15 about labor standards and then visiting a sweat shop or a labor union in Guatemala. Trying to organize a union there is more dangerous than every country in the Americas other than Colombia. A dozen people have been killed for trying to start a union. And when the labor unions filed a complaint against their government, the U.S. labor department decided to give the Guatemalan government 6 months to work things out.
If you are going to write about things as complicated as CAFTA and foreign trade agreements, you should really learn the ins and outs.
You may have had great experiences with Wal-Mart’s customer service department and horrible experiences with the phone company in Costa Rica, but by no means does that authorize you to discuss this subject authoritatively. So shut up.

By: Will

Will — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 20:29:59 +0000

I recently returned to the USA after having lived in New Zealand for 20 years and the “Socialized Health Care” there was amazingly efficient with very fast service. A person could usually walk into a doctors office and be seen within a few hours if that long, sometimes right away. However most people book ahead a day or two in advance.

Also,the specialists were excellent but understandably requird booking in advance because they had surgeries to perform which takes priority.
NZ’s healthcare standards is second to none in quality and it is a socialized system.

As far as the Telecom in NZ it is on par with any large Monolopy. The service is average, the product is average and the prices are high. But that is what you can expect from a Corporate Monolopy.