I'm always hearing about the WTO, IMF, World Bank, etc. and never really knew why there are always thousands of protesters throwing eggs and starting riots. So I read a few articles I found on google news... Turns out the major economic powers have a lot Of say which makes sense considering their respective GDPs (if not populations), but they aren't willing to give up any of their power to help developing countries. Progressive taxation doesn't apply to tariffs I guess. It seems kind of strange that we pay millions to our peanut farmers, making PB&J samiches prohibitively expensive, just to keep our farmers happy? Farming is soo 1800s, it's time for our cowboys to buy some herds of Aibos and hook 'em up to the plows, let them run the farms even. It's crazy that I pay $5(mostly in federal taxes) for skippy so some guy in Iowa can afford fancy new boots. We should be setting up scholarship programs. "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Unskilled" The MDLYBGUtbU Scholarship could be funded with the millions of dollars we spend on peanut subsidies and would give the farmers new skills leading to a more competitive US workforce. Plus the foreigners would hate us just a little bit less.

Here's a fun quote "Some protesters argue WTO officials should use the treaty to help poor nations. Others say agriculture should not be part of the talks because every nation has the right to use subsidies and tariffs to protect its domestic food supplies. The United States, Europe and Japan have been widely criticised for subsidising their farmers and flooding the world market with cheap commodities. "

I think America is in a unique position heading into the global future but we're too afraid of non-american culture and sacrifice for the greater good to take advantage of that position. The US is Microsoft with tanks. Everybody needs us but they hate it when we push them around. MS gets away with it because they pay Billions in taxes to the US government. There is currently no Government to govern the U.S. We laugh at the UN. We own the WTO. Linux is to Microsoft as China is to the US. A billion educated people will overthrow or make irrelevant the Chinese government in less than 100 years. If they're smart China will pal up with a bunch of other developing nations and completely ignore the US. Then we'll cut all of our trade barriers and start playing fair but it will be much too late for a country run by leaders without vision.

Quote for tomorrow
"Nations, as we know them today, will erode because they are neither big enough to be global nor small enough to be local."