California citrus growers shocked and blindsided by arrival of lemons from Argentina
Source: Fresno Bee
MAY 26, 2017 4:15 PM
BY ROBERT RODRIGUEZ
brodriguez@fresnobee.com
Argentine lemons are on their way and California farmers are angry.
Friday was the first day that South American lemons were allowed into the U.S. market after a 16-year absence.
. . .
Citrus growers were feeling somewhat confident in January when President Donald Trump issued a 60-day stay on the Obama administration’s plans to lift the ban on lemons from Argentina. But in May, President Trump, who many in farming voted for, agreed to lift the ban and farmers were feeling betrayed.
Nelsen said many in the industry felt “shocked and blindsided” by the decision and last week citrus industry leaders filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Fresno. The suit, filed by the U.S. Citrus Science Council, alleges the federal government relied on incomplete science and political considerations in making its decision.
Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/business/agriculture/article152959484.html
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particularly those democracy-killing ISDS provisions. I think he was taken aback at the vehement opposition to the secrecy in which the TPP was negotiated and drafted, as well.
Of course, the idea behind free trade (the ability by treaty to move capital from one geography to another) is noble. The creation of a worldwide middle class. That IS a noble thing.
Unfortunately, that isn't how it has worked. There are still sweatshops. IKEA fought its own union tooth and nail when moving stores here, to abide by the lesser protections afforded in US law.
Think of all the pain caused by NAFTA and CAFTA - the factories closed forever, to be replaced by Wal-Marts, turning once proud small-town Americans who prospered and lived their share of the American dream into the working poor, to be nickel and dimed to economic death by the inexorable march toward maximum value for shareholders at the expense of all else.
Now, it is the citrus farmers. Our farmers have enjoyed a protected market for a long time. Funny how it was the Dems all along that were giving them that...and ironic that they thought voting Republican was the right thing for them. The thought is worthy of a sad chuckle followed by a long sigh.
It is tragic for this nation that the right wing noise machine which has brainwashed a significant portion of our populace with very sophisticated corporate propaganda since the death of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 has turned so many Americans anti-intellectual, ignorant-and-proud-of-it, selfish, and generally hateful to anyone less fortunate. These people don't ever get the real news. They get talking points carefully picked by the corporate overlords of Breitbart, Fox and syndicated talk radio.
Will these farmers, like the displaced small town people who once prospered and now languish in working poverty, ever really understand how complete the betrayal of the American people has been at the hands of Republicans?
Maybe Trump is a good thing, because he is so unabashedly corrupt. He doesn't even pretend to be moral, he seems a bit whimsically insane, and is profoundly ignorant and anti-intellectual. These are traits that the corporate owners of the right wing propaganda network have carefully cultivated, and now they are coming back to bite the Republican base on the butt.
In the meantime we see a gradual softening in the housing market. Orders for autos and other durable goods are down. Trump, who takes seriously the mantra, "privatize, deregulate and gut social programs," has told financial regulators not to enforce the Volcker Rule, which prohibits banks from speculating with their customers' money.
We have allowed the foxes into the henhouse and they are destroying everything in sight. Will this republic survive them?
Tune in next week...but NOT to Fox...
