Re: Re: Maquiladoras not beneficial

[Louis Proyect]

A little while ago I discovered that Brad Delong has an article defending neoliberalism in Mexico on his website that originally appeared in Foreign Affairs:

http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/Econ_Articles/themexicanpesocrisis.html

It is very useful, even if totally wrong--especially when read in conjunction with Marty's MR article.

Since I strongly identify with all efforts to allow peasants to maintain their traditional self-husbanding mode of production if this is *what they democratically decide*, I am especially sensitive to the outrageous claim made by Delong that:

"All but one of the arguments against NAFTA made us wince. The only argument against that we felt had force was the fear that NAFTA implementation would devastate Mexico's peasant agriculture: Iowa corn and North Dakota wheat seemed likely to swamp the Mexican market, leaving Mexico's small farmers with diminished market incomes. The political and social consequences for Mexico seemed dangerous. But the negotiators did recognize this danger: the implementation of NAFTA allows ten to fifteen years for agricultural adjustment, and the Mexican government has already begun substantial agricultural reform."

This is blatant procapitalist propaganda. (When somebody operates in this kind of over-the-top mode, I would suggest that they can do little to foster a serious debate on a leftwing forum like pen-l. That is why a number of good people unsubbed in disgust with him, from Michael Keany to Michael Yates to Nestor Gorojovsky.)

There are so many articles in Lexis-Nexis that challenge Delong's bland, Panglossian assurances that all will go well for Mexican farmers that one doesn't know which one to choose. (A search for "Mexico & Nafta & Corn" returned 593 articles.) Here is one off the top:

The Houston Chronicle, October 20, 2002, Sunday 2 STAR EDITION

Land and loss;
CORN FARMERS IN MEXICO SAY NAFTA IS DRIVING THEM OUT OF BUSINESS

JENALIA MORENO, Houston Chronicle Mexico City Bureau

LOS RODRIGUEZ, Mexico - From the highway that cuts through the state of Guanajuato, it's easy to miss this village, much as progress has.

The village's only road, a dirt path filled with potholes big enough to swallow a compact car, follows a tall, barbed-wire fence that surrounds the nearby General Motors plant.

Old men share space on a burro's back with piles of grass they'll feed their livestock. Chickens and burros fill muddied front yards.

For generations, this simple town of nearly 5,000 has depended on the ups and downs of corn. It's obvious that the corn business has been going downhill in Los Rodriguez.

Farmers here, and in farming communities throughout the country, blame their struggles on the wave of cheap U.S. corn coming into Mexico since NAFTA went into effect eight years ago.

More and more farmers are being finished off, said Jorge Rodriguez, 30, who is the fourth generation of his family to raise corn in this village named after his ancestors.

The drafters of the North American Free Trade Agreement opened agricultural markets on both sides of the border to competition, changing the lives of farmers in each country.

In terms of the rising trade in farm products, it's been a plus.

NAFTA "has generally had a positive effect," said Don Lipton, a spokesman with the American Farm Bureau, which has supported the agreement. The movement of farm products from the United States and from Mexico have both nearly doubled since the trade agreement went into effect, he said.

As far as corn exports are concerned, Mexico is not one of the United States' biggest markets and according to U.S. government reports, NAFTA has had a "moderate" impact on corn exports to Mexico, he said.

But this trade has been brutal for those who are not the low-cost producers.

Most of those raising corn near this town are seeing this traditional way of life disappear.

Back when his grandparents farmed this land, corn sales could support an entire family. Now, Rodriguez works as a police officer in the nearby town of Silao because he doesn't earn enough money selling cobs of corn to support his family of six. His father, also a farmer, works as a security guard.

"Now, necessity makes us work more," Rodriguez said as he stood among the rows of corn on the small piece of land he inherited from his grandfather.

Rodriguez and many other farmers can't make money selling corn as cheaply as U.S. farmers can. The majority of Mexican farmers, like Rodriguez, have small plots of land just outside their front doors. They can't afford the expense of the land, machinery and fertilizers used by American farmers to maximize their yields and minimize their labor expense.

Rodriguez plants and harvests everything by hand. Mexican farmers don't get subsidies the way most American farmers do.

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