#118: Bellegarde-Smith replies to Gill

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: P D Bellegarde-Smith <pbs@csd.uwm.edu>


On Wed, 7 Jul 1999, Robert Corbett wrote:

> > From: dr gill <markgill@clas.net>
> 
> a statement by a USAID employee in l997 does not reflect US policy.....how
> often does one hear someone who works for an organization make statements
> that do not reflect the purpose/policy/attitudes of the organization...
> 
	Private businesses and governmental agencies have well-honed rules
about representing or misrepresenting the corporate ethos and agency
purposes. U.S. diplomats know it, when they inadvertently apologize for
U.S. misdeeds, or Caterpillar middle managers are called upon the carpet
when they make statements that harm Caterpillar. Besides, are we to take
at face value pronouncements of charitable intent? What ever happened to
U.S. corporate interests? Of (misapplied) U.S. national interests?
Maximization of individual interests seldom leads to the well-being of the
collectivity. What harms the U.S. may help other countries, and vice
versa. Is this not logical? (Is the French national interest coterminous
with the U.S. national interest?) Is Haiti allowed to have national
interests too? But defined by whom? (Typically by the government, as in
all countries. All to often, the governments of small countries
inadequately represent the interest of their states. Exogenous pressures
are just so strong!) P.B.-S. 


> i would like more specific information that shows how US help for Haiti
> benefits the US.....who?  what level of US investment exists in Haiti?  i
> know it next to
> nothing as countries wont invest, and we all know the reasons why....
> 
	My response above partly answers this. By the way: ghettoes (or
"ghetto" countries wield much in terms of raw profits. In the same sense,
underpaid workers --everywhere-- are engines for profit. Does it surprise
anyone? "Do we all know the reasons why...?" I do, but my reasons and
(those of many political economists) are not surprisingly different from
those ASSUMED but never stated by the statement above. That we "all" know
something bespeaks of an American ideological stance, shared by most
Americans. We face this in the classroom everyday. P.B.-S. 


> so, i do not see from what has been said that there is some collusion.....
> i shall submit this notion to USAID friends for their response, if that is
> alright
> with Mr. Driver.......
> 
> Mark Gill
> 
> 	We shall ask the fox to pontificate about the chickens? I am
reminded of the statement by President Juan Jose Arevalo, that small
states are sardines that swim in a sea infested by a few sharks.
(Actually, my version is far more poetic than that of the President).
P.B.-S. >