Why the Clintons' profiting off near-slavery is not a campaign issue

[althecat]

Why the Clintons' profiting off near-slavery is not a campaign issue

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/mar2008/clin-m28.shtml

A relevant quote:

"Given the bitter and often personal attacks that have characterized both sides during the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, one might expect the revelation that the Clintons were profiting off an insider deal that put their money into a slave-labor operation in Brazil would provide valuable ammunition for the Obama campaign. Yet the Illinois Senator's camp has said nothing about the matter.

Similarly, the revelation got the scantest coverage in the press. A Google News search for "Clinton" and "Brenco" turns up just four entries,
none of them from a US daily newspaper or broadcast network.

Why is the subject virtually taboo? Quite simply because the behavior of the Clintons is not an aberration, but rather the norm for bourgeois politics in America."

... please discuss civilly....

[Bread and Circus]

1. Whatever the veracity of the charge is, the Obama campaign is not in "attack dog" mode as much as...

it is claimed to be.

To be honest, Obama and the campaign could stand to be a little more rough but I kind of like the high road they take.

[Andy823]

2. Obama isn't using this stuff

But you can bet your life that McCain and the repugs will use it, and a whole lot more they have on her in the GE.

[keep_it_real]

4. I like the high road the Obama campaign has taken but they could

Drop a bomb like this story every now and then; just kind a sneak it in and let the press go for it like Hillary does to the Obama.

[althecat]

7. There is a lot to be said for obama taking the high road... but there is no need for the rest of us

... to hold back.

Hillary Clinton was on the board of Walmart - for years. I would have thought that was enough to disqualify her as a representative of the worker and real America.

[City Lights]

16. Exactly. The media won't touch this stuff unless one of the campaigns

brings it up. How pathetic. Where have all our investigative journalists gone? We have three cable news networks that are pretty much useless. Instead of passing the hours with mindless fluff, they could do America well by digging in and exposing stuff like this. It's maddening. x(

[althecat]

20. Yip....

[Drachasor]

40. Budgets for investigative journalism have been going downhill

Which is one of the reasons you don't see much of it. Big Media doesn't find it "cost effective" as far as ratings go -- keeping the public informed and the truth aren't big issues for them.

[City Lights]

42. They're more concerned with furthering their own goals. To succeed,

they need an uninformed electorate.

[Catherina]

26. I agree. Besides this isn't about taking a road. It's about making an informed decision n/t

[althecat]

30. Big ups for the post below Catherina....

:bounce:

[closeupready]

34. I often wonder how that factor played into giving China most-favored nation status.

n/t

[althecat]

22. Can't say I disagree with that...

That said its an interesting question. Plus with Hillary and her team shooting themselves in the head as frequently as they are there at present there is possibly not a great deal to be gained out of any distraction from that at this precise time. The cartoons are priceless.

[ecstatic]

33. He believes the winner will be decided on merit. I fear

he may be wrong about that.

I think he thinks that it's useless to attack her because he is in the lead, will remain in the lead, and they may be forced to share a ticket. But I wouldn't be surprised if the superdelegates overturned the results.

[Whisp]

3. NAFTA, slaves and Juarez. another one. nt

[althecat]

19. Of course the true story of Juarez is mormons, drug and people trafficking & murder...

[glowing]

5. At the end of the day.. these people protect one another. They do not want to

rock the boat. They are in their own little bubble in Washington... Lying to the American people and doing whatever they please. Its time to dismantle the bubble. Neither Obama or Clinton are going to rock the boat. McCain is def. not going to rock the boat. I'm not sure when people will finally wake the you know what up and realize that it is time to take out the people who do us the most harm.. Those are our representatives who have systematically protected their own interests above that of The People. Once again, we have the choice of selecting the lesser of two evils.. And with corporate machines collecting the data of the votes, we are really left with no choice. The choices have been pre-selected by the "secret-patented" corporate coding.

[althecat]

17. And to that I say Hell Yeah!!!!

You are correctly interpreting the data glowing.

Kia Kaha.

Stand Tall.

:yourock:

al

[StopMcCain2008]

6. stop with the spam already

Bill clinton just had a few stocks in some company. If anyone here wears Nike, they are just as guilty as he is.

[althecat]

15. Welcome to DU StopMcCain2008

No doubt you are correct. Walmart was a good development for workers in the USA. Hell cheap shoes. Discount cosmetics. Plastic toys out your ears... thats what America needed in the 1990s.

[City Lights]

18. RIP, StopMcCain2008.

We hardly knew ye. :rofl:

[althecat]

21. No Surrender....

hell yeah!!!

[althecat]

8. Good Morning..... just been listening to Radio Karori....

John Loftus is joining a 911 discussion. Dateline 4.48am NZT.

[althecat]

9. They are discussing Ace Elevator Company.....

.... something about Marvin Bush....

... an article in USA Today staying that special elevators were being installed in WTC...

[althecat]

10. ... Elevator men who worked for ACE Elevator fled the buildings when WTC was hit....

This is unusual. Usually the firefighter workers are assisted by the elevator people.

[althecat]

11. ...host looked a little further....

[althecat]

12. He should unquestionably be consigned to the dungeon.....

Central core where elevator shafts were.... the central spindle should have withstood the pancaking..... revolutionary design. OTIS is damn cool... build good elevators....designed and fabricated the elevators until 1994. Then suddenly OTIS lost the contract to a no-name elevator company out of New Jersey...

Shit the plot thickens...

[althecat]

24. INN World Report this show is... John Loftus is a bit dissappointing..

[Ysabel]

27. what was the name of the new elevator company / er nevermind i'm awake now...

p.s. k and r...

------

edited: ah ACE okay i see above (sleepy me)...

[althecat]

29. Aha..... is that an eastern hemisphere dozyness that I detect. Or a late wakeup?

:bounce:

[Ysabel]

31. lol late wake up in wisconsin (n/t)...

[althecat]

32. Have a nice saturday :)

Greetings from NZ....

[Ysabel]

35. thanks and you too...

:)

[Ysabel]

38. p.s. if we should meet / post together again...

know that i am probably one of the worst typists in the world and also rather disorganised (and almost always sleepy hahaha) so please excuse me if i muck up any threads i'm sorry...

- and i hope that you're having a good SUNDAY (and i hope also that i got that correct)...

[Life Long Dem]

13. If no one can see Hillary is for cheap labor then they are blinded.

From offshoring through TATA to NAFTA it's for all to see.

[althecat]

14. No kidding......

... just want to be clear that you are clear about that.

Perhaps you can give me a hell yeah!

[althecat]

23. Ok this thread will expire soon... it needs 2 recs.....

[Catherina]

25. This is very upsetting. degrading living conditions, hunger and cold

I'm very sad to learn this. Thanks for this thread. I had no idea how bad it was, more people need to know how corrupt the Clintons are.

Clinton Link in Brazil Ethanol Probe
By ALAN CLENDENNING – Mar 10, 2008

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) — A team from Brazil's Labor Ministry found "degrading" living conditions for 133 sugarcane workers employed by an ethanol company whose investors include former President Clinton and other high-profile financial players.

At five sites inspected, workers "complained they were suffering from hunger and cold, and all of the locations were overcrowded and with terrible sanitary conditions," according to a statement issued Friday by Jaqueline Carrijo, who led the inspections last month.

...

Clinton's connection is via an investment in Brenco by The Yucaipa Cos., a U.S.-based fund in which Clinton was a senior advisor until last year. His investment in Brenco is valued between $15,001 and $50,000, according to a financial dislosure report submitted last year by his wife, presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Yucaipa, whose chairman is prominent Democratic billionaire Ron Burkle, holds an overall 2.8 percent stake in the initial $200 million raised by Brenco last year to start up operations in Brazil's booming ethanol sector.

Bill Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna said that the former president's investment made via Yucaipa was small but that he had been assured Brenco was "committed to the highest ethical standard with regard to the treatment of its workforce and of the environment."

"The president finds these allegations deeply troubling and expects Brenco to move swiftly to ensure that those responsible are held accountable," McKenna said, adding that Clinton is "taking steps to ensure that there is an appropriate transition for his business relationships should Senator Clinton become the Democratic nominee."

The Brazilian labor probe focused mostly on living conditions for the workers, including 17 who were paying rent to live in housing overrun by rats and cockroaches, Carrijo said. In addition, trucks lacked special seatbelts for workers who ride atop the vehicles as they throw sugarcane seedlings to the ground, she said.

...

Brenco's investors include Vinod Khosla, a venture capitalist who was one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems; America Online founder Stephen Case; Hollywood producer and Democratic fundraiser Steven Bing, another close Clinton ally; and former World Bank President James Wolfensohn.

...

Brazil is the world's second-largest producer of ethanol after the United States, but is the No. 1 exporter. Experts say Latin America's largest nation could become an ethanol superpower because its sugarcane is more efficient for ethanol production than the corn used in the U.S.

...

Associated Press writers Devlin Barrett in Washington and Peter Muello in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, contributed to this report.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jeHsuoT1eKJDwq3l2kU9GqHm5vVAD8VASI300

Making money off poor people who get lung fibrosis working in sugarcane fields to fatten your portfolio while you sponsor ethanol legislation. Priceless.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has sponsored legislation to provide incentives for ethanol and has worked to foster a favorable environment for investment in it.


By MIKE McINTIRE
Published: February 28, 2008

To big rounds of applause, three of the world’s richest men — Richard Branson, Ronald W. Burkle and Vinod Khosla — trooped onto a New York ballroom stage with former President Bill Clinton to pledge support for renewable energy projects to combat global warming and create jobs.

...

And sitting in the audience was an influential public official who had also taken an active interest in renewable sources of fuel: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

...

Several months earlier, Mrs. Clinton had sponsored legislation to provide billions in new federal incentives for ethanol, and, especially in her home state of New York, she has worked to foster a business climate that favors the sort of ethanol investments pursued by her husband’s friends and her political supporters.

...

One potential beneficiary is the Yucaipa Companies, a private equity firm where Mr. Clinton has been a senior adviser and whose founder, Mr. Burkle, has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Mrs. Clinton’s campaigns. Yucaipa has invested millions in Cilion Inc. — a start-up venture also backed by Mr. Branson, the British entrepreneur, and Mr. Khosla, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist — that is building seven ethanol plants around the country. Two are in upstate New York.

...

A Cilion executive said Mrs. Clinton’s office had been helpful to the company as it pursued its New York projects. More broadly, by steering federal money, organizing investor forums and offering the services of her staff, she has helped turn the upstate region into an incubator for ventures like Cilion’s, while providing a useful showcase for her energy proposals on the campaign trail.

...

Because Mr. Burkle’s Yucaipa funds are private, and the Clintons have refused to release their tax returns, details of Yucaipa’s investments and Mr. Clinton’s potential to profit from them are not publicly available. Last year, after Mr. Clinton published a book on philanthropy that extols the virtues of investing in renewable energy and contains a reference to Cilion, a spokesman for the former president told New York magazine that he consulted for Yucaipa on renewable energy investments but was not involved in Cilion.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/us/politics/28ethanol.html

João Raimundo (31 years)

“What did I get from cutting sugar cane? All I got was lose my finger. There are a lot of grave accidents –to the leg, to the arm. A lot of the time, the person isn´t able to work. The Sugar Mill´s doctor gives you three days off –and after that, you are obliged to work. Rights? No one´s rights are respected.”

(What do I think of the Sugar Mill owner?): “he´s a latifundiary who sucks the workers´ blood.”


João (55 years)

“I worked and worked and what did I get? Only old age and exhaustion”

(What do I think of the Sugar Mill owner?): “He´s an exploiter of slaves.”



Manoel (57 years)

“Ever since I was 10 years old I´ve worked in the sugar cane fields and it has given me nothing – not even to eat. It´s slavery. There´s no freedom.”

(What do I think of the Sugar Mill owner?): “he´s a thief, a robber.”


http://petroleum.berkeley.edu/patzek/BiofuelQA/Materials/sugarcane_workers_in_brazil.htm

[althecat]

28. "including 17 who were paying rent to live in housing overrun by rats and cockroaches, "

That really ought to be an OP Catherina..... I will gladly rec it. And kick it up...

:bounce:

[Catherina]

43. I hope people read it here in context with your OP

Maybe we should put a solid report together? When I read your post, it disgusted me. My sister worked with Doctors Without Borders and they helped a lot of people who'd gotten hurt in the sugar fields, including kids who'd lost an arm or a leg. The pictures she brought back were very upsetting. I can't believe we tolerate this sort of thing from politicians.

I wonder what else is in Hillary's tax returns? That might be a good way to approach a research project on this.

I gladly rec'd your thread before even posting that. Thanks for bringing this to people's attention :hi:

[Catherina]

47. I made it an OP in the Political Video forum

Deadly Brew - The Human Toll of Ethanol (Clinton Investments): http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x111987

[Ysabel]

37. seems like blackmail to me...

from above article:

Bill Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna said that the former president's investment made via Yucaipa was small but that he had been assured Brenco was "committed to the highest ethical standard with regard to the treatment of its workforce and of the environment."

"The president finds these allegations deeply troubling and expects Brenco to move swiftly to ensure that those responsible are held accountable," McKenna said, adding that Clinton is "taking steps to ensure that there is an appropriate transition for his business relationships should Senator Clinton become the Democratic nominee."

[Ysabel]

36. well sheesh i really am not at all awake yet how embarrassing...

deleting duplicated observations and reposting my comment above...

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

39. recommended

still got time right? to recommend? thanks for posting this.

[rucky]

41. Obama's been pulling many punches.

Seriously.

Then again, neither of them really need to throw punches, with all of the independent oppo research and blogging going on.

[caseycoon]

44. K&R n/t

[McCamy Taylor]

45. Read the whole article. The Socialists do not praise Obama. He is also a capitalist tool

who postures as a progressive while getting rich from his ties to Wall Street and its exploitation of the working class, according to the Socialists.

While the Obamas trail far behind the Clintons in terms of personal wealth, their gross income increased fivefold since his taking office in the US Senate, averaging $1.3 million a year in 2005 and 2006.

Moreover, both of the candidates’ campaigns are richly funded by Wall Street. Senator Clinton has received some $6.29 million in political contributions from the securities and investment industries, while Senator Obama trails only slightly, with $6.03 million. Both have raked in more than double the amount that has gone to the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee, John McCain, and more than four times as much as Al Gore received over the entire 2000 campaign.

Wall Street’s immense profits over the past period have been accrued in no small measure by investments in what is known in the financial industry as “emerging markets,” where brutal exploitation like that imposed upon the Brazilian cane cutters produces handsome returns for the multimillionaires and billionaires who dominate the markets.

Neither Obama nor Clinton has any interest in casting a spotlight on these ugly truths, given that both candidates posture as economic populists to win votes, while remaining firmly committed to defending the profit interests of a ruling financial elite into which they themselves are being integrated.

I think the Socialists are correct. Obama and Hillary are both moderate to hawkish Democrats, which is what will make them electable. I have given up hoping for a true progressive Democrat. Now the MSM shoots these guys down in the primary.

Recommended because everyone at DU needs to hear what the Socialists have to say about our Party from time to time. They are the real protectors of the working class.

[Ysabel]

48. mccamy taylor i just don't understand what you say here because it seems to me to contradict...

your thread last night (i believe it was) wherein you tried every which way to excuse hillary's self proclaimed sleepy-headed excuses and lies...

- from a disorganised sleeepyhead who (thank goodness) is NOT running for president...

[EFerrari]

46. al, you always come through with what matters.

:toast: to you.