Protective tariffs generally had been a Republican thing up until
Richard Nixon. With this in mind, it was not surprising to
old fashioned Republicans that it was a Democrat, Bill Richardson, who
worked to fashion a trade policy that allowed American jobs to go to
underpaid child laborers in foreign countries that lacked
environmental and labor safeguards while American consumers chose
foreign goods over American goods. Bill Richardson, promoter of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade
Organization (WTO), saw his
dream of a corporate-run world manifested when Bill Clinton
signed NAFTA into law. Richardson's plan to become
President is also the
dream of his backers, the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), which
more
recently brought us the bankruptcy-elimination legislation. To
this day, Bill Richardson stands for free trade and big business.
"NAFTA was
critically important, and not only for the reasons
commonly cited by its supporters. Yes, the treaty would create the
world's largest
free-trade region, a market of 360 million people in the US, Canada,
and
Mexico. Estimates of NAFTA's economic impact varied, but the treaty
promised to
be a win-win-win for all three countries." http://www.massscorecard.org/Archive/Between_Worlds_Bill_Richardson.htm,
Between Worlds
by Bill Richardson, p. 112, Nov 3, 2005
In Bill
Richardson's own words, his answers to questions about NAFTA, GATT and
the WTO:
Q:
Do you support broadening North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
to include other countries?
A : Yes.
Q: Do you
support the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you
support the WTO?
A: Yes.
Source: 1996 Congressional National
Political Awareness Test Nov 1,
1996,http://www.massscorecard.org/2008/Bill_Richardson_Free_Trade.htm
Any questions about where this guy
stands on the WTO, GATT or NAFTA?
Is anyone surprised that he is a poster
boy for the DLC? His corporate connections may explain why he
supports continuing to cut taxes for the rich.
Interestingly, his work with the
Bilderberg Group has done nothing to prepare Richardson for rescuing
corporations from disaster. Serious questions
have arisen over his
involvement with
Peregrine Systems. Inc. He served on the board of
directors from
February
2001 to June 2002. During that time, the company was reportedly
covering up accounting fraud in the amount of $509 million in
overstated profits and $2.6 billion in understated losses. He
resigned
two months after the SEC uncovered the fraud conspiracy. According to
Wikipedia, Peregrine's leadership covered up their schemes while
selling
off their stock, as the result of an audit by BMC. This and other
scandals led to the demise of Arthur Andersen, who reportedly aided
executives involved in the cover up deceptions. The shareholder
equity loss totaled over $4 billion dollars. His close
friend and in-law, Peregrine's former president and CEO, Stephen
Gardner pled guilty on March 13, 2007 to three felony charges of
defrauding the company and shareholders out of millions of
dollars.
Peregrine filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 23,
2002, after laying off the majority of its employees, thousands of
workers.
During his time on the board Richardson reportedly attended 15 board
meetings
and was briefed several times on the accounting meltdown inside the
company. Richardson made no known move to protect the
stockholders or
employees. Some believe that Richardson will have little better
odds of being elected President than anyone on the board of Enron, a
company where similar leadership resulted in a similar disaster.
The Bilderberg Group's power would make a good plot for a movie.
Most informed Americans wish it were as fictional as most movies. It is
a quasi secret consortium of the international elite who meet annually
to plan world economic and political policies. It is connected
with the powers behind the World Bank and the World Trade
Organization. The attendees and events at the meetings are
known, despite attempts to keep the meetings private. Much has been written about the
organization, its members and selection process for the U.S.
Presidency. Bill Richardson and most 2008 candidates for the
Presidency have attended its meetings. The Bilderberg Group is
looking forward to seeing one of its vetted candidates, Bill
Richardson, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, or Chris Dodd,
becoming the next commander and chief.
Bill Richardson's campaign is promoting the International Money
Fund (IMF), the front for a group that believes corporations should be
able
to privatize the world and its resources, including food and
water. This has been a disaster for countries where the citizens
had to march in the street to get rid of the unsanitary privatization
of their resources. On Richardson's campaign website, there is a
call for providing the IMF with more resources. Bill Richardson
received praise at a G-7 summit for his call for the United Nations to
serve as a parallel forum to the Bretton Woods institutions. The
Bretton Woods Committee notes, in its mission statement, that it "seeks
to increase understanding of the World Bank, IMF, WTO and the regional
development banks and their efforts to spur economic growth, alleviate
poverty and improve financial stability." Mr. Richardson has a
history of participation in the Global Marketplace G-7 conferences.
California and Nevada farmers are concerned about the impact of the
Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository. Scientists have found that the
design is unsafe and that normal ground water levels could flood the
containment area, leading to contamination of the ground water and the
Colorado River. As the head of the Department of Energy,
Richardson approved a $3.1 billion contract with Bechtel for work on
the project. Richardson's department issued a controversial
report validating Yucca Mountain's suitability for the project.
Richardson has declared his
strong support for the death penalty, a punishment that, in the Western
Hemisphere, has been only used
by the United States in recent years.
Some Americans would use the word "racist"
to describe Richardson's call for revoking citizenship of children of
immigrants.
"Children of illegal immigrants, born in the United States, should not
automatically receive US citizenship."
http://www.massscorecard.org/2008/Bill_Richardson_Immigration.htm
The ambiguity has caused Latino groups to ignore Richardson and
look for candidates who will not threaten the rights of children.
If politics were a sport or an
adventure, Bill Richardson would be a leader of a mountain-climbing
expedition for a pot of gold at the top of a dangerous mountain.
He would make sure that the richest climbers had the better
equipment. After learning that the hard-working climbers in his
party were using defective equipment, he would silently rush on while
allowing ropes to break and his supporters to fall off the cliff.
When he got close to the goal, he would tell the majority of climbers
who stuck it out with him they are no longer needed and to return home.
Additional References:
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=251963&kaid=104&subid=116
http://www.massscorecard.org/2008/Bill_Richardson_Tax_Reform.htm
http://www.heritage.org/Research/TradeandForeignAid/BG936.cfm
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17214
http://www.nndb.com/org/514/000042388/
http://www.nndb.com/people/404/000044272/
http://www.brettonwoods.org/
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/bwi-wto/imf/1999/imf99-6.htm
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/doe2k/ornl/demo.htm
http://www.rgj.com/blogs/inside-nevada-politics/2006/09/bill-richardsons-yucca-mountain-dance.html
http://www.massscorecard.org/2008/Bill_Richardson_Crime.htm