A fair and sustainable economy
“Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2: 4
Jesús’ family has been living on the same piece of land in Oaxaca, Mexico, for centuries. In the past few decades, life has grown increasingly difficult as the prices for their crops of corn, beans and wheat fluctuated greatly while many expenses have increased.
Social services such as health and education became scarcer and more expensive in the 1980s when Mexico accepted loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that demanded reduced spending on public services. Since the early 1990s when Mexico prepared to enter the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), life has become precarious. As part of the agreement, the Mexican government eliminated the aid it had given to farmers to buy fertilizers and pesticides, so the cost of those items shot up. The bag of fertilizer for which Jesús once paid 90 pesos now cost 320 pesos. At the same time, the price of his maize plummeted as cheap imported corn flooded the local markets. A kilo of corn once worth three pesos was now hardly worth 1.5 pesos. Ironically, despite the drop in corn prices, tortillas became over four times more expensive because the government also agreed to remove long-standing subsidies that had ensured the affordability of Mexicans’ daily tortillas. Since early 2007, international corn prices have skyrocketed due to increased interest in biofuels made from corn. As a result, prices of food like tortillas, chicken and eggs have gone up even further, but manipulations by giant corporations that dominate the corn market have prevented the benefits of higher prices from reaching Jesús and other small farmers in local markets.
While many still had enough food from what they grew, everyone began to lack the money to buy other necessities. Many men left to go north to look for work. Some ended up in overpopulated Mexican cities, while others crossed the border into the United States. More recently, women and children are leaving to join their family members.
Many of those who remain are dependent on the money sent back by those who left. Some, however, like Jesús, have changed their farming and marketing methods. They have started producing their own fertilizers through the use of composting, worm beds and nitrogen-fixing plants. They have also diversified their food production so they can sell year-round in local markets.
Since World War II, the U.S. has played an important role in shaping the global economy and today has an obligation to help change economic policies so that people like Jesús don’t suffer needlessly.
Catholic social tradition advocates an economy that guarantees the human dignity of all members of society and the well-being of God’s creation, our planet. In the last few decades, however, the globalized economy has provided tremendous benefits for the world’s wealthiest people with little trickling down to others, and the Earth is threatened as never before.
Maryknoll missioners have seen little improvement in the situations of the poorest and most at risk members of the human family; poverty rates have remained too high in many of the countries where we work. Racism continues around the world. In many countries, including the U.S., we see that the darker a person’s skin, the poorer they tend to be. Women too are undervalued in the world economy. Though half of the population, women continue to be excluded from participating in economic decisions that affect their lives.
The growing influence of mega-corporations on political processes encourages economic decision-making that focuses on wealth and prosperity while forgetting more vulnerable people in the U.S. and abroad. Many of these decisions profit larger businesses at the expense of smaller ones and encourage unsustainable levels of consumption.
Important policy goals:
• Enforce a separation of large corporations and state, strengthen and enforce anti-trust laws and promote enforceable mechanisms for corporate accountability.
• Pass the Jubilee Act, which addresses the issue of unjust and overwhelming debt, and extend debt cancellation to heavily indebted middle-income countries in the global south.
• Change restrictive trade policies to allow countries space to meet the needs of local communities, adapt to a future without cheap oil and provide real job opportunities for poor people.
• Include explicit gender and racial equity goals in government decision making.
• Place less emphasis on simple economic growth (GDP growth) as a measurement of U.S. well-being and consider using tools like the Human Development Index to measure our progress as a society.
Questions for candidates:
1. What specific proposals do you have to reduce the excessive influence of powerful corporations on our public policies?
2. What would you do to make our economy both fairer and more sustainable?
3. How would you address the reality that the median household wealth of white families in the United States is many times greater than that of families of color?
4. Would you support the cancellation of unjust debts of impoverished and middle-income countries to the United States, the World Bank, IMF and regional development banks?
5. How would you change U.S. trade policy to strengthen local economies and adapt to a future without cheap oil?
Links for more information
Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment
Center for Economic Policy Research
“CAFTA at Two Years,” a report from the Stop CAFTA Coalition
Strategic Corporate Initiative
Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy