Rex Nutting at CBS Market Watch reports that a 2.4% increase in U.S. exports is dampened by record petroleum imports, widening the trade deficit to $63.8 billion. Myra Saefong reports that crude oil inventories have dropped by 6 million barrels, “around triple the decline expected by some analysts.” Suppliers have taken note.
My economic expertise does not extend beyond balancing my own tiny budget, but the future seems crudely obvious. As the U.S. racks up imperial overhead costs, in an unending quest to control major oil resources, the economy will slip further into the crapper. News of increased exports, under deals that the U.S. imposes, is not a reason to celebrate.
The US-Oman “free” trade deal, recently passed by the Senate in a 60 to 34 vote, is but one noxious reason why not.
Ruled by the autocratic regime of Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, Oman has had exceptionally substandard labour laws similar to those in Jordan — another country with a free trade agreement with Washington whose abuses came to light in a recent report by the New York-based National Labor Committee.
[…]
Like other oil-rich countries in the Gulf, Oman relies on foreign workers from neighbouring India, Bangladesh and Egypt, who comprise about 80 per cent of the workforce in the private sector, where abuse is rife and slave-like conditions have been widely reported.
How slave-like? Certainly Jordan, civilised and well-mannered friend of the U.S., would never engage in something as loathsome as human trafficking. Think again.
I recently happened across a publication called Washington Life, and what a life it is. It’s a wonder that D.C. politicians can find time to wage war considering the town’s brutal social calendar.
Jordan’s ambassador Karim Kawar recently rated an extravagant 40th birthday party that was attended by such D.C. dignitaries as Wolf Blitzer, Sen. John Sununu, and the slightly-dented George Tenet. Saudi Amb. Prince Turki Al-Faisal was there as well, but he seems to be everywhere.
Imagine the anger and resentment these workers in Jordan and Oman feel for their hosts, and the U.S. government that sanctions their misery, over blue-tinged drinks, on dance floors “imported from New York”, discussed over music played by bands flown in from Mexico or whatever style is popular that week.