In a CNBC interview with Tim Russert this weekend, Friedman said:
"We got this free market, and I admit, I was speaking out in Minnesota--my hometown, in fact, and guy stood up in the audience, said, 'Mr. Friedman, is there any free trade agreement you'd oppose?' I said, 'No, absolutely not.' I said, 'You know what, sir? I wrote a column supporting the CAFTA, the Caribbean Free Trade initiative. I didn't even know what was in it. I just knew two words: free trade."
Not surprisingly, Russert didn't challenge Friedman, or even ask a follow-up question. He didn't ask Friedman why he didn't even bother to consider the widespread concerns about the pact's lack of labor, human rights, environmental provisions. Similarly, he didn't ask Friedman about the protectionist provisions in the deal that make sure the drug industry is allowed to artificially inflate drug prices in Central American countries. He didn't ask Friedman why, if the deal was so good for Central America, so many Central American countries and their citizens opposed the deal. He didn't ask Friedman what kind of nerve it takes to go to a state like Minnesota that has been devastated by "free" trade deals and tell people that he happily advocates for their economic destruction, even though he is uninterested in even glancing at the policies he is pushing.
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David Sirota is a 'trusted author' at OpEdNews and recently published the book Hostile Takeover, released in May of 2006.