China Replacing U.S. As Top Trade Parrtner In Latin America

McClatchy:

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- All but invisible in Latin America a decade ago, China now is building cars in Uruguay, donating a soccer stadium to Costa Rica and lending $10 billion to Brazil's biggest oil company.

Read the whole story: McClatchy

Comments

[AmHope]

"...China has moved aggressively to fill a vacuum left by the United States in recent years, as the U.S. focused on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the global economic crisis sapped its economy..."

In a nutshell: "as the US focused on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq"

draining US resources--even before the global economic crisis took its toll.

[mike72]

Just since when South America becomes your resources?

[RofWH]

Oh, good. Maybe all the anger and bitching about US influence will cease and they can rail to no avail against the Chinese. Getting shafted by the Chinese should be infinitely more palatable to the governments of Latin America.

The grass is always greener...

[RoloTomassi]

You might have a point...IF you had any c/ue what you are talking about....

[lcdbsez]

It's part of the big picture . . . the one Big Biz envisioned 40 or so years ago . . . when they first put their plan to "payback" the unions, Dems, liberals, etc., etc., for what they saw as the Great Injustices Inflicted Upon the Upper Classes During FDR's Socialist Tenure . . .

It goes something like this . . .

First, raid union (and company) pension funds . . .

Next, throw money at politicians to pass laws favorable to Big Biz interests, like giving tax subsidies to companies to take jobs overseas . . .

Then, make it easier to rack up debt -- and harder to pay it off -- by eliminating the usury laws . . .

Privatize everything, and make sure one of their "own" (Dick Cheney) is in charge of handing out those lucrative, no-bid government contracts . . .

Paint anyone who challenges you as a treasonous communist! and be sure to control as many media conduits as possible, so your message is always out there . . .

There's nothing like a good war, to stimulate profits, either . . .

But most importantly, train the American worker to expect little . . . and get less.

It's the (14th-century) capitalist way!

[RoloTomassi]

Everyday it seems another piece in the puzzle falls into place; we are sliding down the slope of declining influence, and there's not a thing anyone can do about it.

We will likely suffer greatly, but it takes a small or completely ideology-driven mind not to see the poetic justice in what is building in the world around us.

In the not-too-distant future we will be paid the wages of military overextension and economic oppression.

[zaz33]

It's reached the point that letting the MIC dictate our foreign policy has become counter productive.

We drop bombs while our competitors sign the contracts.

[piul05]

In a nutshell, yes.