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Fairness Accuracy In Reporting

New York Times: Answering Latin Left, Bush Pledges to Help Poor (3/13/07) by Jim Rutenberg Larry Rohter

In a report on the tour in which George W. Bush "has made a case that free trade with the United States will lift all boats and alleviate poverty if given a chance," Rutenberg and Rohter summarize "the question Latin American analysts" ask as:



"whether the effort will be large enough, or sustained enough, to make a difference as the frustration of the poor continues to grow as they watch their wealthier neighbors, who benefit from free trade, buy fancy new homes."



But the real question many ask is not whether "free trade" will "lift all boats," but whether it raises the water at all. The "Latin American analysts" at the Center for Economic and Policy Research recently noted that in the 25 years the U.S. "government has pushed a series of reforms throughout the region... Latin America's economic growth... has been a disaster–the worst long-term growth failure in more than a hundred years."