The EU Is Keeping Poor Countries Poor | Hacker News Reader

The EU Is Keeping Poor Countries Poor

fee.org

13 pointsdustinmoris15 comments

This is a razor-thin editorial drawing a tenuous connection between arguments against the EU's global agricultural trade policies to pro-Brexit parochialism. The author is "a Research Executive at Get Britain Out." The host publication receives hundreds of thousands of dollars of funding from the Koch Brothers.[1] The first thing that loads before the article is a full-screen modal advertising an Ayn Rand newsletter.

From the HN guidelines:

> Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Ideological or political battle or talking points. [2]

How do stories like this keep making it to the front page?

[1] https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Foundation_for_Economi...

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

> How do stories like this keep making it to the front page?

In this case, it's probably because the decidedly pro-EU mainstream media rarely publish EU-critical articles. It's sad that so many truths that are fundamental to understand how the world works are only told by dubious organizations to further an unrelated agenda.

I have read dozens if not hundreds of EU-critical articles in the "mainstream media" during the last few decades. Maybe you should just read more, if you're missing EU critique. (Why people who already dislike the EU so badly want to read more critique of it is another matter - maybe to feel better?)

My point is that for every article that exposes EU protectionism, there are ten articles praising the importance of so-called "free trade".

And what's the problem with that? People are entitled to their opinions, including journalists writing editorials.

Besides, the whole EU critique is such an old hat. In the 80s and 90s there was overwhelming critique on the EU from the fringe left in many countries. Now it's also coming more from fringe right-wing parties. Apart from that, not much has changed. The same old story, using the EU as a scapegoat to get voters, while the majority does the right thing. Then, when those parties get to power, they usually change their mind in light of the facts. (Typical example: The Green party in Germany, which was, of course, very anti-EU in the 80s. Now it's the AfD from the right-wing with the same silly arguments.)

Anyway, stop blaming journalists for not sharing your opinion. It's not their role to please you, and if you want to hear what you already believe, there are plenty of 'non-mainstream' media, i.e., personal blogs and politically coloured news aggregation sites, to confirm your opinions.

The idea is patently absurd that people don't get enough choices in the media nowadays and therefore could be mislead.

The problem is that the mainstream media are, for the most part, rationalizing an economic order that keeps poor countries poor. It's hard to deny that policies imposed by the IMF on third world countries play a role in ruining their agriculture and harming industrial development, to the benefit of the EU bloc and other rich countries. Why shouldn't I blame journalists for not informing the public about the actual reasons why millions of people are kept in poverty? These issues never make the mainstream media headlines, so there's nothing absurd about the claim that people are systematically mislead.

Also, just because an argument is made by people from the far left or far right doesn't mean that it's wrong. Guilt by association is a cheap rhetorical device.

You're wrong, I believe. The EU does not keep poor countries poor. They are poor because of structural weakness of their economy or because they are in a transition phase. As I've said, there will always be poorer and richer regions in Europe, and this has nothing to do with the EU.

That's fine, I also clicked the link to see how EU keeps poor countries poor, expecting a research findings, some charts and numbers but it turned out to be pure opinion piece by an advocate of that opinion.

IS everything alright with the brexit process? Why people keep pushing the propaganda of "evils of EU and wonders of Brexit"?

Regardless of the brexit topic, this is an interesting issue, maybe that source is less biased: http://www.dw.com/en/high-duties-keep-food-imports-from-poor...

It's an opinion piece by someone who is "Research Executive at Get Britain Out".

So, propaganda.

Yep. The author is an alt-right shill complete with rare pepes and all that garbage.

Side Reference: Donors to fee.org (Foundation for Economic Education) http://conservativetransparency.org/recipient/foundation-for...

The opening words of paragraph 2 are informative as to the bis of the source:

> As ever with the EU, the truth is much uglier.

The main thrust of the article may be correct, but broad-brushing every activity of an organisation like the EU in this way does not instil confidence.

The fact that it showed me a pop-up advert for an Ayn Rand book was also indicative.

In other words water is wet. The Eu benefits the strongest predator ( the german conglomerates ). We can see it all over the europe how mainly germans bought and bribed everyone they could.

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