Subscribe to Dollars & Sense magazine. Recent articles related to the financial crisis. A Thomas Friedman quizThomas Friedman: The Lexus and the Olive Tree. The World is Flat. A column in the New York Times. "Arguably the world's most influential and popular foreign-policy thinker," according to The Washingtonian.Quick dear readers—which quote is parody and which is the real Thomas Friedman? A. 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 [sic]. I didn't even know what was in it. I just knew two words: free trade." (in which Friedman admits that he knew next to nothing about a policy he promoted in the NYT) or B. Let's face it—at this point I'm a rich guy, and I work for a newspaper run by guys who are even richer than I am. (in which Friedman owns up to his own place in the globalization hierarchy) Answer: A is an actual quote. B is parody. Norman Solomon discusses both Friedman's wealth and his journalistic integrity in a Truthout editorial. (Thanks to dcart for the Truthout link.) Solomon reports that The Washingtonian's July profile of Friedman had "scant ink to spare for criticisms of Friedman's outlook: ... strong support of ... international trade rules and government policies [that] allow corporations to function with legal prerogatives that routinely trump labor rights, environmental protection, and economic justice." Dollars & Sense has plenty of that ink, though. Here's a small selection of our coverage of the downsides to corporate globalization:
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