De-Funding the Fund

The U. S. House of Representatives denied funding in late-May 1994 for the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF). The House also reduced funding for the World Bank.

A scaling back of the financing of the World Bank and IMF is a primary goal of the "50 Years Is Enough" campaign, a coalition of more than 50 environmental, development, religious, labor and student groups. The groups charge in their platform that the two institutions "have been promoting and financing inequitable and unsustainable development overseas that has created poverty while destroying the environment."

The ESAF makes loans to Third World countries conditioned on the countries deregulating labor markets, devaluing their currencies and liberalizing imports. Critics charge that these conditions have had devastating social and environmental effects.

The IMF and World Bank have come under criticism from the U.S. Congress for the agencies' secretive methods and their failure to improve the plight of the poor. David Obey, D--Wisconsin, who heads the House Appropriations Committee, which oversees appropriations to the multilateral banks, condemned the secretive practices at the IMF as "self serving." He noted that the IMF lacks methods of accountability in its activities and decisions.

"We should be limiting the power of the IMF, one of the most secretive and ineffective institutions among world bodies," says "50 Years Is Enough" spokesperson Marijke Torfs.

Golden Giveaway

Mining companies, many goreign owned, are about to seize $34 billion in gold and other ores from U.S. public lands, according to a report issued by the Mineral Policy Center in June 1994. The report, Golden Patents, Empty Pockets, shows that the 1872 Mining Law will allow mining corporations to take public gold for a pittance.

The 1872 Mining Law allows mining companies to buy "patents" to mineral-rich lands for as little as $2.50 per acre, even though some of these lands contain millions of dollars in gold per acre. In May 1994, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt granted a "patent" to Nevada's Goldstrike Mine, which holds an estimated $10 billion in gold. In return, the Canadian mining company American Barrick Resources paid a mere $5,190 for the land.

Legislation to reform the 1872 Mining Law has passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate, with the drafting of a final bill still to take place. Meanwhile, the pace of patenting has accelerated as mining companies rush to take advantage of this 122-year-old special favor before it disappears.

"Congress rang the golden dinner bell," Mineral Policy Center President Philip M. Hocker says. "The mining companies are running to get their snouts in the trough before it runs dry."

The report found that there are 606 more patent applications in the pipeline. The minerals at the 30 largest mines are valued at over $34 billion.

Once a mine on public land is "patented," its owners never have to pay the public a share of the value of the mined minerals. "Mining companies routinely pay property owners a share when they mine on private lands," Hocker says. "By patenting, they are stealing the public's fair payment for everyone's gold."

The report also reveals how the U.S. Bureau of Land Management keeps critical patenting information secret. "The BLM makes billion-dollar giveaway decisions involving public resources and lets the mining companies censor data given to the public," Hocker charges. "That's one more example of how the public is being cheated by the Mining Law."

Joe Camel Saves Face

In a three-to-two vote on May 31, 1994, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) decided to drop an investigation into whether R.J. Reynolds uses Joe Camel, the cartoon character who promotes Camel cigarettes, to entice children to smoke.

"Although it may seem intuitive to some that the Joe Camel advertising campaign would lead more children to smoke or lead children to smoke more, the evidence to support that intuition is not there," the FTC said in a June statement.

FTC Chairperson Janet Steiger and FTC member Dennis Yao dissented and recommended issuing an administrative complaint against RJR. Steiger said she was disappointed that a "majority of [FTC members] rejected [the] recommendation to submit the matter to a full hearing on the merits before an administrative law judge."

"I have reason to believe that [Reynolds'] use of ... Joe Camel as the centerpiece of a cigarette advertising and marketing campaign has increased the consumption of cigarettes among those least able to understand the heavy costs involved in smoking- minors under 18," Yao said. "Given the tremendous potential for loss of human life, the issues presented in this case are central to the agency's consumer protection mission."

Sweet Capitalism?

In the first major investment in Vietnam since the lifting of the U.S. trade embargo, Coca-Cola began construction on a soft drinks plant in Hatay, just outside Hanoi, in June 1994.

President Lyndon Johnson implemented the U.S. trade embargo 1964. The embargo remained in place for 30 years, until it was lifted by President Clinton on February 3, 1994.

The $20 million joint venture between Coca-Cola Indochina Pte. and the Vietnam National Import-Export Corp. Will employ 200 people and produce 8.5 million cases of Coca-Cola and Sprite soft drinks per year, beginning production between April and June 1995.

Douglas N. Daft, senior vice president of The Coca-Cola Company and president of its Pacific Group says, "The addition of this new plant will allow [Coca-Cola] to further penetrate this important market."

- Aaron Freeman and Ben Lilliston