Mike Moore @ WTO

[John Pennington]

As a New Zealander I  ( amongst the rest of our benighted population) know
quite a bit about Mike ( lamb burger) Moore. The lamb burger reference
refers to the time when as minister of Overseas Trade Moore came up with the
idea of overcoming New Zealand's precarious economic situation by convincing
the world that lamb not beef should be the way burgers should go. This is
unfortunately rather typical of Moore who thinks more often with his mouth
than his cerebral cortex.

	He certainly has a Labour background, having been an MP for 26 years
and briefly Prime Minister after the Lange - Douglas debacle of the
1984-1990 years. He was turfed out when Labour lost the election in 1990. He
has constantly made a virtue of his working class background and the fact
that he worked in the freezing works ( slaughter house) and can relate to
the aspirations of the working class. In fact, he is so much on the side of
the working class that he has been one of NZ's biggest cheer leaders for
globalisation and was, and is a big supporter of the MAI. NZ's National
(Tory) government even nominated him to the position and supported him to
the tune of a million bucks so he could conduct his WTO campaign, which
really only got going after the US came in behind him. He is the author of
8 "books",  one in which he mentions the Common Wealth's Secretariat's
Report Protectionism Threat to International Order as particularly
influencing his thinking.  His most of recent  is a paean to the benefits of
the global economy and the market. As head honcho for the WTO Moore will
definitely press for further liberalisation in trade and finance. Mike Moore
the workers "friend"


> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Doug Henwood [SMTP:dhenwood at panix.com]
> Sent:	Friday, 3 September 1999 03:35
> To:	lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> Subject:	Mike Moore @ WTO
> 
> Anyone know anything about this new guy at the WTO, New Zealander 
> Mike Moore, identified as someone "with a labor background"?
> 
> Doug