In 1903, the land which now comprises the Panama Canal, and the land immediately on either side of the canal (the ‘Canal Zone’), was acquired by America on a perpetual lease. The Panamanian Government was paid $10 million plus an annual rent. A fairly standard transaction which saw the Canal Zone viewed in the US as being American sovereign territory, and rightly so – if for no other reason than the sentence “as if it were sovereign” in the treaty. At the time Panama was an undeveloped, poverty-stricken and disease-plagued backwater of no consequence, even by the standards of 1903, when most Latin American countries were also undeveloped and poverty-stricken backwaters of no consequence.
The Panama Government took the $10 million and invested it in New York City – mostly providing mortgage finance for commercial real estate – and earned around five per cent ($500,000 USD) interest annually, added to which were the weekly wages spent in the Panama economy by the large numbers of people involved in building the canal. This income was used, in turn, to build schools and hospitals in Panama, which meant, in a short time, the country had catapulted up the ladder to become an educated, literate and much healthier population. This point is the most important one in the whole caper, and, naturally, the one simply ignored by the virtue signallers and socialists.
Why I mention this is because it is invariably portrayed by left wingers and historians as some sort of imperialist exploitation by America and hence justification for the anti-American hysterical screaming. That simply isn’t true. In left-winger world, things like hospitals, schools, hotels, shops and infrastructure are all created in the third world by pixie dust natives, rather than by white capitalists and Western civilisation.
Anyhow, as the years went by, the self-loathing rich-kid elitists got a bee in their bonnet about the Panama Canal. Endless moves were undertaken to end American involvement and ‘return it to Panama’ – as if it were somehow located somewhere else! This culminated in 1977 with the absolutely shocking Panama Canal Treaty signed by Jimmy Carter, who caved in and gave away US territory and assets as some kind of enormously virtuous undertaking. Curiously, Panama never gave back the money nor closed all the schools, hospitals and other infrastructure financed with American money.
It reminds me of another treaty that has not been honored by a native population that seeks to rewrite it after decades of largesse from benefits, state houses, education and medical treatment of around one trillion dollars – on the grounds they’ve been hard done by – and all with the full support of self-loathing rich-kid elitists.
So if Donald Trump does take back America’s canal on the grounds it is theirs and belongs to them (little details like those are important), then I am fully behind him and cannot wait. It will be the ultimate symbol that America is back and enjoying another golden age.
Capitalist is a simple country boy from the deep south who seeks nothing less than the destruction of socialism and collectivism in New Zealand. This article was first published HERE
The Panama Government took the $10 million and invested it in New York City – mostly providing mortgage finance for commercial real estate – and earned around five per cent ($500,000 USD) interest annually, added to which were the weekly wages spent in the Panama economy by the large numbers of people involved in building the canal. This income was used, in turn, to build schools and hospitals in Panama, which meant, in a short time, the country had catapulted up the ladder to become an educated, literate and much healthier population. This point is the most important one in the whole caper, and, naturally, the one simply ignored by the virtue signallers and socialists.
Why I mention this is because it is invariably portrayed by left wingers and historians as some sort of imperialist exploitation by America and hence justification for the anti-American hysterical screaming. That simply isn’t true. In left-winger world, things like hospitals, schools, hotels, shops and infrastructure are all created in the third world by pixie dust natives, rather than by white capitalists and Western civilisation.
Anyhow, as the years went by, the self-loathing rich-kid elitists got a bee in their bonnet about the Panama Canal. Endless moves were undertaken to end American involvement and ‘return it to Panama’ – as if it were somehow located somewhere else! This culminated in 1977 with the absolutely shocking Panama Canal Treaty signed by Jimmy Carter, who caved in and gave away US territory and assets as some kind of enormously virtuous undertaking. Curiously, Panama never gave back the money nor closed all the schools, hospitals and other infrastructure financed with American money.
It reminds me of another treaty that has not been honored by a native population that seeks to rewrite it after decades of largesse from benefits, state houses, education and medical treatment of around one trillion dollars – on the grounds they’ve been hard done by – and all with the full support of self-loathing rich-kid elitists.
So if Donald Trump does take back America’s canal on the grounds it is theirs and belongs to them (little details like those are important), then I am fully behind him and cannot wait. It will be the ultimate symbol that America is back and enjoying another golden age.
Capitalist is a simple country boy from the deep south who seeks nothing less than the destruction of socialism and collectivism in New Zealand. This article was first published HERE
4 comments:
Absolutely, in the same way that Russia should take back Alaska, Estonia and the rest of its territory, Germany should take back Samoa and Poland, Turkey should take back the Middle East, the Maoris should take Antarctica and Britian should take back one sixth of the globe.
Anonymous @ 2:58, these things are obviously not the same.
Seems to me the United States entered into a perfectly legitimate commercial transaction by entering into a lease agreement, and an equally legitimate commercial transaction by relinquishing that lease. How the Panamanians spent their ten million dollars is totally irrelevant. Trump is simply reinforcing his reputation as treaty breaker-in-chief and thereby proving he is totally unfit for office.
To the Jones Boy; Absolutely. 'Capitalist', whoever he is, should understand that the basis of capitalism is trust and the integrity of agreements. This is something that Trump couldn't give a stuff about.
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