Reply #1: Japanese want raw materials [View All]

[social_critic]

Notice the little detail? The powers behind the agreement are the Mitsubishi and Sumitomo keiretsu, giant multinationals which extend their tentacles all over Japanese society. The naive belief by some "socialists" that signing agreements with national entities will somehow shelter them from multinational predators is a dream, and they had better wake up from the dream in a hurry.

The Bolivians need to organize their own internal means to appraise the lithium potential, even if they have to hire foreign consultants to do it. But those consultants have to be independent of multinational influence. Once the Bolivians know what they have, and the true potential, they can have the multinationals compete for licenses to produce lithium. The competition can use sophisticated bid round methodology to make sure the "winners" leave as much money on the table as possible, via bonuses, royalties, and commitments to make batteries in Bolivia rather than export the raw material.

But of course, this simple method is not exactly what the Bolivians are using. They are following the wrong path - which lends itself to corruption, lack of transparency, and in the end will shaft the Bolivian people. It's deja vu all over again.