Of prawns and profits: why our president won’t be visiting you guys…

Published : 8 Nov 2010, 02:46 PM
Updated : 8 Nov 2010, 02:46 PM

I will be writing regularly, speaking to you from halfway around the world, here in New Jersey. I had hoped to discover your culture virtually and then reflect my observations back to you from a middle-class American point of view. But our President Obama is visiting your next door neighbours on the heels of a historic political defeat, and I feel obliged to explain why he chose not to visit Bangladesh.

The first thing that anyone must understand about the United States is that we are a merchant class country. John Dickinson, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States best summed up our national character when he said, "Most men with nothing would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich than face the reality of being poor." If you understand this simple point, you will understand American politics.

My grandfather, an immigrant from Italy, was an iceman. My grandmother worked at a "sweat shop" sewing garments for dolls to make ends meet. By the time he was twelve, my father was working during summer vacation to help support his family. Dad went to public school, attended university while holding a full-time job, served as an officer in the military, and eventually became a university president. This story is common to the American experience. Immigrants from all over the world landed on American shores to protect that possibility of becoming rich. They came seeking a place where an 18-hour day, six-day per week work schedule could allow any hardworking ambitious parent to raise children to more meaningful career opportunities.

This is why the only thing the Americans value less than an elitist intellectual is an elitist heir, or even worse, the husband of an elitist heir, since intellectuals, heirs and significant others are the people in any society which generate the least wealth, work the least hours, and spend the most money. Thus silver spooner George Bush defeated heiress Teresa Simões-Ferreira Heinz's husband John Kerry in 2004. Bush subsequently mismanaged the country into the ground, the markets crashed, and the people elected the elitist intellectual who had at least voted against the expensive and unnecessary war in Iraq.

But President Obama has yet to demonstrate that he has any entrepreneurial skills. This is why his trip to India is so politically important. Most Americans view Indians as British people, just with better teeth and actual good food, but beyond that, they see India as a reliable trading partner, better, in fact than the British, who don't produce anything we want (and who Obama has only visited because of a G9 summit, and because of military support. Otherwise, Britain would also have been snubbed). India has also established a certain level of product integrity versus products made in China. The Chinese have already stolen our patents, poisoned our dogs, and given our children lead-filled products, so the American consumer is looking for alternative trading partners that are more interested in product integrity. The missteps of China vs. Google, which made local folk heroes out of Google entrepreneurs, signals that the American consumer is looking to India to help us overcome our dependency on the amoral dictatorship in China.

Bangladesh could profit from this American mistrust of China. The opportunities for growth are especially ripe now. The United States imports 80 percent of its seafood. Domestically, 40 percent of our seafood is from the Gulf of Mexico, where the BP oil spill has ruined consumer confidence. Health conscious consumers will want more imported seafood. Currently, the consensus is that Bangladesh is making steps in the right direction in cleaning up its fisheries. Seafood could be a boom export industry once health issues are addressed, but here in the US we still have environmental and human rights concerns about seafood and freshwater prawn coming out of Bangladesh. If progress is made removing contaminants from the drinking water generally, this could be an important national investment for Bangladesh because it would improve the quality of human life while assuring the purity of a quality export product. See, that's how we Americans think. We look at the internet. We wonder, "Wow, if they have people drinking arsenic in Bangladesh, what are they feeding the seafood?" Then we think, "Wow, all that arsenic, can that be taken out of the water and sold?" See, we stopped visiting the moon when we couldn't discover a good way to make money up there, and until we find a good way to make money in Bangladesh, it won't be the President's itinerary.

Which leads to Obama's "snubbing" of Bangladesh. In assessing which countries to visit on the Asian tour, a politically vulnerable Obama needs to think like a merchant, and visit those countries which will make the American electorate understand that he's serious about protecting the American people's possibility of becoming rich. He hopes to take advantage of his special relationship with Indonesia, make a show of strength in Korea, and renew ties with Japan.

Obama's choice not to visit Bangladesh is unfortunate, because politically, Bangladesh is important: it is one of the moderate Muslim democracies in Asia, and it is in our best interest to see you guys succeed. Still, this isn't the way American politicians think. They're thinking about prawns and profits. Until Bangladesh can dangle some sort of golden carrot, it will not be able to attract a visit from the politically vulnerable president of a merchant nation.

——————-

Frank Domenico Cipriani writes a weekly column in the Riverside Signal called "You Think What You Think And I'll Think What I Know." He is also the founder and CEO of The Gatherer Institute — a not-for-profit public charity dedicated to promoting respect for the environment and empowering individuals to become self-taught and self-sufficient.