Everybody knows that fair trade is the way to solve the problem of poverty in Africa and elsewhere. It has absolutely nothing to do with the maniacal governments under which these people live and we believe that handing them greater economic and regulatory powers, as happens with fair trade policy, is easily the best way to solve the problem and you would have to be pretty stupid to disagree with that!

Because of course, tyrannical leaders that oppress and butcher their subjects and would probably quite happily let them all die overnight if it saved them a few pennies can be trusted to make vital economic decisions far better than any multinational corporation diverting inward investment the return of which depends on an effective workforce can!

And it is good that these governments can make these decisions. In 2005, the governments of Kenya and some other African states passed legislation to raise taxes on imported clothes. This benefits local clothes producers. The fact that what resulted was overpriced locally produced clothing in the face of no competition which forced people who could to spend more of what little money they had on expensive local clothes which lowered wealth per capita (generally the opposite of what is supposed to happen in poverty elimination) and leaving people who depended on cheap imported clothes to go without altogether is nothing when you consider that fair trade can make a difference!

It doesn't matter that corrupt African governments will keep their subjects poor and themselves rich regardless the political circumstances surrounding their activities or that local western governments openly benefit from and assist in faceless corporations taking over the world. We can brush these issues under the carpet by supporting increased economic regulatory powers for all these bodies euphemistically called fair trade!

Fair trade really is FAIR TRADE!