The one - and only - counter to the growing mountain of evidence against the massive USVI subsidies is offered by the "Honorable" Donna Christensen, delagate to the US Congress from the USVI:
What chutzpah! Get your parsley, er parsing magnifying glass out.“This [allegation] is simply not true. Imports of rum into the United States from the Caribbean are up year on year, according to International Trade Commission data. Moreover, the Caribbean producers enjoy many protections from their own governments, in the form of tariffs and taxes that are inconsistent with their own WTO obligations. Many of these Caribbean rum producers are owned by multinationals similar to those with which the USVI has partnered. Some commentators like to portray this issue as David versus Goliath. I can tell you that David in this story is the USVI, fighting to grow its own rum industry and keep its economy afloat.”
1. "Imports of rum into the United States from the Caribbean are up year on year."
Ms. Mealymouth cleverly speaks of the "Caribbean", which - oh my - includes her own USVI and Puerto Rico. Of course sales are up, but not from the Caricom Caribbean, ie all the other "Caribbean" rums. Their sales are growing - worse - every year, from around 70 per cent of the total in 2000, down to 50 per cent in 2008, and falling steadily to 39 to 40% by 2011.
2012 figures are still not reported by the US (want to guess why), but they won't be pretty. And the massive subsidies won't really hit until this year, 2013. Knowing misrepresentation.
2. "Many of these Caribbean rum producers are owned by multinationals similar to those with which the USVI has partnered."
She means Diageo and rums like Zacapa that they own. She is saying that Diageo sales from the USVI and those from their Guatemalan Zacapa for example (already beaten and bought out by them), are somehow different. She is actually citing Diageo as an alternative to, uh, Diageo. Dishonest.
3. "Some commentators like to portray this issue as David versus Goliath. I can tell you that David in this story is the USVI, fighting to grow its own rum industry".
Poor little Diageo and the handful of poor islanders they hire to empty the wastebaskets at their huge and highly automated facilities that are usually run by a handful of engineers at a central control panel. What gall, girl. You are what ex-wives are all about.
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Time to stop, whew! The real hired help here are the subsidized "delegates" and PR maven who like to point at isolated sales as "proof" that "...it's all good ...nothing to look at here, move along folks ".
