![]() ![]() ![]() A Ford Falcon made in Latin America costs three times as much as in the United States, an Argentine-made Valiant or Fiat more than double its price in the United States or in Italy, and the same goes for the relation between the Brazilian Volkswagen and its price tag in Germany.” ![]() True, Latin American markets are much smaller but it is also true that in these countries the corporations’ appetite for profits is more leonine than anywhere else. Yet far from making Latin American-produced cars cheaper than those produced in the companies’ home countries, all these factors make them far more expensive. Control of the market is further facilitated in advance by the magical prestige attached, in the eyes of the middle classes, to makes and models promoted by global publicity campaigns. Latin American countries offer an abundant and extremely cheap labor force and an official policy in every way favoring expansion of investments - free gifts of land, privileged electricity rates, state rediscounts to finance sales on credit, easily accessible money and as if this were not enough, some countries have even exempted the companies from income or sales taxes. ![]() “This efficient coordination of global activities, completely outside of any ‘free play of market forces,’ is not of course translated into lower prices for local consumers, but into profits for foreign shareholders. ![]()
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