Re: Requests for comments

Paul -- your posting opens "a can of worms". But why not look at worms in a
can? The anti-WTO movement has a lot to debate. When you speak about
"conflicting interests", I would like to underline that there are not only
the conflicting interests between capital and labour but also the very
serious problems of conflicting interests between labour and labour, I mean
labour in First World countries versus labour in Second and Third World
countries. I see a disconcerting parallel with the anti-war interests of
European labour at the time of WWI -- in theory they could have collaborated
against that war, but in practice they did not and opted for a
national-chauvinist response. -- When you say "balanced trade", how do you
think about that? Some leftist economist have written about "managed trade"
(e.g., Chichilnisky) which could be similar to your "balanced trade". If you
think of a kind of world-wide market socialism or global Keynesianism, there
would be international trade, but not of the present IMF-casino-capitalism
type of trade. A really hot issue with respect to  "balance" or "management"
in international trade would be how to reconcile (real or imagined)
conflicts between labour in North and South, East and West of the world.
Moreover, that "balance" or "management" could not be limited to "trade"
(i.e., of goods and services), but would also have to encompass "balance" or
"management" with respect to exchange rates, finance and investment flows,
as well as labour migration. Can you elaborate on your idea of "balanced
trade"?

Gert Kohler
Oakville, Canada


-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Riesz <priesz@itn.cl>
To: wsn@csf.colorado.edu <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>
Cc: gkohler@accglobal.net <gkohler@accglobal.net>
Date: January 1, 2000 2:17 PM
Subject: re: Requests for comments


...>snip


>What is needed is finding a middle way between conflicting interests, maybe
>based on the  idea that TRADE CAN ONLY BE REASONABLY FREE, IF IT IS ALSO
>REASONABLY BALANCED, while still maintaining the principle that WHENEVER
>POSSIBLE, GOODS SHOULD BE PRODUCED, WHERE IT CAN BE DONE MORE CHEAPLY.

...>snip