Re: your views on globalization

4/10/2001, Krishnendu Ray wrote:
>Why the comparison between "Portugal" and "McDonalds"?
>
>Portugal does not make wine, Portuguese vitners make wine. Who may sell it to 
>the British to make a profit. If that is comparative advantage then isn't 
>Macdonald's raising cattle in Guatemala comparable?

C'mon you guys, if you're going to talk about liberal economic theory, and use 
technical jargon, then please ~do your homework~.  Actually, you can take a 
short cut: read Part I of Korten's "The Post Corporate World" - he summarizes 
it all very nicely.

The fundamental premise of Smith & Ricardo's work was the proposition that each 
~nation~ is seeking relative advantage with respect to other ~nations~.  It was 
central to their theories that ~investment capital~ not cross borders. In that 
way, the profits made by Portuguese vintners would contribute toward 
~Portugal's~ overall wealth. It was also a central principle that trade be 
~balanced~ between nations, so that wealth wouldn't drain from one to the other 
over time.  Furthermore, they assumed that nations were trading as peers, 
without coercion.

The relationship of the US to Guatemala is not one of peers, but one of 
imperial power to dominion. Globalization is the kind of thing that Smith & 
Ricardo were warning us against.

ciao,
rkm