Re: r.biel@ucl.ac.uk

Well spoken, TH.  Could not agree with you more.  MS.


>From: Threehegemons@aol.com
>To: lnp3@panix.com, wsn@csf.colorado.edu
>Subject: Re: r.biel@ucl.ac.uk
>Date: Thu, 05 Sep 2002 15:33:40 -0400
>
>In a message dated Thu, 5 Sep 2002 1:29:01 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
>lnp3@panix.com writes:
>
> > Like the current collapse of the US stock market, the prolonged rise of 
>the
> > Asian tiger economies can be attributed to speculative
> > mania.
>
>
>This is ridiculous.  South Korea, is along with Japan and Italy, one of the 
>three countries to make a really dramatic shift in its status in the global 
>hierarchy over the last fifty years. Were it to actually move from being a 
>peripheral country circa 1940 to being as wealthy as the US circa 
>2000--that would pretty much be unprecedented in economic history. Foreign 
>currency continues to flow into China at a pretty spectacular rate.  It is 
>one thing to say that capitalism is characterized by booms and busts, 
>expansions and crises, and another to claim that all economic growth is 
>simply a myth or illusion.  The fact that the US economy collapsed in the 
>1930s (leading to incomparably more serious social problems than have 
>characterized Japan or the tigers in the last ten years) did not negate its 
>explosive rise.  In all previous phases of 'speculative mania' (and they go 
>back hundreds of years before Lenin, and have nothing much to do with 
>'mature' capitalism) one country or region has absorbed capital in such a 
>way that it has grown rapidly and dramatically shifted its position in 
>terms of geopolitical and economic power.  Today, this region is clearly 
>East Asia.
>
>As for technological dependency, Japan recently built the fastest computer 
>in the world--roughly 20 times faster than any in the US.
>
>Finally, please supply a quote from anyone widely regarded as a world 
>system theorist (sic) who actually make the claims about the Cuban 
>revolution you attribute to them.
>
>Steven Sherman




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