Dennis wrote:
> Most of us Leftists are underpaid university types with three jobs
>and student loans and who worry about global human rights, freedom
>of the press and environmental destruction as much as
>class exploitation.
Bill: Been there, done that. But even when I was working 40 hrs weekly as
a grounds keeper, holding a TA, teaching a night class, working on my PhD
and finishing my last year as a Sgt in the National Guard, I was still in
FAT CITY compared to most of the people on this planet.
Dennis: >Not every semi-periphery (which is what Russia is today) gets
>to join the metropole. Taiwan made it; Argentina didn't.
Bill: True enough and its worthwhile to stop and wonder why Argentina,
with abundant natural wealth that attracted multi-millions in foreign
investment, could not make the jump to self-sustaining economic growth,
while Taiwan, with virtually no natural wealth, could. At the beginning of
the 20th century there was an expression "rich as an Argentine," but by
mid-century it was already being said that Argentina was a country with a
great future behind it. Why?
Dennis:>Real wages have fallen and tiny elites have gotten fantastically
wealthy from
>Rio de Janeiro to Bangkok; and marketized development often has an
>ecological price tag as horrendous as that exacted by COMECON, and has
>been accompanied by no less draconian Government repression.
Bill: True enough, but in countries that make the transition to sustained
economic growth, ecological concerns are more like to be seriously addressed
(though never seriously enough) and the nation where repression is most
draconian is China where a Communist party clings to power in the setting of
(a now officially) capitalist economy.
>
Dennis: >Somehow, we've got to find ways of democratizing the global economy,
>making it reward the people who really produce its wealth instead of
>rewarding greedy share-holders, and giving people a voice to make their
>own decisions about what gets produced and how it's manufactured
>
Bill: Absolutely, although in today's go-go stockmarket a greater percentage
people own stocks than ever before. And those who want to change the system
by using the system have organized socially responsible investment funds
(there are quite a few actually) and though nay-sayers note that such funds
consistently under-perform the market as a whole, the same may be said of
MOST investment funds. Socially responsible investment, on the whole,
offers very good returns. This is something to consider when and if you get
a chance to make these choices for youself.
William Schell, Jr Voice: (502) 762-6572
Dept of History Fax: (502) 762-6587
Murray State University EMAIL bill.schell@Murraystate.edu
Murray, KY 42071