On Sat, 18 Jul 1998, Ahmet Cakmak wrote:
> Radical left has not give the importance to south Korea it deserve. It
> is not a simple military dictatorship case. This is the first country
> which succeed to jump to first class,the center countries group in the
> history of capitalism ( some people can say that it is not a member of
> the first class.This is a very weak claim.South Korea passed the
> critical point.The rest of the story is only a time problem.Last crisis
> has no pecularities which changes this reality.But don’t forget: I refer
> only south Korea,not to others.You can add Taiwan,of course). Today this
> country sell the world high-tech products,machines ext.They created
> Hyundai,Samsung ext.
> And The center changed its policies.As you know,they advocate human
> rights and democracy today.Becouse this is the way to lower the
> competitive advantage of this country ( and potential others) based on
> cheap labor.
The competitive advantage of South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and
postwar Japan never rested on cheap labor, but on powerful developmental
states (a kind of accidental state socialism) and lucrative US export
markets; if anything, high domestic wages strengthen your economy, by
forcing companies to invest in labor-saving equipment and high value-added
markets. Also, we shouldn't forget that workers' rights ARE human rights
-- the right to organize unions, to strike, to protest against inhumane
conditions, etc. should all be at the top of the global Left's agenda,
wherever its country and whatever the struggle.
> The economic policy to conduct this strategy: cheap credit,no tax and
> other supports to capital which invested to production with advanced
> technology,heavy taxation to others.This is the only way to fight with
> poverty and to make possible democratisation in third world.
You've also got to persuade companies to invest in high-tech markets, even
if they don't see an immediate profit in the business; otherwise, capital
will "go on strike" or flee the country (the Russian situation).
Nationalization was used very effectively in Taiwan and Singapore to spur
economic growth; you'd also have to set up some sort of accumulation fund,
similar to what the Singaporean PAP did in terms of its housing program
(workers and businesses were taxed and the money was used to finance
industrial development, which then paid rich returns to those workers and
businesses, etc.). In short, you may not have to nationalize every firm
(just the really big ones), but you absolutely have to nationalize or
somehow rein in or restrict the credit and financial system. One possible
model for this, taking into account Turkey's location near the EU, is
Central Europe: the West German, Swedish and Austrian Social Democrats
weren't always sell-outs. From 1945-75 they pursued some very canny
pro-growth policies, strong labor unions kept wages high, and the school
and education system was widely democratized (and is still one of the most
open, in the sense that students don't have to pay tuition costs or
anything, in the world).
-- Dennis