Re: Rethinking Marxism

[Xxxx Xxxxx Xxxxxx <xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Dennis R Redmond wrote:

> >On Tue, 12 Sep 2000, Xxxx Xxxxx Xxxxxx wrote:
>
> >> designed by US imperialism from the beginning. The literature of the 1970s
> > >suggest massive amounts of American banks loans and finance capital to East
> >> Asian countries in order to built their economies against communist threat 
> >> in
> > >the region.
>
> >That was then, things are a bit different now.

Really? Where is the evidence for the miracle of Asian capitalism, Dennis? Take 
the
example of recent recession. One of the major causes of Asian financial crisis 
was
foreign capital speculation. South East Asian countries were always vulnerable 
to
fluctuations in capital markets, largely because their economies had developed
"dependent" commercial ties outside the region, especially to the United States,
Wall Steet financial community as well as to European banks. Their overall 
economic
performance were in every respect raped. In 1983, five core power central banks
(US, Germany, Japan, Britain, Switzerland) had $426 billion foreign reserves in
Asian markets versus a "daily turnover of $1.8 trillion in trading activity". 
Now
the region's economy is far more integrated into the world capitalist system 
that
had been the case in the 60s and 70s. US forced these to liberalize their 
economies
through a serious of monetary arrangements (Plaza 1985, Louvre 1987), such as
currency appreciations (Yen), financial market deregulation and  overseas
investments. "Not only trade, but also finance, linked the regions members to 
the
outside. Following the slowdown in global commodity prices and electronics in
1985-86, for example, many South East Asian countries took various measures of
financial reform and liberalization, increasingly opening their capital markets 
 to
the rest of the world. DOMESTIC MOTIVATIONS WERE ENHANCED BY INCREASINGLY STRONG
PRESSURES FROM US ADMINISTRATIONS FROM REAGEN THROUGH CLINTON TO LIBERALIZE
CONDITIONS FOR INVESTMENT BY US-OWNED BANKS, SECURITY HOUSES AND INSURANCE 
FIRMS.
Similar pressures encouraged South Korea to undertake similar measures in
preparation for its entry  into the OECD.... This new openness allowed European
(and Japanese) banks to become heavy lenders to Asia, with 25 to 45 percent of 
the
loans for many Asian countries coming from European banks. In addition,
considerable portfolio money flowed into the region, particularly bu not
exclusively from the US." *(T. J. Pempel "Regional Ups, Regional Downs" in 
Pempel
eds, _The Politics of Asian Crisis_, Cornell Press, p.70).


> >After a tough couple of years, the keiretsu are all making >unimaginable
> >amounts of money again. I'm working up the numbers from the Japan >Company
> >Handbook right now and will post them on the Web later this week, >but just
> >to give you a general idea: the Mizuho group went from a 4.8 billion >EUR
> >loss in 1999 to a 10.9 billion EUR profit in fiscal 2001; >Sumitomo-Mitsui
> >went from 5.8 bill EUR profit to over 13 billion, etc.
>

> >The keiretsu are back, and powering up fast.
>
>

Friend, capitalists always make money. Capitalism is a system that benefits
capitalists. Keiretsu will always make profit. This should not surprise us, or 
lead
us to the conclusion that Asian miracle is over performing. In the final 
analysis,
capitalism sucks. It is an unsustainable system.  What I am disputing is the
overall economic performance of Asian economies, the well being of ordinary 
Asian
people (not capitalists) and the living standards of the population. Are they 
doing
well in the final analysis? How does a country do economically well if textile 
wage
labor in the Pacific maguiladoras is 1.60 per hour, largely consisting of labor
force from women and children?


Here is some data on the external debt of selected Asian countries (1992-1997 
US$
billion)

World Bank 1997, Global Development Finance (Jefferey Winters "The determinants 
of
financial crisis in Asia" in _The Politics of Asian Crisis_)


US$ billion
                            1992    1993    1994    1995    1996    1997

Indonesia

Total ext debt       88.0    89.2    107.8    124,4    129.0    120.7
Short term debt    18.1    18.0    19.5      26.0      32.3      80.0
Private                   16.3    14.0    24.4      33.1      36.7      50.8
nonguaranteed
debt

South Korea

TED                       *           43.9      56.8      78.4    104.7    157.0
STD                       *           19.2      30.4       45.3    61.0      
92.2
PND                       *            *            *           *
*            *

Malaysia

TED                       20.0        26.1     29.3        34.3    39.8    42.9
STD                       3.6           7.0       6.2          7.3     11.1   
14.6
PND                       4.0           5.7       9.5        11.0    13.0     
25.9


Philippines

TED                        33.0        35.4    40.0        39.4    41.2    42.6
STD                        5.3           5.0     5.7           5.3     7.2      
9.3

PND                        1.0           2.2     2.9           5.5     4.9      
6.8



Thailand

TED                        41.8        52.7    65.6        83.2    90.8     95.9
STD                        14.7        22.6    29.2        41.1    37.6     36.5
PND                        13.8        15.3    20.2        25.1    36.2    66.8


--

Xxxx Xxxxx Xxxxxx
PhD Student
Department of Political Science
SUNY at Albany
Nelson A. Rockefeller College
135 Western Ave.; Milne 102
Albany, NY 12222



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