[PEN-L:1249] Re: South Korea as model?

[boddhisatva <kbevans@xxxxxxxxx>]

		C. Proyect,



	It still should be noted that South Korea has a larger economy
than Russia.  The "tiger" economies needed government money at first
because, of course, cowardly capitalists want to see guaranteed returns
before they put their money in.  When these economies were working best,
they were getting well-rationalized capital inflows at an unprecedented
rate, but the cronyist elements you cite deformed the economy to the point
that the currency traders violently revealed the underlying instability.


	The point is not whether "the market" did this or that. I think
that "the market" is becoming a less and less meaningful term. The
supposed market in labor, the capital markets and goods markets are very
different things.  Moreover, the production of many commodity goods has
become more like an infrastructure project than the more classic market
for finished goods.  The question is really what mechanism can get capital
to production fastest and best.  As I see it there are four important
issues. First, how is capital to get to unproven industries?  Second, how
do we make sure that capital investment is rationalized to demand?
Third, how do we make sure that the decision-making doesn't become
corrupted or produce unwarranted power among capital-distributing units?
Fourth, how do we distribute risk correctly?


	So far, statist models have been inadequate suppliers of capital.
Capitalist models, as we well know, have been shown to be unstable and, of
course, produce their well-known brutality.  I don't think there is anyone
to put the white hat on in this debate.  All the hats distributed so far
are a dark shade of gray.




	peace