[PEN-L:3877] Perils of Privatization

["Henry C.K. Liu" <hliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

RETHINKING ASIA

               The Perils of Privatization

                                By Walden Bello

                                 March 4, 1999

              In 1998, the Pohang Iron & Steel Co.--or Posco--dislodged
long-time industry leader Nippon Steel   to become the world's No. 1
steel producer for the first  time in history. But Posco is not simply
another South   Korean behemoth. While the country's private-sector
business groups, or chaebols, are squeezed by massive   debt and
plummeting earnings, the state-managed  enterprise remains extremely
profitable: Posco's net profit of $946 million in 1998 was 54% higher
than the 1997 level.


              But by far the greatest cheerleader for privatization is
the U.S. government. It has long believed that the complex system of
activist state intervention, industrial policy and strategic trade
policy of most Asian economies handicaps U.S. exporters and investors.
As U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky bluntly told Congress
last year, the Thai government's "commitments to restructure public
enterprises and accelerate privatization of certain key sectors will
enhance market-driven competition and deregulation [and] create new
business opportunities for U.S. firms."

              Walden Bello is professor of sociology and public
administration at the University of the Philippines and co-director of
Focus on the Global South, a programme of the Chula

Full article:
http://www.feer.com/Restricted/index_b2.html