Hutton's declaration of economic war

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

As I suspected,  not just a collection of disparate moralistic winges, but
a barely disguised declaration of economic war against the USA -



"The euro is not just important for offering European monetary integration
and its associated benefits.

It gives Europe a world currency - the only conceivable challenger to the
dollar, with all that implies, including the option of running its economy
on more expansionary lines and a monetary umbrella under which it can
insist that Euopeaan regulations and approaches are complied with.

Just as financial institutions and transnational companies comply with
American rules to win the benefits of a New York listing and trading within
the US, so the EU can play the same card.

It can insist that globalisation assumes a European dimension.

It can insist that its distinctive attitudes on company law, financial
regulation, workplace consultation, environmental standards, profit
disclosure, transparency over accounts and taxation are upheld as the
conditions for trading within the EU.

The US will face a co-equal economic partner across the Atlantic, no less
confident about the virtues of its economic and social model.

The US can choose whether its attitude will be one of interdependence or
unilateralism."

page 366


Will Hutton, "The World We're In", Little, Brown, Time Warner Books,
London, www.TimeWarnerBooks.co.uk

Published 2 May 2002