Globalization and its Discontents

["John Gelles" <johng@xxxxxxxxxx>]

        In "The Commanding Heights" series on political economy
        in the 20th Century, on PBS, just concluded, the President
        defined "globalization" as "trade, investment and friendship".

        The Vice President, in the same series, defined the problems
        and solutions that globalization brings to all of us a "evolving--
        with no one person or party holding all the right answers."

        We learn elsewhere that in the Monterey conference on
        global trade's problems and solutions, concluded not long
        ago, that Stiglitz, formerly top economist with the World
        Bank, suggests global greenbacks as a new reserve currency
        to help finance nations in need through loans whose original
        capital will be created when nations increase their reserves of
        foreign currency by buying the greenbacks instead of dollars.

        It seems to me that the President, Vice President and
        Stiglitz all have good ideas:  We need to emphasize
        "friendship" as a vital element of invitations to trade and
        to allow foreign ownership iinvestment. We need to admit
        the open mind behind Cheney's call to find answers from
        more than one source.  And we need to see global
        greenbacks as a good approach to global unsold surplus
        commodities and temporary overcapacity.

        As the President wages war he will soon come up against
        the need for higher spending than revenues will suggest.
        It may yet occur to him that we can invent programs that
        spend but do not tax. The anti-inflation force such programs
        need can be developed by a government determined to
        employ every person, produce every need, and use
        money as a tool not an excuse for failure.

        In "The Commanding Heights" series our current beliefs
        were said to be limited to two options only: (1) Motivate
        work with scarce money and fear of unemnplolymen; or
        (2) motivate work with a gun in the hands of a slave-
        driver aimed at the head of every worker.

        There are many other possibilites -- including (3) motivate
        work with lots of money that people earn but do not
        intend to spend until production is high and the price is
        right.  This last method depends on lots of freedom and
        lots of free information so that workers trust the system.

        It would be foolish to ignore the possibility that government
        can spend far ahead of the time that people who do the work
        will finally collect their fair share of an economy that has
        grown its output many times over.

        But to do this, we cannot refuse to try new and innovative
        ways to loosen the ties that today make it hard for profits
        and wages to reflect a great growth of future output at
        affordable prices. The wages  get in the way of the profits.

        Much of our finance and acounting is too tied to the past,
        too useless to suggest production aimed at sales for global
        greenbacks (of one type or another)..

            John Gelles