Re: A Calm before the Storm? By James Cumes, VictoryOverWant.org

["Gunnar Tomasson" <gunnar.tomasson@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Wes:

Try the Delete Button.

Mine works fine.

Gunnar


----- Original Message -----
From: "Wesley S Burt" <wesburt@xxxxxxxx>
To: <TOP@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <Wesburt@xxxxxxxx>; <cyber-soc@xxxxxxxxxx>; <cm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
<debt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <pkt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
<TheNewForum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <gang8@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2003 9:08 PM
Subject: A Calm before the Storm? By James Cumes, VictoryOverWant.org


> To:  A few friends and numerous Devious Defenders of
> the Status Quo (DDotSQ) on my copy list.
>
> Hi Folks,
>
> James Cumes' serious appraisal below of our present condition
> is a welcome improvement on the logical vocabulary ping-pong
> (is credit debt? or is debt money?) being played recently on list
> Gang8.  Mr. Cumes, in his description of the symptoms of what
> ails the US economy, and of the great benefits to all concerned
> from curing what ails us; is in close agreement with the appraisals
> of our present condition by John Gelles, Jack Dingler, Bill
> Greider, Curtiss Priest, Ben Bernanke, Hugh Whinfrey, Arno Mong
> Daastoel, Stephen Zarlenga, et al.
>
> They all seem to desire, and agree upon, the ultimate condition,
> which only a properly balanced decentralized (Classical) free
> market economy can achieve.  That is a condition of: zero inflation,
>  1% to 2% unemployment rate, public plus private capital
> investment at 25% of GDP, no more under consumption or over
> production, and disposable income at the same % of gross
> income at all income levels.  Has this condition ever been realized
> in our life time?  Yes, if you are old enough to have been paying
> attention to the Japanese and Western Europe "economic
> miracles" which followed World War II for about three or four
> decades.
>
> More recently, Japan and Western Europe have fallen off the
> wagon and are regressing toward that mode of operation which
> was known as "the English Disease" during the miraculous
> decades and more recently known as the "Washington
> Consensus."  That is, a condition of 2% to 10% inflation, 4% to
> 10% unemployment,  capital investment in the 15% to 20% of
> GDP range, under consumption , and a widening gap between
> rich and poor.
>
> The US, as the world's current super power, is living proof
> that a nation with enough population and resources can achieve
> world dominion by applying the principles of a "properly
> balanced decentralized (Classical) free market economy" to
> its private sector only, while leaving its public sector to
> languish as a "welfare State."  It is, after all, the Wealthy,
> Healthy, Intelligent, and Powerful folks in any society
> (WHIPs) who pay most of the taxes, earn most of the
> income, make all of the important decisions, and believe
> they should get most of the tax cuts.  But when are we
> going to make a full public disclosure of the principles of
> a "properly balanced decentralized (Classical) free market
> economy" so the public will know what to vote for when
> they get direct democracy on the Internet?
>
> The centralized solutions of more government intervention
> in the economy have all been tried, and found wanting
> during the 20th century.  The status quo will not be
> sustainable much longer, and there is not a handful of
> viable options available.  There is only one technically valid
> solution, and that is to apply the principles of a "properly
> balanced decentralized (Classical) free market economy," in
> equal measure, to both our public sector and our private sector.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Wes Burt
>
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~ Begin Janes Cumes' serious appraisal ~~~~~~~~~
> From: "Schulte-baeuminghaus" <schulte.baeuminghaus@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <gang8@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, <pkt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2003 11:01:15 +0200
> Subject: [gang8] A Calm before the Storm?
>
> There is a curious - and menacing - stillness around the
> world.  A calm before the storm?  There are terrifying
> signs that it could be.
>
> Mass slaughter continues. Terrorism, suicide bombings,
> assassinations continue in the Middle East. Peace between
> Israel and Palestine seems further away than ever.
>
> Estimates are that more than three million people have
> died in continuing conflict in the Congo. Elsewhere in Africa,
> conflict, drought and untreated disease, hardly given a
> thought in the "rich" world, bring a miserable death to many
> thousands - men, women and children - every day.
>
> Misery is widespread but governments are paralysed. The
> Group of 7 or 8 does nothing except worry - as, indeed, they
> should - about the demonstrations in the streets outside. The
> same is true of the summits of the European Union,
> preoccupied with disagreements over a new "constitution"
> rather than deeper and more meaningfully urgent issues.
> ASEAN countries are now showing concern about military
> tyranny in Burma, as they should be; but do little about it
> or anything else.
>
> Afghanistan and Iraq may be quietly sinking back into
> widespread, murderous conflict and anarchy.  Economic
> uncertainty bedevils the world. It always does, in some
> measure, but the crisis that threatens now could be deeper,
> more long-lasting and more devastating to political and
> strategic stability than anything we have known before.
> Nuclear weaponry is proliferating.  Hatreds spread.
>
> For the most part, governments - if they don't directly
> inflame the environment of violence - simply hope that
> things will get better. The New York stockmarket has been
> showing some resilience. That gives hope - almost certainly
> false, buoyed with the expectation that Chairman of the Fed
> Greenspan will be forced to lower interest rates yet again to
> try to lift investors' spirits.
>
> Japan might be getting worse more slowly than before but
> any genuine and lasting improvement seems still a good
> way around the corner. Germany is still in deep trouble, with
> high unemployment and the outlook bleak.  Is anyone doing
> anything to retrieve the situation?
>
> Not really and certainly not enough, so far as governments
> are concerned.  The Italian Government is contemplating a
> big public-investment infrastructure program. That is promising.
> The Government of China is embarking on huge public programs
> of transport and infrastructure investment which should make
> their stability and growth less dependent on external trade,
> especially with the United States.
>
> Those are encouraging developments but they are, alone, much
> too little and almost certainly much too late, to do the world
> economy or major national economies - except probably China
> - very much good.  On the academic side, William Greider has
> begun advocating public investment to rescue our economic
> fortunes; but he is still a lone voice in the wilderness. A lone
> voice? Not entirely.
>
> As early as the beginning of 2002 - eighteen months ago -
> Victory Over Want was established to initiate a democratic
> process for international public investment to meet the short-
> term crisis of recession and the long-term crisis of chronic
> poverty.
>
> If governments would not act - and they have since confirmed
> their incapacity to do anything useful - then action must be
> taken through the processes of direct democracy.  We, the
> people, must show governments the way.  The resources are
> there. The processes are there. All we need is the will to get
> together and work together on worldwide, Marshall-Plan-like
> programs of carefully planned and implemented public
> investment and we can resolve the complex of crises
> confronting the world economy and the world society.
> In this way, we will solve the economic crisis and, if we work
> together and build together, we can solve our political,
> strategic and, yes, our terrorist crises at the same time.
> Multilateral public investment, managed well within a broad
> vision, is a practical and relatively simple way of working our
> way out of what is, at the moment, our near-despair. It will
> stimulate private investment. It will put the workless back into
> employment. It will revive the wholesale markets and the
> consumer markets. It will revive the stockmarkets too.
> Everyone will benefit, the rich and poor alike.
> Every continent will benefit.  It will be globalisation of the
> best possible kind.  Every country, every society will have
> more certainty, more hope, better prospects for a more
> comfortable life, with more liberty and more opportunities
> for the pursuit of happiness.  All we need is a revolution in
> our mental attitudes - a return to the sensible policies of
> investing for the public good, for the good of everyone, not
> in one or two national markets, but right around the world.
> We have the resources, human and physical. We have the
> finances - all we need is to mobilise and manage them in
> ways much more meaningfully and securely than we have
> in the past few decades.
>
> Victory Over Want (VOW) pointed out the way ahead
> eighteen months ago. It produced a "Road Map" if you like -
> a highly realistic highway, free of violence, fair to all, for the
> good of all.  Let's adopt that "Road Map" and set out on a
> highway that could make the 21st Century the greatest
> century of all for all those - human and other - who inhabit
> our presently deeply troubled planet.
>
>
> James Cumes
> http://VictoryOverWant.org
> http://www.crystaldreamspub.com/bios/authors/A-E/cumes_j.htm
>
>
>
>
>
>
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