globalization & Pynchon?

[calbert at tiac.net]

Weaver:

> There was one country in the Americas not invited to Quebec,
> ostensibly because it isn't democratic (according to U.S.
> definitions.).

I think the roster was strictly limited to those countries where citizens 
are permitted, even encouraged, to read ANIMAL FARM...... 

 Might be more to do with it having a system which
> favours attacking poverty over generating profits. 

Profits allow one to attack poverty, good intentions don't feed 
squat.....

>  Perhaps those on the list attempting to defend
> capitalism would like to explain its failure to diminish the horrific
> contrasts referred to.

You've got a deal, buddy......but when I'm done, you will have to 
explain just how much Cuba has been contribute to the alleviation of 
misery world wide - and I'm not talking about sending a few medical 
brigades around (as admirable as such an effort is it does little to 
advance an economic system).... 

"If the present is tragic, the future looks dismal." Let
> nobody try to fool or confuse us with the new terminology spawned by
> the hypocritical propaganda of specialists in deception and lies,
> working in the service of those who have subjected humanity to an
> increasingly unequal and unfair economic and political order, one that
> is completely devoid of solidarity or democracy or even an iota of
> respect for the minimum rights owed to human beings."

So the alternative is to subject oneself to the "hypocritical 
propaganda, yada yada" of NATIVE "specialists in deceptions and 
lies"...Do you believe that the human rights situation in autarkic 
Argentina, Spain, Brasil was better than it is today? Did citizens 
enjoy a greater distribution of "the franchise" under the argentine or 
brasilian juntas or Franco? How about income distribution, access to 
education?

> exaggerating when I made that statement. The Third World's foreign
> debt, which totaled some 500 billion dollars in 1981, had reached 2.1
> trillion dollars in the year 2000. The share corresponding to Latin
> America was 255.188 billion dollars in 1981; by 2000, it was 750.855
> billion.

This argues that, on a relative basis, Latin America is LESS exposed 
to the predations of "foreign debt" today than in 1981, or conversely, 
that it has grown increasingly INDEPENDENT of such loans.....

 The servicing of the Third World debt, which amounted to 44.2
> billion USD in 1981, had reached 347.4 billion USD in 2000.

Using Fidel's stats, this is consistent with the 3rd world drawing an 
increasing share of such financing.........To its credit, the first world 
lenders, whether under political and social pressure, or perhaps 
even pragmatism, are involved in a program of debt forgiveness.....

 The per
> capita gross national product (GDP) in the developed countries was
> 8,070 USD in 1978. Twenty years later, in 1998, per capita GDP in
> those countries had grown to 25,870 USD. In the meantime, the per
> capita GDP in the countries with the lowest incomes, which was 200 USD
> in 1978, had risen to only 530 USD by the year 1998. The abysmal gap
> had grown even wider.

This is a tremendous tragedy, fuelled in  great part by the GROSS 
corruption of local officials who have stolen the bulk of such aid - 
ironically to re-invest in the 1st world economies from which the 
funds originated....The answer to this is not to tear down the world 
credit mechanism, but to AGGRESSIVELY PURSUE AND 
PROSECUTE such miscreants, and to confiscate their ill gotten 
assets.......

 The number of undernourished people, almost all
> of whom live in Third World countries, rose from 570 million in 1981
> to 800 million in 2000. The number of unemployed grew from 1.103
> billion in 1981 to 1.6 billion in 2000. 

These are demographic trends independent of international 
trade.....Again, an appropriate respone is NOT to choke off trade 
and credit to these nations....and as you and I are well aware, Cuba 
will NEVER function as the "bread basket" of the world, or even 
Havana.....

Today, the wealthiest 20% of
> the world's population accounts for 86% of all spending on private
> consumption, while the poorest 20% accounts for only 1.3%. In the
> wealthy countries, per capita electricity consumption is 10 times
> higher than in all the poor countries combined.

What percentage of goods PRODUCED originate from the two 
categories? Electricity consumption is to a great degree a function 
of its availability.....If you DOUBLED China's electricity generating 
capacity tomorrow, you would find takers for it OVERNIGHT - they 
are so desperately short of what they need that they are about to 
level the country's greatest scenic resource, the Three Gorges..... 

 According to United
> Nations figures, in 1960 the income of 20% of the world population
> living in the wealthiest nations was 30 times that of the poorest
> nations; by 1997 it was 74 times greater.

I'd have to see how this statistic was generated....bear in mind that 
population growth rate is far higher in the worlds poorest nations......

> The wealthiest
> 25% of the world's population consumes 45% of all meat and fish; the
> poorest 25% consumes only 5%. 

Again, I would suggest that the top 25% are component parts of a 
system generating a VERY high share of the production of these 
goods. To add meat, which is a very expensive good to generate in 
relative terms is specious........ 

In sub-Saharan Africa, infant mortality
> rate is 107 per 1000 live births during the first year of life, and
> 173 per thousand live births before the age of five. In South Asia,
> the rates are 76 and 114, respectively. In the case of Latin America,
> according to UNICEF, infant mortality before the age of five is 39 per
> 1000 live births. 

Why does Unlce Fidel suddenly stop providing a context here?
How do these numbers compare to 1979?

More than 800 million adults remain illiterate. More
> than 130 million school-age children are growing up without access to
> basic education. The truth, which cannot be hidden, is that there are
> currently over 800 million people suffering chronic hunger while
> lacking access to health care services, which is why it is estimated
> that 507 million people living in the Third World today will not live
> past 40 years of age. 

Contributing to this tragedy is the reality of "brain drain".....If these 
nations could somehow retain their "intellectual" capital, such 
problems could be addressed at the local level. But if you are a 
trained neurologist, born a Ugandan, or Venezuelan, where are you 
going to take your finely honed chops? One solution, favored by 
Fidel, is to restrict the free movement of populations - I don't want to 
go there, do you?

South of the Sahara, almost 30% of the
> population will die before they are 40. In 1981, climate change was
> seldom mentioned, and very few people had ever even heard the word
> AIDS. Today these are two harrowing threats that have been added to
> the calamities already mentioned.

Did the 1st world bring AIDS to the 3rd?
Would you advocate the "Cuban Model" for AIDS prevention? 

 In 1981, the world population had
> surpassed four billion; 75% of them living in Third World countries.
> Today, in 2001, there are already more than 6.1 billion of us on the
> planet. In just 20 years, the world population grew by 1.7 billion,
> more than it had grown since the emergence of the human species until
> the beginning of the 20th century.

Now there is a confounding fact......what does this imply?

 In short, the world income share of
> the countries that now constitute the Third World has shrunk so much
> that a century and a half ago it was 56%, while today it is only 15%.
> This is truly a peculiar way of expressing the real meaning for the
> Third World and the immense majority of humanity of capitalism and
> imperialism, with their crises, chaos, economic anarchy and selfish
> and inhuman value system.

Give me the system which generates the greatest excess, because it 
is this which will be "exported" to alleivate the suffering 
elsewhere....Systems which do NOT generate such surpluses are 
not in a position to do the same.....

.....but I continue to respect the fact that, unlike some, you actually 
walk the walk as well.......


love,
cfa