globalization

[calbert at tiac.net]

From:           	Teufelsdröcke 
> 
> A social contract is different than a bill of exchange. The pro-global
> capitalists here are ignoring this. Trade and financing are not going
> away and indeed nobody here is saying that they should. But benefits
> from such a dynamic economic system come only when predation and
> speculation are tempered by government's commitment to the popular
> welfare. The USA would not have had to "heroically" bail out so many
> banks and investment funds if its government had done a proper job of
> regulation. The idea that the market is self-regulating and that only
> good flows from its activities is foolish.

When your done with your straw man, let us know.....

 The regulatory boards and
> arbitration courts created by treaties such as NAFTA, GATT, and FTAA
> are equivalent to replacing OSHA and the EPA with the National
> Association of Manufacturers. 

Considering that such boards will represent the buying AND selling 
side, your analogy is off by a considerable factor.

However many jobs and technologies they
> create, however much their installations may vitalize communities here
> and globally, their fundamental ("bottom-line") interest is quarterly
> profit.

So......do you work for free? The issue is not profit, but whether in pursuit of
of such profits, those so engaged generate greater social 
benefits.....

 Only committed activism and protest changed things
> so much that some people now think corporations are really groovy. And
> only strong government regulation keeps (kept) the changes in force.
> Treaties such as NAFTA, GATT, and FTAA are created to protect industry
> and bankers from such distractions of democracy and government.

Please......treaties such as you describe FORMALIZE procedures, 
the resolution of disputes - established basic governing codes of 
behavior among members.....and, yes, occasionally, profit interests 
will clash with social or environmental ones - and on such occasions 
there will be means established to resolve differences, and they may 
not always be as "friendly" as we might like.......

Have alternative economic structures resolved such problems in a 
superior fashion? Judging from the environmental nightmare that is 
Eastern Europe - I would say not.....

love,
cfa