Christoph Reuss wrote: > If there's one point in studying history, it is to learn from it, in order > to avoid the old mistakes in the future. This is what human progress is > (supposed to be) about. But there are some forces who want to inhibit > this process because they benefit from repeating the same mistakes > (which for them are "not a bug, but a feature").
I don't know if we have ever learned from history. Institutions and social arrangements change, but the need to dominate them and make them work to our advantage seems to be a constant in human affairs. Ed ----- Original Message ----- From: "Christoph Reuss" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 8:52 AM Subject: Re: [Futurework] Early Free Trade > Ed Weick wrote: >> I'm afraid I've come to the conclusion that, in human behaviour, there is >> not much to be distinguished between the past and the future. > > If there's one point in studying history, it is to learn from it, in order > to avoid the old mistakes in the future. This is what human progress is > (supposed to be) about. But there are some forces who want to inhibit > this process because they benefit from repeating the same mistakes > (which for them are "not a bug, but a feature"). > >> People look >> out for themselves even if they dress it up in fancy language like "free >> trade" and "spreading freedom and democracy". And in looking out for >> themselves, they put much of the world at risk, often at terrible risk. > > A common mistake is to mix up predators and their victims in the general > term "people" or "we". > >> Many news articles have dealt with the burden imposed on Africa by >> European >> agricultural subsidies and on Mexico by American corn farming subsidies. >> Mexico, the mother of corn since ancient times, now imports huge >> quantities >> of subsidized corn from the US. Under NAFTA, it can't stop the flow. >> One >> of the few recources Mexican farmers have, other than starvation, is to >> try >> to get across the Rio Grande to make some money to keep their families >> alive. > > Because "Under NAFTA, it can't stop the flow", international trade has to > be limited to the non-redundant items (i.e. no trade of corn between two > abundantly corn-producing countries). Exchanging cheap labor is not a > solution to that problem -- it just serves the neocons, thereby rewarding > them for the first mistake! > > Chris > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the > keyword > "igve". > > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca > http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
