At 9:26 AM -0400 10/9/98, Ed Weick wrote:
>... Paul Krugman...
While I prefer Tom Walker's explanation, the root of the matter is the
hubris of the economic priesthood who think the world will respond to
their formulas regardless of human suffering.
So long as economics is based in 'efficiency'- i.e. the maximization of
return to the wealthy- ahead of equity and environmental
sustainability; so long as the 'science'of economics 'externalizes'
most of the real costs while 'internalizing' the natural resources
which are properly the heritage of all [which is tantamount to a
physics which is aware of but ignores the second law of
thermodynamics]; so long as it panders to irresponsible speculators in
three piece suits while admonishing the dispossessed in stinking
barrios to "get a job" (to replace the subsistence they rightfully got
from the Land)- and meanwhile to eat cake or big macs- so long will we
continue to have "booms" in which the few accumulate vast fortunes
while the many struggle to pay the rent, even in the "powerful" US
economy, followed by busts.
The Kondratieff wave is breaking much on schedule. There is nothing new
under the economic sun, except more ingenious justifications for greed.
Caspar Davis
Victoria, B.C., Canada
A mind is like a parachute. You can't use it until it is open.
- An unknown elder of Keremeos
