Tom Walker wrote:
Tom, Good post. If only governments eralized that the thing to do (next
to doing nothing) is to encourage imports, we'd get somewhere good.
Harry
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> Carol Goar wrote (forwarded by Mike Gurstein),
>
> >It is almost as if there are two economies - one for global high-flyers and
> >one for ordinary citizens.
> >
> >That is exactly the conclusion of a study just published by the New
> >York-based Council on Foreign Relations. The culprit, it says, is
> >globalization.
> >
> >While trade enriches nations, the council acknowledges, ``global
> >integration may not benefit middle-class citizens as a group.''
>
> The CfR's assumption that "trade enriches nations" is off the mark. Some --
> but not all -- trade does enrich a nation. However, governments that pursue
> trade for trade's sake can, and often do, promote exports at the cost of
> economic efficiency. The formula (elixir) of neo-liberal policy for the past
> two decades has combined domestic austerity -- high interest rates, cutbacks
> in social programs, slow growth to contain wage inflation -- with trade
> expansion and liberalization. The two approaches are hardly independant --
> they're equal parts of a comprehensive strategy. The whole POINT is to make
> the rich richer by making the poor poorer.
>
> There's one thing to be said for "liberalizing trade" -- it sure forces the
> tariffs, barriers and subsidies underground. The more "free trade" removes
> trade barriers and subsidies you can see, the more governments improvise
> barriers and subsidies you can't see. The Canadian "Employment Insurance"
> system is a beautiful example of a byzantine export subsidy system
> masquarading as a social insurance program. The federal government chooses
> to maintain an artificially high level of unemployment not just to fight
> inflation but also to subsidize exports UNDER THE TABLE.
>
> It's long been understood that high interest rate policies are *designed* to
> keep unemployment high. While Unemployment Insurance wasn't designed to
> create more unemployment, that feature of the program was tolerated for 25
> years because it provided an unofficial subsidy to export industries. When
> the program was "redesigned" a couple of years ago as so-called Employment
> Insurance, guess what feature of the program was NOT ON THE TABLE? That's
> right the unofficial, job-killing export subsidy.
>
> Regards,
>
> Tom Walker
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Harry Pollard (818) 352-4141
Henry George School of Los Angeles
Box 655
Tujunga CA 91042
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