I was a little strong in my reply. Recall though that I am an economist by training and it is sometimes painful to see politicians use economic theory for politicial ends---when it suits those ends. A million years ago I wrote my Ph.D. on a critique of economic theory. There is much in the theory and there is much that rests on assumptions. The push for free trade did not serve the needs of the average worker. Sure cheaper goods have come into the country. With the loss of many good jobs those goods were needed. It seems that we should be trying to make things better for the people not introduce chaos and dislocation when it is not needed. There is enough chaos in the life of the average person without introducing a changing economic backdrop to their lives. As I said earlier the costs and benefits of free trade are unevenly distributed. The people who pushed for it saw benefits. Some got burned. Some gained. The average worker may have gained some, but most have lost. Especially when you factor in dislocation, uncertainty, re-training, economic anxiety, etc. And my question is: What's the rush. Why do we have to make this or that deadline. Why now. Why can't it be brought in over a great deal of time. arthur
________________________________ From: Keith Hudson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sat 12/9/2006 4:09 AM To: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Futurework] Democrats and "Free" Trade Arthur, Evidently, emotional statements are more important to you than economic factuality. Keith Hudson At 18:58 08/12/2006 -0500, you wrote: Content-class: urn:content-classes:message Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C71B24.E37D6B49"; x-avg-checked=avg-ok-10DF4F05 Bravo. Couldn't have said it better. Free Traitors. Nice new term. arthur ________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Christoph Reuss Sent: Fri 12/8/2006 5:02 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Futurework] Democrats and "Free" Trade Keith Hudson wrote: > Arthur, > > Have you not read the case studies by Oxfam and other charities who > describe what happens when child labour -- for example in India and > Pakistan -- is forced out of existence by well-meaning Westerners? Far > worse fates follow for many of these children and teenagers, particularly > the girls. > > It's their only way of picking themselves up by their bootstraps -- as > indeed a generation or two did in England in the late 18th century. And > South Korea did only 40 years ago (and now has higher average wages than > England). > > If you stamp out child labour in Third world countries then not only do you > artificially and temporarily protect home industries but you are preventing > the former getting out of the gutter. > > I thought this particular type of debate was over and done with years ago. > Can't we move on to much more relevant concerns today? Now THAT's an interesting perspective -- let's all praise and support child labor, coz it saves them from an even worse fate... Keith is the new Marie Antoinette ("let them toil child labor"). So that's "their only way of picking themselves up by their bootstraps" -- geez, I thought this particular type of debate was over and done with centuries ago. Can the point of human intellect and economic evolution REALLY be that today's developing countries must repeat the horrors of 18th-century England?! Guess what, if it wasn't for consumerist "status gadget" paleo-freaks and greeeedy neocon shareholders, there wouldn't be any "need" for child labor today in the first place! Instead, the developing countries could "leap-frog" into a modern society where children can go to (public) school. As well as leap-frogging to modern 120-280 mpg cars and solar energy instead of 12-mpg SUVs and unfiltered coal power plants. But alas, the Free Traitors don't want that to happen. Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.15.15/579 - Release Date: 07/12/2006 Keith Hudson, Bath, England, <www.evolutionary-economics.org <http://www.evolutionary-economics.org/> >
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