John G. wrote: > Thanks for your considered response John. > > (At least I don't _have_ to buy any books ... yet.) >
I didn't have time for footnotes, sorry! That's just a little joke, John. And John G. further wrote: > You'll note that I don't share several of your deep-seated assumptions, e.g.: > > - the US experience/system can be extrapolated abroad > I do not understand what this means. Do you mean the experience of massive export of jobs due to the dominance of finance capital over industrial capital? If so, this is something your native land experienced long ago, so you must be aware of the disease. Do you mean overconsumption? That does appear to be a perquisite of late imperial America that other countries do not enjoy, but its days are surely over now. Do you mean the import of 15-20 illegal aliens? No, other countries have not experienced that, not because they do not have problems with illegal immigration, but rather because they had the common sense to actually enforce their laws regarding it. In any case, I have never said that the US experience/system can or should be extrapolated abroad. It is the people like Bob Rubin and Henry Paulson who have wanted to export the US system, and have done so with lots of pontificating and arm-twisting. I was simply describing what a disaster this has been, not just for the majority of the population here but also for the people abroad who got sucked into the whirlpool of US casino capitalism. And I am certainly ashamed as an American that this country's leaders have been so grossly arrogant and irresponsible/ And again: > - the forces of globalisation will be countered any time soon > > - the corporate-government posture on free trade won't prevail > Trade is collapsing. The US Congress is passing "Buy American" bills. English workers are striking. Governments in countries like Iceland are collapsing. Financial institutions are effectively being nationalized left and right throughout the world. And the world financial system is bankrupt. Now on life support. And the prognosis is gloomy. Sounds to me like the corporate-government posture on free trade, and much else, is supine. The real question is, what comes next? John M. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Persons posting messages to not_honyaku assume all responsibility for their messages. The list owner does not review messages prior to posting, and accepts no responsibility for the content of messages posted. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
