Robert MacDiarmid asked, >can anyone with a better grasp of stats than I have help with a rebuttal >to this drivel? >Anti-globalization activists have their facts wrong >JOCK FINLAYSON I don't have the stats but I know Jock and have debated him several times. What he does, and he's pretty good at it, is assemble bits and pieces of data that support his argument, which is really the position of the Business Council that he is employed to promote. It's just a highly selective presentation of data to uphold a pre-conceived conclusion. Rebutting this kind of drivel with another selective presentation of data, upholding the contrary point of view, is in my opinion futile. What I have done is look more closely, over the longer term, at the role these "economic arguments" play in the public relations campaigns of business organizations and the way that economists play along with the game. incidentally, I'm grateful to Jock for inadvertently turning me on to the granddaddy of all business organization public relations campaigns, the great "lump of labour fallacy" hoax. Since I've done my research he's not likely to use that one again. Tom Walker Sandwichman and Deconsultant Bowen Island (604) 947-2213
