Good God! Do you think that the *entire* World Bank _Human
Development Report_ is a lie?
I don't mind the personal shit--it indicates a lack of thought, and a
lack of argument, as well as a chronic inability to actually *look*
at the world.
>Lou is absolutely correct in his economics -- which means that I agree
>with him -- but you, Lou, are wrong to personalize your note by
>challenging Brad personally.
>
>On Sun, Apr 29, 2001 at 12:33:25PM -0400, Louis Proyect wrote:
>> >No. Wage levels in open developing countries have been increasing
>> >rapidly over the past two generations, and so (with the exception of
>> >the United States and New Zealand) have wage levels in industrial
>> >countries...
>> >
>> >
>> >Brad DeLong
>>
>> Of course wages have been going up. You start with zero when you are a
>> subsistence farmer living outside the cash economy. When a Colombian
>> peasant, who grew his own food and traded the surplus for manufactured
>> goods in a village plaza, gets thrown off his land and takes a job in
>> factory, he has more money than he ever had but he is poorer than ever.
>> That is why there is rebellion in Colombia. Peasants want to return to the
>> days when they could live off the land. Of course, those who end up in a
>> factory are the fortunate exception. Most Latin American or African
>> ex-peasants end up in the "informal economy" which means prostitution,
>> drug-peddling, shoe-shining, hawking chewing gum or fruit, etc. This is the
>> social layer that formed the base of the Sandinista revolution
>> coincidentally. In any case, I'd love to see somebody like DeLong go work
>> in a maquila factory for a year or so, like his fellow Berkeley prof
>> Michael Burawoy does. Then at least, his interventions on leftwing mailing
>> lists might come across less as propaganda, and more like lived experience.
>>
>> Louis Proyect
>> Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/
>>
>
>--
>Michael Perelman
>Economics Department
>California State University
>Chico, CA 95929
>
>Tel. 530-898-5321
>E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
