Thanks for the reply, Alex.
"Keynesian managed globalization" -did such a thing ever existed?).
Well, Jamie called the quarter century after the War 'managed globalisation'
(or something very like it). I thought it an interesting characterisation,
too, but then, Keynes did talk to the Americans about 'internationally
safeguarded capitalism' just before he died, no? All about combining the
advantages of freedom of commerce with safeguards against the 'inevitable'
volatility of laissez faire, and so on ...
Anyway, I suppose PK economists have to talk about now, and nobody is talking
about state-managed equilbria for the moment. Also interesting is that he
opposes the tax cuts, of course. He didn't mention the likely concomitant of
public sector retreats on all fronts, but, yeah, that'd undo the tax cuts from
a demand-side pov. Certainly 6%-of-GDP public deficits ain't quite on the
agenda just now ...
Oh, and I hear America's aggressive retreat from the world proceeds apace.
Unpaid UN subscription fees, agri-protectionism, the international judiciary
business, the Kyoto flip, the small-arms trade treaty down the gurgler, the
ABM treaty up in smoke ... and now pulling out of this biological warfare
thingy. The only part of this 'globalisation' palaver Shrubya wants any part
of is unfettered finance. That bit, he insists, is good for all of us - the
other stuff is bad, apparently. I don't think Uncle Sam enjoys a good enough
image abroad to get away with such bollocks, but then, Uncle Sam doesn't seem
to care any more.
I think Shrubya forgets that, to a lot of people, 'globalisation' instantly
invokes 'America'. As America arrogantly dissolves the relations forged
during the Cold War (and exacerbates the enmities), it's helping build a
strong and concerted political antagonism to 'globalisation' by simple
association. Economists always underestimate the political, but it's strange
to see politicians underestimating it so ...
Or are they just as convinced the world's in for a terrible time as some of us
are - and is transforming itself into an ark of sorts.
Which brand of thinking didn't quite cut the mustard back in the thirties, if
memory serves.
Cheers,
Rob.
