concerning Martha Gimenez's post on Argentina: maybe it's time to replace the term "globalization" with "immiseration." That is, what's happening is not globalization as much as the working out of Marx's predictions at the end of vol. I of CAPITAL, on a world scale of course. In the late 19th century, the immiseration scenario was replaced in many countries (rich ones and import-substitutors) by nation-based industrialization. I don't see any global institutions in place currently that can form the basis of a version of capitalism that would share the benefits of productivity gains more equally. Instead, we see harmonization of wages (and environmental restrictions and social programs) downward, encouraged by the IMF, the World Bank, the US, etc., i.e., the extant global institutions. Maybe there's room for counteracting this immiseration on a national level, but there aren't many national working classes that are organized and conscious enough to pull it off. But that doesn't say we can't try. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED]
