RE: [pf] "Somewhere in the world today walks the next Marx"; Washington

At 12:19 20/1/2002 -0500, tully wrote {at:
http://csf.colorado.edu/mail/pfvs/2002I/msg00196.html } :-
>A friend (who I often disagree with) sent me this and I'd be interested in
this group's reaction to it.
>  This is a mainstream media opinion that will be seen.
>---tully
>
>To view the entire article, go to 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6840-2002Jan19.html
>
>After This
>Whatever Capitalism's Fate, Somebody's Already Working on an Alternative
>
>By David J. Rothkopf
>Sunday, January 20, 2002; Page B01
>
>Somewhere in the world today walks the next Marx. But he is not a
communist, and he almost certainly is not an expatriate German slaving over
his theories in the stacks of the British Library. Nonetheless, he or she ...
>

· It includes:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
  “Never in the history of nations or ideas has there been an extended
period in which one view has prevailed without challenge, particularly one
that is seen by many to be widening the gaps between the world's
comparatively few rich people and the great majority who are poor.
  Rome was supposed to last forever, and fell. Kings ruled by divine right,
and fell. The British Empire was the mightiest in the world but could not
stand up against the will of its subjects. The Industrial Revolution was
transformed when it generated a clamor for workers' rights and unions and
communism itself. In business, what dominant brand has ever remained
unchallenged?”

  “The harbingers of this looming threat ... also lie in the frustrations
of America's allies at this moment of our undisputed greatness.
  Recently, one of Latin America's senior diplomats -- a known supporter of
the United States -- asked me, "What kind of message is America sending? In
Argentina, they thought they were playing by U.S. rules, being a good
friend to the United States, helping you from Haiti to Bosnia. And what was
their reward? You turn away at their moment of greatest need. They are not
alone in this feeling." He went on to say that many of America's friends in
Latin America and elsewhere think that we are good at asking for
cooperation, good at directing -- and not so good at listening or giving.
  This is not a new view. But recent events have exacerbated feelings ...”

  “Congress has primarily chosen a path of protection on trade issues and
has made few major advances in the area of trade liberalization, with the
exception of China's accession to the WTO. In the meantime, U.S. influence
in international financial institutions has advanced policies that promote
... the interests of Wall Street above those of local populations to such
an extent that they have triggered a backlash ... Indeed, to say
"Washington institutions" in most of the world is to speak of rich man's
rules.
  Don't get me wrong. I'm no latter-day Che Guevara wandering out of the
jungle. Quite the contrary. The radical reformer to whom I think we need to
pay the most attention is none other than Margaret Thatcher. She championed
the idea of a "nation of shareholders." When she became Britain's prime
minister, 2 million people in her country owned stock. When she left
office, there were seven times that. That shift transformed a nation ...”

· and:

  “We must begin by recognizing that the genius of capitalism is not, as
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill suggested recently, that it allows
companies to die, but that it continually reinvents itself. Democracy
shares this genius. We have made American capitalism work here and other
brands of capitalism work elsewhere in the developed world. But we must
recognize that we have not come close to perfecting global capitalism. We
must create stakeholders in globalization, in capitalism and in democracy
by reforming local systems ...”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

· I agree that capitalism has benefits, (i) when a small number of people
are trying to transform *terra nullius* - an empty land - into a rich
nation, as the states of the USA, and Australia, thought they were doing;
(ii) when there are limits to the private enterprise, to ensure that greed
doesn't get out of hand; and (iii) when those that aren't the capitalists -
including the vast majority in the world that aren't human - gain some
respectable amount of benefit from the activity of the capitalists. Such as
improved health and opportunities to live reasonably well, rather than
being ground down by the activities of capitalism.

· However, that is not how Americans, including this David J. Rothkopf, see
capitalism working.

· Further, the needed restrictions on capitalism's freedom to do as the
capitalist wishes (some are mentioned above), are getting more and more
constraining as the capitalist idea takes over almost all the living space
on earth. Here in NZ, we have the Resource Management Act 1991 - a quite
good way of balancing the "needs" of developers with the necessity of
conserving and enhancing humans' environment - is generating an on-going
series of attempts at reducing it to meaninglessness.

· I challenge Rothkopf's implication: “When Margaret Thatcher ("nation of
shareholders") left office, there were seven times [the number]”; most
people believe this means that the monetary benefits gained by these "Mom
and Pop" shareholders have justified capitalism. I have no figures, but I
am certain the vast majority of profits still go the "the big boys", the
already rich (people and institutions).
  Reference to "nation of shareholders" is just PR, another attempt to
justify the rapacious attitude of the present financial élite.

· Also, Rothkopf says: “We must create ... by reforming local systems ...”
 Who is he, and the American thoughtful rich he's speaking for, to think he
and they _have_to_reform_other_people's_local_systems?
  God? The Boss? The Rulers of The World?

David.

David MacClement davd @ ihug.co.nz (remove spaces)
http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/index.html#top
http://davd.tripod.com/GrAPR-020118.html#top
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