tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post7172861001062853388..comments2024-03-28T19:18:40.387-04:00Comments on Northern Reflections: The End Of Globalization?Owen Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-12188926598348573272016-05-28T08:07:12.294-04:002016-05-28T08:07:12.294-04:00A trail of lies, Hugh. And it keeps getting longer...A trail of lies, Hugh. And it keeps getting longer and deeper.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-61481042848377978962016-05-27T23:13:25.073-04:002016-05-27T23:13:25.073-04:00I'm still waiting to hear about the 78,000 new...I'm still waiting to hear about the 78,000 new jobs promised for BC coming from the TILMA, an ISDS-containing so-called trade deal between BC and Alberta,signed in 2006.<br /><br />A similar jobs promise was made for CETA, which also has ISDS, which allows companies and investors to sue the government (ie we the taxpayers) if they don't like our laws and policies.Hughnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-48454931388745568572016-05-27T14:23:38.987-04:002016-05-27T14:23:38.987-04:00A really intriguing analysis, Anon. Your suggestio...A really intriguing analysis, Anon. Your suggestion that neo-liberalism is really colonialism in new clothes is -- you'll excuse the pun -- right on the money.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-83103207604008032542016-05-27T13:45:47.790-04:002016-05-27T13:45:47.790-04:00Globalization was a ridiculous scheme cooked up by...Globalization was a ridiculous scheme cooked up by looting robber barons. Make a bunch of money bypassing first-world regulations and wages. (A negative sum game that destroys demand and wealth instead of creating new wealth through human development and cooperation -- i.e., positive sum games.)<br /><br />But it actually sets the stage for an incredible pivot: globalization inversion. This is founded on the idea that the structure of globalization made the economies of undeveloped countries very dependent on Western markets. Or: the riches of oligarchs are dependent on exports to Western markets. What that means is that when we begin to shift away from looternomics to the more sensible Keynesian mixed-market system, Western nations can force social and green policies on oligarchies like China with tariffs.<br /><br />Ironically free-trade globalization created an extremely mercantilist world. This is Ok by free-market ideologues, because the rich get to make a pile of easy money exporting production to mercantilist countries like China (which is the only thing they really care about.) But institutionalize international fair-trade agreements that outlaw mercantilism, by forcing countries to distribute wealth instead of amassing foreign currency reserves by running massive trade surpluses -- with the threat of social tariffs -- this will raise living standards and accommodate a transition towards democracy. <br /><br />(This can also be accomplished by eliminating wildly inaccurate currency markets [and prone to market manipulate schemes] and replacing them with an agreed-upon algorithm that raises the value of currency if a structural trade surplus is produced; essentially same economic indicators that typically determine relative currency value, but regulated instead of free-market. Joseph Stiglitz also talks about creating a world bank that has an independent foreign reserve currency [the bancor]; as the global economy grows, the bank issues new currency to undeveloped countries which will assist in their development.)<br /><br />The same with using green tariffs to force compliance with international treaties on GHG emissions (and other forms of pollution.)<br /><br />In short, the West has the oligarchs in undeveloped countries by the short and curlies. This gives the West the power to transform the undeveloped world and eliminate carbon emissions by 2050. <br /><br />Everything is dependent on ending the failed neoliberal era and establishing a second New Deal with a global focus: one that exposes and eliminates all the corrupt geo-politicking of Western nations that plagued the post-war era and focus on cleaning up the mess the West made of the world during the colonialist (1500-1945), post-colonialist (1945-1990) and neo-colonialist eras (1990-present.)<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-40589543090777141982016-05-27T12:26:44.127-04:002016-05-27T12:26:44.127-04:00Given that Trump changes his positions on a daily ...Given that Trump changes his positions on a daily basis, I wouldn't count on his taking the nest down, Mound. But he may bring the whole house down.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-69416085298143482912016-05-27T12:07:13.380-04:002016-05-27T12:07:13.380-04:00I'm not sure Stiglitz was ever onside with the...<br />I'm not sure Stiglitz was ever onside with the TPP as Dobbins suggests, Owen. As I recollect he, like Robert Reich, has been against it all along. Anyone who has read Stiglitz' books on inequality would find it surprising that he would ever have endorsed TTP or TTIP. It has gone ten years since John Ralston Saul pronounced globalism dead, and convincingly so. He sees the west as wallowing in this "interregnum" as we await the next great economic model. What has happened is that free market fundamentalism has retained its hold despite consistently failing to meet its promise of more jobs and better wages because it, and the politicians without whom it would collapse, have been diverted into the service of an elite, the rentier class, Wall Street.<br /><br />Trump promises to take down that parasitical nest but can he be trusted? I'm not so sure but plenty of Americans are ready to roll the dice.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-56301566818515009152016-05-27T11:11:26.561-04:002016-05-27T11:11:26.561-04:00When Ralston Saul's book came out, many -- inc...When Ralston Saul's book came out, many -- including me -- thought he was jumping the gun. It wasn't the first time I've been wrong, Toby.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-37028698739132096272016-05-27T11:05:10.608-04:002016-05-27T11:05:10.608-04:00John Ralston Saul announced that Globalization is ...John Ralston Saul announced that Globalization is dead years ago but the trade fanatics keep marching along.Tobynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-58554480098033233792016-05-27T10:18:44.552-04:002016-05-27T10:18:44.552-04:00It was the work that the New York Times and the Wa...It was the work that the New York Times and the Washington Post -- along with Morley Safer's work for CBS -- that changed the trajectory of the Vietnam War, Lorne. In the absence of good journalism, truth gets hijacked.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-89451496020533662022016-05-27T10:06:33.600-04:002016-05-27T10:06:33.600-04:00It is indeed interesting, Owen, that despite the T...It is indeed interesting, Owen, that despite the Trudeau government's claim to be running a more open, responsive and transparent administration than our previous one, the refusal to do anything but be advocates for greater globalized free trade proves otherwise. It is time for our journalists to start asking them the hard questions about these agreements. For example, when Freeland was spouting off about the 'gold-plated' nature of CETA that would benefit everyone, why wasn't she asked to precisely define those benefits?Lornehttp://www.politicsanditsdiscontents.blogspot.canoreply@blogger.com