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A GUIDEBOOK: HOW THE WORLD WORKS AND HOW WE CAN CHANGE IT
(C) 2000, Richard K. Moore
http://cyberjournal.org
Chapter 1:
How does the world work today, and where is it headed?
a. Globalization and the West: a covert coup d'etat
b. Globalization and the third world: empire by another name
c. Kultur-kampf: enforcing the New World Order
===> d. Economic globalization: Robber Barons writ large
e. Decoding propaganda: matrix vs. reality
f. Capitalism's growth imperative and societal engineering
g. Elite rule and the Dark Millennium
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1.d. Economic globalization: Robber Barons writ large
"And so it went, in industry after
industry - shrewd, efficient businessmen
building empires, choking out
competition, maintaining high prices,
keeping wages low, using government
subsidies... By the turn of the century,
American telephone and Telegraph had a
monopoly of the nation's telephone
system, International Harvester made 85
percent of all farm machinery, and in
every other industry resources became
concentrated, controlled. The banks had
interests in so many of these monopolies
as to create an interlocking network of
powerful corporation directors, each of
whom sat on the boards of many other
corporations."
- Howard Zinn, "A People's History of the
United States," Chapter 11, "Robber
Barons and Rebels," p. 251.
Globalization is usually described as a thoroughly
modern phenomenon - but there is nothing new about
the political policy of turning control of the
economy over to corporate interests. That was in
fact the dominant Western political philosophy
during the late 1800's, when it went under the name
of "laissez-faire." The results were dismal. The
era was characterized by sweatshops, exploitive
child labor, suppression of labor unions,
widespread poverty and disease, giant trusts and
monopolies, "robber baron" magnates, unstable
economies, and corrupted politicians. Eventually,
throughout the West, laissez-faire policies were
abandoned and repudiated. Regulatory reforms were
introduced, some infrastructures were nationalized,
economies were stabilized, and working conditions
improved along with social conditions generally.
The economic side of globalization amounts to
little more than the restoration of a previous
century's failed laissez-faire policies - but on a
global scale. And as could only be expected, the
same dismal consequences are now unfolding
worldwide. Sweatshops and child-labor pervade the
third world; Western wages are declining in
comparison to the cost of living; international
financial markets are dominated by speculators;
each major segment of world commerce - from
shipping to communications to automobiles to
foodstuffs - is being increasingly dominated by a
handful of transnational corporations.
Politicians tell us that the downside of
globalization is temporary. By such statements they
only reveal the extent to which our politicians
have been once again corrupted by corporate power.
In fact, the 19th century robber-baron abuses ended
only when laissez-faire policies were abandoned -
and the globalization agenda permits no
consideration of any such reversal of policy. For
every ill the prescription is always "more of the
same."
When NAFTA (The North American Free Trade
Agreement) was being sold to the U.S. Congress,
part of the evidence presented was the computer
output from a certain economic model. The results
seemed to show that in both Mexico and the United
States, NAFTA would bring higher wages and lower
prices. But consider the assumptions upon which
that model was based, as cited by David Korten in
his book, "When Corporations Rule the World" (p.
81):
1. Capital is immobile [investors will keep their
money at home.]
2. Labor costs are the same in both countries.
3. Americans will always clearly prefer American
(vs Mexican) products even if Mexican products
are much cheaper. (And similarly for Mexicans
re/ U.S. products).
4. There is always full employment in both
countries.
5. Nothing will ever be imported to (from) Mexico
unless it is exactly balanced by an import
from (to) Mexico.
Far from being reasonable approximations to
reality, these assumptions are outright fantasy -
they are preposterous. Like Australia's Aborigines,
today's orthodox mainstream economists live in a
dream world. In that dream world of perfect
competition, markets are never monopolized by giant
corporations or manipulated by speculators, prices
are never inflated in cornered markets, no nation
or worker is every exploited, and an "invisible
hand" magically guides us to best of all possible
worlds. Plans are made in this dream world by
academics and technicians. The plans are then
applied to the real world by legislation, judicial
rulings, and treaties. Politicians are then left
with the job of trying to explain away the
consequences - usually by finding someone or
something else to blame. The beneficiaries of the
dream-world orthodoxy are the corporate elite who
run the global regime.
Historically, this pattern is a familiar one. Kings
and emperors of bygone days were always backed up
by priests and religions whose job it was to
promote an ideology which served the interests of
the ruler. The Roman Emperor Constantine and the
English King Henry VIII both replaced state
religions so as to better suit their political
objectives. Today we don't have royal rulers in the
West, but we have a ruling elite. Mainstream
economists, trained in business school cloisters,
function as a priesthood for this elite - muttering
unintelligible technical incantations and then
declaring absurdities to be truth. The corporate
mass-media reinforces the orthodoxy in a thousand
ways every day - in news and commentary and even in
entertainment fare. Mumbo jumbo has served rulers
down through the ages, and it is still being used
today. As science or as common sense, the
laissez-faire orthodoxy stands on a par with the
belief in a flat Earth.
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Recommended reading.
Richard Douthwaite, "The Growth Illusion," Lilliput Press,
Dublin, 1992.
A fascinating and wide-ranging look at growth and
capitalism, their historical roots and their consequences.
Offers a healthy dose of common sense, and a vision of
stability and sustainability.
David C. Korten, "When Corporations Rule the World," Kumerian
Press, West Hartford, Connecticut, 1995.
"This is 'must read' book - a searing indictment of an
unjust international economic order, not by a wild-eyed
idealistic leftwinger, but by a sober scion of the
establishment with impeccable credentials. It left me
devastated but also very hopeful. Something can be done to
create a more just economic order." - Archbishop Desmond M.
Tuttu, Nobel Peace Laureate.
James Goldsmith, "The Response," Macmillan, London, 1995.
A critique of neoliberal thinking presented as a debate
with those who criticized the author's previous book, "The
Trap." It may be pointless for the author to attempt logical
debate with mainstream apologists, but the book is
informative for other readers.
Howard Zinn, "A People's History of the United States,"
HarperCollins, New York, 1989.
"Zinn has written a brilliant and moving history of the
American people from the pont of view of those who have been
exploited politically and economically and whose plight has
been largely omitted from most histories." - Library Journal.
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