TB:" push the button... "
...well, let's pull the lever !
One the one hand, you equate "teaching" with some capitalist reward; on the other - you condemn free trade because somebody profits :-/
I despise Democratic Socialism - it inhibits creativity, and imposes the uniformity of the lowest common denominator herd upon individuals. I don't believe Democratic Socialism could exist without Democratic Capitalism to fund it, transfer new ideas and know-how to prevent stagnation.
What we need to do is open up our immigration policy, cream off the best of the foreign workers from EuroLand and Asia - while they're languishing in 20% unemployment. This solves our labour shortage, caps wage inflation and upgrades our multi-ethnic society with more intellectuals and skilled workers.
The best defense against socialism turned out to be kapitalism itself - not bullets or bombs, nor economic sanctions. Protectionism - like censorship - is always ludicrous in historical retrospect.
The two problems with the WTO that I see are (1) it promotes "linkage" between social reforms and funding; and, (2) it's too "public" and "politicized" a venue for bankers to do business. We should take a page from our own history (and, what Blair just did) ie., separate this WTO = FED from politics and consolidate all the banks under one global monetary system.
This was the only way that the EU could have gotten their fiscal act together: it would have been impossible for each country's politicians to reform their sick, Democratic Socialist economies with having these structural changes imposed by their central banking system / uniform currency aspirations.
The EU is a great success story but, the oldest example of free trade in the world is the operation of these 'United States'. To deny other countries our own model of economic co-operation is elitist.
Personally, it's not competition that scares me; rather - it is the lack of it that gives me cause for concern.
-Steve |
