I'd be interested in a list of technological advances that occurred first in non-capitalist countries.
CB, look I've enjoyed your posts but, once again, I fail to see just how this point is relevant to anything we are talking about. I'm not arguing against capitalism; I think Max Weber got it pretty much right.
I'm arguing against ideological constructs like "free trade" or "free markets" which conceal the way life really gets lived. To repeat myself once again, I think that, in general, liberalizing trade is socially beneficial. I don't think that is the case in all cases, however. There are more important standards to apply to policy decisions than whether those decisions benefit large multinational corporations. I'm not opposed to their benefitting but, if I got to choose, I would prefer policy decisions in which the issue of the general social benefit was a strong criterion.
The only serious argument I know against my position is the one that sits, unshot yet from LindyBill's quiver but clearly hinted (and mentioned by Tim Fowler), strongly, at, which is the problem of who gets to make the decisions. They prefer, I assume, that corporate execs get to do so; I prefer democratically elected officials. (that sentence should certainly run an electrical charge through Lindy's keyboard; Tim Fowler may wish to reengage the debate here, after all; and FL may wish to shut this sucker down.)
John |
