Economic Democracy

[happydreams]

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Capital accumulation advantage increases or decreases exponentially with the differential in pay for equally productive labor: An equally productive worker in the poorly-paid Third World produces a unique model car, is paid $1 an hour, and produces one model car an hour. An equally productive worker in the developed world produces another unique model car, is paid $10 an hour, and also produces one model car per hour. Each equally productive worker likes, and purchases, the other’s model cars. (All true costs are labor costs so we ignore monopoly capital costs, which go to the developed world anyway and calculate the cost of those model cars at the labor cost of production.) The $1 an hour worker must work 10 hours to buy one of the model cars of the $10 an hour worker but, with the money earned in the same 10 hours, the $10 an hour worker can buy 100 of the model cars of the $1 an hour worker. While in a homogenized market of many producers there is a 10 times differential in buying power, in direct trades between each other there is an exponential 100 times differential in retained wealth.

If the pay differential is 5 ($10 to $2), the wealth accumulation advantage is 25 to 1. If the pay differential is 2 ($10 to $5), the wealth accumulation advantage is 4 to 1. When all have access to technology and markets and pay is equal for equally-productive work, the wealth retained (and available for accumulation or consumption) by each nation is equal. (Chapter 1)

All wealth comes from resources and resources are in the countryside. Thus for 800 years the cities of the Middle Ages raided the countryside to destroy their primitive industrial capital, forcing the countryside to sell their natural resources to the city. City states fought city states over those same resources. The imperial city states evolved into imperial nations which continued to fight control of resources and trade, the source of their wealth. The imperial nations of Europe colonized the entire world and continued to battle over who would control the wealth producing process. (Chapter 2)

Military forces of the wealthy world spread all over the world are there for the same purpose as those raiding parties from the imperial cities of Europe, control resources, monopolize industrial technology and control markets-in short, controlling the rules of unequal trade.

Where are Japan’s resources? Where are South Korea’s resources? Where are Singapore’s resources? Where are Hong Kong’s resources? Where are Taiwan’s resources? Where are the resources of the old imperial nations of Europe who consume roughly 14 times the resources as lie within their borders? America, with 5 percent of the world’s people, consumes 28 percent of the world’s resources. The resources from which all wealth comes are primarily in the undeveloped world, the “countryside”q of the developed world. (Chapters 15, 16, & 17.)



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After World War II, the entire world was breaking free. Africa’s new leaders were planning to build a regional economy and emulating the United States. This is why potentially wealthy countries of Africa and Latin America were destabilized. If they had been permitted to develop, the wealth of the world would be in those countries, not in Europe. (Introduction and Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 9)

Virtually every nation which developed did so under the opposite development philosophies being forced upon the developing world. This creates dependent nations trapped in debt and are the legal structures which-through the formula described above-lay claim to the natural wealth and labors of the impoverished world. Any nation which attempts to break out will be immediately ostracized, embargoed, quickly impoverished, and forced back within the fold. Like the raiding parties of the Middle ages, the IMF/World Bank/GATT/ NAFTA/WTO/MAI structural adjustments are enforcing arms of imperial capital maintaining the impoverished world in dependency. (Chapters 2, 3, 10, & 11.)

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If only 14% of the industry producing arms for the suppression of the world’s break for freedom were turned to producing industry for the impoverished world, the entire world could be developed to a sustainable level and poverty largely eliminated in only 45 years. And Capital destroying Capital in trade wars wastes even more capital than that wasted on wars. (Chapters 18, & 23.)

http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty/EconomicDemocracy.asp

[Redstone]

1. And your point is...?

Redstone

[happydreams]

2. You disagree with anything here? Please specify

[Redstone]

5. I didn't say I disagree with anything. Just asked what you're talking about.

Redstone

[happydreams]

7. Well, ah, ...Economic Democracy.

:shrug:

[SharonAnn]

3. Thank you for posting this. It's very imformative. I learn a lot here.

[happydreams]

8. Thanks. I'm glad you found it informative.

:hi:

[Az]

4. My key question

Your post stated:

After World War II, the entire world was breaking free. Africa’s new leaders were planning to build a regional economy and emulating the United States. This is why potentially wealthy countries of Africa and Latin America were destabilized. If they had been permitted to develop, the wealth of the world would be in those countries, not in Europe.

What is left unclear here but suggested is whether it was an intentional destabilization or a consequence of Corporate/Business nature. If intentional it seems to be suggesting a conscious conspiracy that was aware of how to manipulate economic systems on a far grander scale than would seem were possible.

Instead what seems more likely to me is that the destabilization came about because of the exposure to new resources which Corporations always looking for new source set about attempting to gain access to. It was this process that unintentionally destabilized local economies and due to an evolutionary nature the Corporations continued to use such a successful methodology of gaining access to resources.

[happydreams]

6. One tactic is co-opting of the elites in these countries.

That is standard MO though specifics aren't given. When Smith says "destabilized" I'm sure he means a concious effort.
This is just a summary of the book, which I haven't read.