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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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 Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 2:49 am Post subject: The Perfect Storm plus? |
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The situation with the Middle East is a serious problem. Global Warming is a growing issue that could eat up 5% of world-wide GDP, at the most optimistic. Oil is going to be a problem, one way or another (truly dwindling reserves at minimum, Peak Oil within ten years or so at worst.) We (Americans) have been stripped of basic rights. (Go ahead, 30%ers. Start raving.) Now this interesting theory:
The Establishment Rethinks Globalization
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...His ideas contain an explosive message: that what established authorities teach Americans about global trade is simply wrong--disastrously wrong for the United States.
...Huge losses are ahead--10 million jobs or more--and Hindery fears time is running out on reform.
...The Gomory-Baumol book describes this as "a divergence of interests" between multinational firms and their home country. "This overseas investment decision may then prove to be very good for that multinational firm," they write. "But there remains the question: Is the decision good for its own country?" In many cases, yes. If the firm is locating low-skilled industrial production in a very poor country, Americans get cheaper goods, trade expands for both sides and the result is "mutual gain." But the trading partners enter a "zone of conflict" if the poor nation develops greater capabilities and assumes the production of more advanced goods. Then, the authors explain, "the newly developing partner becomes harmful to the more industrialized country." The firm's self-interested success "can constitute an actual loss of national income for the company's home country."
...The implication is this: If nothing changes in how globalization currently works, Americans will be increasingly exposed to downward pressure on incomes and living standards. "Yes," says Gomory. "There are many ways to look at it, all of which reach the same conclusion."
...US incomes stagnate as the high-wage jobs disappear and US exports become a smaller share of the world total.
...The US predicament is vividly reflected in the nation's swollen trade deficits, now running at nearly 7 percent of GDP every year.
...Gomory's vision of reformation actually goes beyond the trading system and America's economic deterioration. He wants to re-create an understanding of the corporation's obligations to society, the social perspective that flourished for a time in the last century but is now nearly extinct. The old idea was that the corporation is a trust, not only for shareholders but for the benefit of the country, the employees and the people who use the product. "That attitude was the attitude I grew up on in IBM," Gomory explains. "That's the way we thought--good for the country, good for the people, good for the shareholders--and I hope we will get back to it.... We should measure corporations by their impact on all their constituencies... |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 4:04 am Post subject: |
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These fellows are soooo positive!
Global Warming Called Security Threat
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| For the second time in a month, private consultants to the government are warning that human-driven warming of the climate poses risks to the national security of the United States... |
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Junior
Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: the eye
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 4:44 am Post subject: |
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| Interesting times ahead. And the "best' of it certainly within our lifetimes i think. |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 5:10 am Post subject: |
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| Junior wrote: |
| Interesting times ahead. And the "best' of it certainly within our lifetimes i think. |
Not mine. Should be getting interesting about the time I check out. Certainly brings up the issue of live now or hope there's something to live with later... |
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Junior
Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: the eye
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 5:26 am Post subject: |
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More than 5.5 inches of rain fell in the New York region Sunday, shattering a record that had stood for more than 100 years, the National Weather Service said. The previous record for an April 15, measured in Central Park, was 1.8 inches in 1906.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070416/ap_on_re_us/spring_storm |
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