Subject: Re: Greenspan: Globalisation vs Terrorism.
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2028 10:41:10 -0600


What he means by specialization is that instead of having to make all of
your food and clothing and losing that time for your own work, you can buy
food and clothing.  The idea is that it takes less time for 1 person to make
100 screwdrivers than for 100 people to each make 1 screwdriver.  The more
people engage in trade the more efficient the division of labor becomes and
the more prices go down.  That means that more people have access to goods.

Don't read this as an apology for the the fact that labor practices are
worse in poorer places and that richer places enjoy more wealth.  A more
just economic system would also require the division of labor.

mal


----- Original Message -----
From: fuller <fuller-AT-bekkers.com.au>
To: <lyotard-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2001 10:34 PM
Subject: Greenspan: Globalisation vs Terrorism.


> Here is a something I found in the Weekend Australian Financial Review
that
> I thought you people would find interesting:
>
>     Globalisation as a rebuff to terrorism
>
>     The US Federal Reserve Board's chairman, Alan Greenspan, speaking at
> George Washington University on December 3.
>
>     The United States has benefitted enormously from the opening up of
> international markets in the postwar period. We have access to a wide
range
> of goods and services for onsumption; our industries produce and employ
> cutting-edge technologies; and the opportunities created by these
> technologies have attracted capital inflows from abroad.
>     These capital inflows, in turn, have reduced the costs of building our
> country's capital stock and added to the productivity of our workers. It
> would be a tragedy if progress towards greater openess were stopped or
> reversed...
>     Terrorism poses a challenge to the remarkable record of globalisation.
A
> global society reflects an ever more open economic environment in which
> participants are free to engage in commerce and finance wherever in thw
> world the possibilities of increased value added arise. It fosters ever
> greater cross-border contact and further exploitation of the values of
> specialisation but on a global scale.
>     Fear of terrorist acts, however, has the potential to induce
> disengagement from activities, both domestic and cross-border. If we allow
> terrorism to undermine our freedom of action, we could reverse at least
part
> of the palpable gains achieved by postwar globalisation. It is incumbent
> upon us not to allow that to happen...
>     Globalisation, admittedly, is an exceptionally abstract concept to
> convey to the general public. Economists can document the analytic ties of
> trade to growth and standards of living.
>     A far greater challenge for us has been, and will continue to be,
making
> clear that globalisation is an endeavour that can spread worldwide the
> values of freedom and civil contact - the antithesis of terrorism.
>
> ------
>
> I wonder what he means by "further exploitation of the values of
> specialisation"?
> Personally, I don't think the wolf in granny's bed of globalisation is
that
> different from terrorism.
>