Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 22:33:13 -0500 (EST)
From: "Liam R.Flynn" <trinity-AT-hot-shot.com>
Subject: M-G: South Korea & Mexico an economic comparison


> By Deirdre Griswold Once again the International Monetary Fund and
> the World Bank have stepped into the breach. These charitable
> organizations, which exist only to help the unfortunate and
> misguided, will put up $55 billion=97or is it $65 billion, or $75
> billion?=97to rescue another wounded tiger from financial collapse.
> 
> Or so the story goes.
> 
> This time the rescuee is south Korea. Last month it was Thailand and
>  Indonesia. For some mysterious reason, these Asian countries all
> seem to have mismanaged their affairs at the same time. The Western
> business magazines sang the praises of these countries=92 economies
> earlier this year. Now all agree that they shouldn=92t have expanded
> so quickly. Shouldn=92t have borrowed so much money when it was
> dangled under their noses. Shouldn=92t have tried to shore up their
> currencies when international speculators began tearing them down.
> 
> Poison pills from money doctors Whatever the causes, there can be no
> question about the cure. The money doctors have been called in. "Tsk,
>  tsk," they say. "Give the patient two doses of short-term loans at
> super-high interest rates. "Restructure industry and the banks. Cut
> out job guarantees and lay off thousands of workers. And don=92t call
> me in the morning." What can this mysterious malady be? And will the
> treatment kill the patient? Unfortunately, the treatment really isn=92t
>  meant for the patient. Like expensive quack medicine, it=92s meant to
>  relieve the doctors=92 symptoms. For the doctors suffer from an acute
>  case of capitalist greed=97brought on not only by high living but by
> the simultaneous swelling of their productive assets and shrinking
> of their marketing base. An uncomfortable position to be in.
> 
> This disease should be familiar by now. It broke out a few years ago
>  in Mexico=97or rather, in the parasitic financial institutions that
> had attached their suckers to Mexico. It led to a similar "bailout"
> arrangement by the imperialist bankers, especially from the United
> States.
> 
> How has that worked? The billions of dollars Mexico borrowed from the
>  United States were paid back early, with interest. In fact, in 1996
>  Mexico paid out $13.5 billion just in interest on its foreign debt.
>  The same year, its total petroleum exports equaled only $11.6
> billion, according to the Bank of Mexico.
> 
> So the Wall Street bankers are very, very happy. They got their fix.
> 
> For the Mexican people, it=92s another story. They=92re still groaning
> under a monstrous debt burden. As of last year, the public debt was
> almost $100 billion.
> 
> Productivity up, wages down In 1996, the productivity of Mexican
> workers rose by 8.5 percent. But their wages fell by 10.9 percent.
> 
> More than 6.7 million Mexican workers earn less than $4 a day=97the
> minimum wage. In terms of purchasing power, Mexican workers=92 wages
> have fallen 49.4 percent since 1994, according to the Businessmen=92s
> Coordinating Council.
> 
> That was the year Mexico was forced to devalue its currency=97just as
> many of the Asian countries must do today. According to the Mexican
> Institute of Statistics, from December 1994 to August of this year,
> salaries paid to manufacturing workers fell by 44.8 percent, while
> productivity rose by 20.4 percent.
> 
> In the same period, prices went up 176.7 percent.
> 
> The misery associated with these economic statistics cannot be so
> easily measured.
> 
> This disastrous decline in the living standard of working people in
> Mexico is not the result of a flood or earthquake=97although when a
> hurricane did strike the Pacific resort of Acapulco earlier this
> year, poor people were dying for lack of clean drinking water long
> after the tourist areas had been fixed up. The economic disaster
> comes entirely from U.S. imperialism=92s unrelenting drive to squeeze
> Mexico for every cent of profit.
> 
> Is this now the future for much of Asia? Are those who were
> exploited for centuries under colonialism now to be told they will
> have to work forever at the lowest wages to pay back the "debt" they
>  owe their imperialist benefactors? The post-war world was supposed
> to be different. Investment from the imperialist countries was
> supposed to bring development, not just more intensive exploitation.
>  The countries that played ball with imperialism would be rewarded,
> they were told. Only those that had had socialist revolutions would
> suffer for it.
> 
> Nowhere was this more true than on the Korean peninsula. How many
> hundreds of billions of dollars has the United States spent keeping
> Korea divided and the socialist north under a blockade? Millions of
> families were separated because of the U.S. military occupation.
> Those in the north have had to live with the constant threat of a
> new war with the United States. That threat is intensified every
> year by belligerent "war games" staged jointly by the Pentagon, the
> south Korean puppet regime and Japan, the former colonial ruler of
> Korea.
> 
> All this was supposedly necessary so that the south could have free
> capitalist development. There has been endless praise for the Korean
>  "miracle"=97an export-driven economy that is now the world=92s 11th
> biggest in terms of output.
> 
> No trickle down It was the sweat and blood of the workers that built
> everything. But, as Edward van Roy of the United Nations=92 Economic
> and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific admits, the wealth
> created never really trickled down. Instead, it widened the gap
> between rich and poor in south Korea=97all while the worldwide gap
> between poor developing countries and rich imperialist exploiting
> countries was also widening.
> 
> Now even the one-sided growth seems to have come to a screeching
> halt. On Dec. 1, the south Korean stock market fell to its lowest
> point in 10 years. The IMF and World Bank had teams there trying to
> strong-arm the Korean government into closing down more banks and
> letting the big imperialist financial institutions completely take
> over the reins. Many south Korean industrial combines and banks are
> on the verge of bankruptcy. The imperialist financiers will drive a
> hard bargain. Before they loan a nickel, they=92ll make sure they take
>  back 50 cents over the long run.
> 
> What this means for the working people can be seen just by looking
> across the Pacific at Mexico. But judging from their militant
> history, the workers of south Korea will not stand back and let the
> imperialists walk right over them. The class struggle there is bound
>  to grow ever more fierce.
> 
> As the effects of the capitalist economic crisis are felt in Korea
> and elsewhere in Asia, the road of socialist development will have
> to be looked at again. No matter how difficult the imperialists make
>  it for countries that try to break out of their grip, there is no
> other future for the masses of people.
> 
> - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint
> granted if source is cited. For more information contact Workers
> World, 55 W. 17 St., NY,NY 10011; via e-mail: ww-AT-workers.org. For
> subscription info send message to:info-AT-workers.org. Web: http://www.workers.o
> rg)  Copyright =a9 1997 workers.org 


                                                      Liam R.Flynn
                                                  liam-AT-stones.com
                                                       ICQ*5031073
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