File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1997/marxism-international.9712, message 78


Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 17:39:06 -0800 (PST)
From: Dennis R Redmond <dredmond-AT-gladstone.uoregon.edu>
Subject: M-I: Re: Global Warming


On Fri, 5 Dec 1997, James Heartfield wrote:

> At Kyoto, you favour the programme of those European powers, who, having
> fallen behind the US and Japan in growth terms are trying to achieve by
> regulation what they cannot achieve economically, the restriction of
> their competitors industrial advantage. 

Oh really? Then why do OECD statistics show that, per capita, growth in
Japan and Germany from 1989-96 is significantly greater than in the US
(on an index of 1989=100, Japanese GDP is now 117 or so, German GDP is at
116, and US GDP is at 108). This is before currency appreciation, mind
you. Japan and Germany may seem kind of sluggish right now, but that's
only because they're capital equipment producers, i.e. they're the last to
go into a recession, and the last to come out of it. Their growth was also
slowed down a bit in 1995-96 by the over-appreciation of their currencies
vis-a-vis the dollar, something which also gave an artificial boost to US
businesses. The Asian slowdown may erase Japan's lead over Germany,
which has been recovering strongly, along with the entire European
Continent, as of late, but there's no question the long-term decline of
the US has continued during the depressionary Nineties. 

-- Dennis



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