Dear Mr. Coats,
I believe the idea is that if “we [were] part of a global revolution against economic empire,” then Putin wouldn’t be directing it. A national bank with the power to create credit/money for public investment is certainly vulnerable to corruption;
but how is our privately owned and controlled banking system doing? Your point still stands, but it is most persuasive only when the baseline is an imagined ideal, not our present reality. And even were this proposed national public investment bank to match
Wall Street’s impressive level of corruption, we’d at least get some public wealth creation out of the deal.
More accurate than “[t]he growth of global trade has dramatically reduced global poverty” would be to say that the current global economic system has seen some poverty reduction, but that is overwhelmingly due to the contribution from China.
The proportion of people in extreme poverty has been marginally reduced, but in absolute terms, worldwide there are more people in extreme poverty today than there were decades ago. You are no doubt familiar with the so-called elephant graph, but
look what happens when you exclude China. For an opposing view to the celebratory narrative on poverty reduction – what we hear often from the
NYT, “The” Economist, TV pundits, etc. – I recommend Jason Hickel’s
The Divide. It’s essentially just a summary of reams of important research, but it is presented
in a very readable narrative form. As with any argument, it may be wrong, but the ball is in the court of those propounding the celebratory view – and to my knowledge, they still have not offered any serious rejoinder.
All the best,
Peter
Peter Beattie
Assistant Professor; Assistant Programme Director, MSSc in Global Political Economy
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
+852 3943 9794
www.beatt.ie
Social Evolution, Political Psychology, and the Media in Democracy:
The Invisible Hand in the U.S. Marketplace of Ideas
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2019)
https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030028008
From: Salon <salon-bounces@listserve.com> On Behalf Of
Warren Coats via Salon
Sent: Friday, July 1, 2022 11:13 PM
To: Gerald Belsky <gbelsky@yahoo.com>
Cc: Chas Freeman <salon@listserve.com>
Subject: Re: [Salon] Call for an Ad-Hoc Committee for a New Bretton Woods - Thu, 30 Jun 2022 05:39:03 -0700 (PDT)
Dear Mr. Belsky,
Yes, we do need to resist America’s bullying and empire tendencies. But your approach goes in the wrong directions (e.g. a National Bank that controls credit is a time tested receipt for corruption). The growth of global trade has dramatically
reduced global poverty. Reshoring-buy American would bring that to an end without improving our own economy—quite the opposite. You note that “ a new economic order, based on development and
justice, is already being discussed among Russia, China, India, and the "BRICS-Plus" nations.” You seem to suggest that we should follow such a centralized and politically driven model. I don’t want Putin direction my economy or my individual life. Such people
raise to the top of such systems.
What is "screaming nuts" about establishing a New Bretton Woods economic system, when the current Trans-Atlantic financial system is hopelessly bankrupt?
The system will collapse either through a hyperinflationary blowout or a deflationary collapse as the central banks raise interest rates, causing mass bankruptcies. Something
new is needed, especially if we are concerned with the "General Welfare", not protecting the speculative bubble of a relatively few billionaires. In addition, the question of a new economic order, based on development and justice, is already being discussed
among Russia, China, India, and the "BRICS-Plus" nations. In so far, as the legacy of America, going back to the Declaration of Independence, is of an anti-imperial nature, shouldn't we be part of a global revolution against economic empire, instead of acting
like the British Empire?
Also, in so far as this question of a new just economic system that works for all nations, ourselves included, is directly related to the question of stopping the drive toward
global nuclear war, I would urge you to watch the Schiller Institute Conference, Sun., July 3, "This July 4, Declare a New Bretton Woods": This
July 4, Declare for A New Bretton Woods!! | The Schiller Institute
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This July 4, Declare for A New Bretton Woods!! | The Schiller Institute
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