Greenspan

Must be the smartest living economist but I get nervous about the globalization thing. If globalization truly is to our benefit, is it to the benefit of of the globe? Is globalization egalitarian or elitist? Is capitalism better than colonialism? From a public health standpoint, so far, it is not. These may be growing pains, but I fear democracy without serious restraint of the giant corporations, cartels and multinational presents a challenge. World bank promotion of the industrialization of agriculture has reeked havoc with the indigenous rural farm families. They may turn to revolution and otherwise destructive money crops. We export our technology edge and jobs overseas and suffer the energy shortage associated with the insatiable appetite for fuel necessary to transport cheaply produced products. Me thinks there is a fly in the ointment.

Cultures are highly segmented. The ruthless removal of that segmentation for world trade, capitalism and democracy may have serious side effects. The Peace Core works. Maybe we should stick with that. The most serious complication I see in the short to mid run, as a result of the galloping globalization, will be a rather sudden an unanticipated shortage of oil. That crisis may serve us well. It is only with a crisis that we seem to have the resolve to solve major problems. We have the technical capacity to reduce our oil consumption to the level that we produce now, but the big short sited money is in the status quo.

There needs to be a realization that bigger money can grow from government's provision for essential well lubricated infrastructure. Productivity and wealth results from the exploitation of a cheap and abundant resource and giving it added value through technology and engineering. As long as we view cheap labor as that abundant exploitable resource we are stuck in an industrial age even a pre industrial age colonial mind set, a view that is just backwards. Human resource and entrepreneurial ability are our most precious factors of production. The exploitable resource needs to be energy, transportation, information, capital and education. I would go so far as to include health, the environment, and freedom from excessive government regulation and restraint. Our economy succeeds because we have most of these things in place. The priorities seem misplaced, however, and there seems to be a lack of recognition that we are in a post industrial, information age. Chasing cheap labor around the world is a throwback while robotics, artificial intelligence and a more efficient home grown energy source is free for the taking.