[lit-ideas] Re: The SCUD in a Box Scenario
- From: "Andreas Ramos" <andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 23:42:36 -0800
I don't understand your comment. Local politics? Do you mean U.S. politics? Are you
saying U.S. Politics do not matter? I'm assuming you have some evidence for your
assertions, and I'd like to see the evidence.
Ever heard of the WTO?
When Bush pounded on his pulpit and said he would never let no stinking European decide US
policy, well, he was just talking to the little people. Because he knows perfectly well that
the USA signed the WTO, he supports the WTO, the GOP strongly supports the WTO, and his
donors are very strongly (that's Very Strongly) in favor of the WTO.
Check out the WTO. Read those tedious little clauses. Congress can pass all the laws it
likes, but if a Made-in-America All-American law gets in the way of a company in Malaysia or
(Goddess forbid!) France, that foreign company simply files with the WTO court. Bingo, the
American law is cancelled, deleted, made inoperative, gone, nullified.
The law-making power of the US Congress is under the WTO. The US gave up its sovereignty to
the WTO.
That, of course, will come as a surprise to many Americans. Especially after all the
assurances of Mr. Bush. But it's true. And it works. Bush tried to secure votes in Ohio by
passing a special tariff on steel (increase the tax on imported steel, thus making US steel
cheaper, thus securing jobs for Americans). But the WTO overrode his tariff. Cancelled,
deleted, etc, so forth, and so on.
All those NeoCon books never told you this, did they? All those books that talk stirringly
about the upcoming Clash of Nations; they don't quite mention this, do they?
Look, globalization is way bigger than any country, even the USA or even China. It's the
whole planet. Why, even the Chinese (that's the ChiComs, Eric) want to join the WTO and
cancel their own sovereignty. What use is a red flag? They know where the butter is on the
bread; get in the WTO and you're part of the global economy. Big Bucks. Any rinky-dink
dictator tries to block your products from making a fair and honest profit, well, the WTO's
judges will take care of that.
But there's much more to this than the WTO. Globalization as an economic infrastructure
means that economic interests are globalized, i.e., not local. An investor in Bombay has his
lousy $600 million in an investment fund in Berlin, which puts part of it into a company in
Silicon Valley, which partners with a company in Beijing to work on a project in London. The
team meets on a conference call every Monday at 9p California time / 10:30a Bangalore time.
Now, Lawrence, think about this: what is their group identity? Are they citizens of their
respective states and cities? The fellow from Malaysia who lives in Bombay? Is he a
Bombayian? The Chilean who lives in Berlin? Is she a jelly donut? Are they "local citizens
of their local cities"?
Or are they part of a group that is working together on a project, and they all know each
other by first names, and none of them are speaking their first language?
Oh, yes, those who are underemployed, unemployed, and so on, yes, they indeed often see
themselves as a citizen of Alabama or Detroit and so on, because their local identity is
defined by economics, and for them, their economics is local economics. They work in a donut
shop on 3rd Street, they hang out in a 7-11 on MLK Drive.
Global identities exist for precisely the same reason that local identities exist: it's
economics. If the economics is local, then they have local identities and local politics.
And if the economics are globalized, then... local politics don't exist anymore. That's
right: US politics don't matter anymore.
That's why, even tho' Bush is a dumb squirrel, it doesn't really matter. Most of us continue
to live our lives and work, because our economics isn't based on his games. We get our polo
shirts from China and our iPods from Malaysia and our checks from an accounting house in
Indonesia. The WTO protects us (all of us, Indians, Malaysians, Chinese, Americans, etc.)
from any particular local state's mismanagement.
Put down those thrillers about SCUDs-in-a-Box and consider the implications on yourself of a
globalized network society. Totallly changes the picture, doesn't it? No more Leftist pinkos
out to get you. All of those things you warn us about... they just kinda don't matter
anymore, do they, because they don't have an economic basis.
yrs,
andreas
www.andreas.com
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