GLOBALIZE THIS!

Friday, March 18, 2005

WHERE THE WMDs REALLY ARE

Oh good. As it turns out, our "Coalition of the Willing" ally Ukraine was selling mid-range nuclear missiles to China and to our sworn "Axis of Evil" enemy, Iran. The FT.com has the story.

Way to make us safer, George.

¶ 3/18/2005 10:52:55 AM

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WEIGH IN ON WOLFOWITZ

Over at FT.com's online poll.

Somehow, I put more trust in FT readers weighing in on the issue than those responding to the web poll CNN.com ran on Wolfowitz the other day.

¶ 3/18/2005 09:39:00 AM

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KOOL AID AND THE PATHOLOGY OF GLOBALMANIA

The neoliberal theology runs deep, very deep, in our social and scientific fabric, afflicting multitudes with the pathology of globalmania. Take Paul Krugman. Of course, Krugman has built a career on cheerleading for the neoliberal globalization agenda: academic pulications, poster-session addresses, consultancies, speaker's bureau lectures, and so forth. Everyone wants to pay money to hear someone tell them what they already believe.

But Krugman is ultimately a scientist (okay, a social scientist), and as a scientist he cannot sit idle in the face of mounting evidence that the policies for which he has been proselytizing don't seem to be working (this is the big point that separates him from a Cato "economist". In the real world, almost all countries in the world have drank the Kool Aid that Krugman and countless others with even more zeal have been shilling. The result? More countries in financial crisis, more inequality, more poverty, less economic growth. Take two of these and don't call us when your economy falls into ruin. That's not to say that some economists have tried to show that in fact the neoliberal policy agenda has been good for developing countries, it's just that to do so they must employ heroically unrealistic and statistically indefensible methods to make the case. In fact, the only countries that are actually performing well, economically speaking, are those who have resisted the siren song of the globalmaniacs. Namely, China, India, and a handful of others mostly in East and Southeast Asia who for one reason or another have been able to resist downing the purple liquid.

Which brings us to Krugman's column this morning in the NYT. In the first few column inches, Krugman lambasts Bush's World Bank President pick, Paul Wolfowitz, for his ideological embrace of the neoliberal agenda in reconstructing Iraq--in other words, for mixing and serving up an Iraq sized pitcher of Kool Aid.

Here is what Krugman has to say about the neoliberal agenda:

Through much of the 1990's, they [developing countries--ed.] bought into the "Washington consensus" - which we should note came from Clinton administration officials as well as from Wall Street economists and conservative think tanks - which said that privatization, deregulation and free trade would lead to economic takeoff. Instead, growth remained sluggish, inequality increased, and the region was struck by a series of economic crises.

The real risk of Wolfowitz though, according to Krugman, is that his style risks souring developing countries such that they retreat from such economic reforms:

The backlash has reached our closest neighbor. Mexico's current president, Vicente Fox, a former Coca-Cola executive, is a firm believer in free markets. But his administration is widely considered a failure. Meanwhile, Mexico City's leftist mayor, Manuel López Obrador, has become immensely popular. And his populist rhetoric has raised fears that if he becomes president he will roll back the free-market and free-trade policies of the past two decades.

In the very next breath after castigating the record of neoliberalism--the brand of economic (and political) policies Wolfowitz will foist upon developing countries from his would-be World Bank perch--Krugman laments and fears that countries will forsake these very same policies. Yes, this globalmania is an alarming pathology, relegating those it afflicts to a state utter oblivion to their own logical inconsistencies and rendering them deaf to cognitive dissonance.

¶ 3/18/2005 09:28:00 AM

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Wednesday, March 16, 2005

GASP! A NEOCON

What to say about Bush's selection of neocon stalwart and uber-jingoist Paul Wolfowitz to head the World Bank? Yes, just more in a long record of disdain for the multilateral cooperation.

Leave aside for a minute that Wolfowitz's academic experience is in international relations and security--not economic, social, or political development--and that his professional experience is whispering in politician(s)'s ears--not in running large bureaucracies. Wolfowitz's only experience with development is Iraq (aside from being the front man for US policy propping up a military junta in Indonesia). Not a real promising track record in nation building.

A few words of advice for Prof. Wolfowitz, should the World Bank executive board approve his selection: You can't build stable, sustainable societies by blowing shit up.

In the meantime, prepare the pies.

UPDATE: Jim Vallette of the Institute for Policy Studies answers the rhetorical question, "Why Wolfowitz?":

The United States fears democracy and reform at the Bank. In a
confidential June 2003 note to the World Bank board, then-Executive
Director for the United States Carole Brookins wrote a terse rebuttal.
“Giving population and other factors a weight in voting strength would
create a radically different, less desirable and non-financial structure
for the Bank,” she said.

Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are now striking back with another
demonstration of “shock and awe,” by nominating Paul Wolfowitz, a primary
architect of the Iraq invasion and the botched reconstruction efforts
thereafter. Wolfowitz must be approved by the World Bank’s executive board
to get the job. For the sake of the world’s poor, let’s hope that the
board rebuffs this nomination.

Over decades of political work, Wolfowitz and longtime buddies Donald
Rumsfeld and Cheney have mastered the art of packaging raw geopolitical
and corporate objectives into initiatives named otherwise. Strategic oil
fields have preoccupied them in and out of office.

It is almost a natural progression for the Bush/Cheney administration to
want someone this steeped in blood and oil in charge of the World Bank. He
was a weapon of mass deception for corporate quests in Iraq. At the Bank,
he can serve the same function under the cloak of poverty alleviation.

More here.

¶ 3/16/2005 08:19:00 PM

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ADS

You may have noticed the newly added Google ads on my sidebar. Am I a sell out? Hell yes. How much have I made so far? A whopping $0.26. Woohoo. At this rate, I'll be able to retire when Iraq is a stable, thriving democracy. But hey, why not click on some of the ads? It doesn't cost you anything. And you don't even have to read the other websites. Everyone's a winner.

¶ 3/16/2005 07:30:00 PM

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