Re: The Independent on Wolfowitz
On Apr 12, 2007, at 12:23 PM, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
I am surprised that you wrote that, Doug. The Bank no more perpetuates the global hierarchy than, say, the markings on the
speedometer gauge control the speed of the car. The hierarchy would be
maintained even if the Bank did not exist. What determines the position in that
hierarchy is the amount of resources a country can produce, and those low on
the totem pole do not - and cannot - produce much, hence they are low on the
totem pole.China, India, Korea or Thailand are global powers not because the
Bank sez so, but because they can produce and sell a lot. What is more, if
the Banks sez something that India, China, Korea, or Thailand do not like, these countries are in a position to tell the Bank to fuck itself, and
have done so in the past.The only countries that can be bossed around by the Banks are a
handful of the poorest Third World countries that depend on loans and aid to
shore up their economies - but then anyone can boss around such
countries. As they say, beggars cannot be choosers.
The WB, like the IMF, is one of the pillars of the global order. Most
of the countries that have done well, in conventional terms, have
largely violated its advice (e.g., South Korea and China). Mexico was
its star pupil in the early 1990s, and Argentina in the late 1990s.
Both crashed. Latin American in general has largely followed WB
advice and has nothing or less than nothing to show for it. The
countries that violated its advice routinely ignored intellectual
property restrictions, repressed finance, regulated foreign commerce,
and protected domestic industries. Those that followed its advice
didn’t.
Doug