“We will be fine; America not so much" - The Davos World Elite meeting

[Ichingcarpenter]

That the global economy is developing a global ruling class should come as no shock. All markets generate economic class differences. In stable, self-contained national economies, where capital and labor need each other, political bargaining produces a social contract that allows enough wealth to trickle down from the top to keep the majority loyal. "What's good for General Motors is good for America," Dwight Eisenhower's Defense Secretary famously said in the 1950s. The United Auto Workers agreed, which at the time seemed to toss the notion of class warfare into the dustbin of history.


Globalization and the New Nationalism
Posted on April 29th, 2008 by Leon Hadar

When Larry Summers, one of Bill Clinton’s leading economic aides during the roaring 1990’s and a big cheerleader for globalization, is starting to sound like Pat Buchanan or Samuel Huntington, one needs to pay attention. In a recent piece in the FT he warns that:

…growth in the global economy encourages the development of stateless elites whose allegiance is to global economic success and their own prosperity rather than the interests of the nation where they are headquartered. As one prominent chief executive put it in Davos this year: “We will be fine however America does but I hope for its sake that it will cut taxes and reduce regulation and put more pressure on young people to study in the ways that are necessary for it to be able to keep competing successfully.”

But Summers is worried that in a “world where Americans can legitimately doubt whether the success of the global economy is good for them, it will be increasingly difficult to mobilise support for economic internationalism.”

Since the end of the second world war, American economic policy has supported an integrated global economy, stimulating development in poor countries, particularly in Asia, at unprecedented rates. Yet America’s commitment to internationalist economic policy is ever more in doubt. Even before the significant increases in unemployment likely in the months ahead, the indicators are all disturbing. Presidential candidates attack the North American Free Trade Agreement. The Colombian free trade agreement languishes. There are increasing attacks on foreign investment in the US, not to mention growing support for restrictive immigration policies.

http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2008/04/29/globalization-and-the-new-nationalism/



The Party of Davos
By Jeff Faux


The world's movers and shakers are convening once again in January at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, the posh ski resort nestled in the Swiss Alps. Attendance is invitation-only, enforced by police barricades, razor wire and the latest high-tech military hardware to guard against terrorists, protesters and curious local citizens.


Some 2,000 people will show up to discuss the world's problems as defined by those who own and manage the great global concentrations of wealth (Microsoft, Citigroup, Siemens, Nestlé, Nomura Holdings, Saudi Basic Industries, etc.). Their guests include prominent political leaders, international bureaucrats, academics, consultants and media pundits--with a few NGO and labor union officials sprinkled along the edges to demonstrate diversity.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/faux

[Ichingcarpenter]

1. These two articles give a sobering wake up call to what

and who control what, and that they don't really give a shit about
your country.

[gateley]

3. True. They care about profit and power. Nothing more. nt

[bonito]

2. K&R n/t

[annabanana]

4. Corporations are amoral and have no national allegiance.

They no longer need countries. Nations are irrelevant at best and a restrictive nuisance at worst.

[izquierdista]

7. Au contraire

How are they going to keep their wealth out of the hands of the masses unless they have countries to squabble amongst each other and keep the populace down? Corporations need countries like a bathroom needs toilet paper.

[SoCalDem]

5. What else would we expect?

We took an 8-year-long "break" from the rest of the world.. They are not waiting with bated breath, for us to return.

Globalization has had unexpected (really?) consequences.. The other countries of the world have decided that they CAN manage without our interference....and they can manage BETTER without us.

China negotiates quite easily with our South American neighbors, African countries have no problem doing business with the EU or Asian countries..

India has no problem getting business from "our" companies, while sticking it to the workers of the US..

We gave away the farm...bit by bit..and succeeded in pissing off the rest of the world...so should we really be surprised that they have all "moved on".. They no longer "need" us..and since we are now broke, and seem to be producing ignorant people at a rate that's staggering, why should they even bother with us?..

Former third-world countries are busily educating their young, as we try everything possible to CUT funding to education...so is it any surprise that most kids graduate with little more knowledge than what's needed to operate a slurpy machine at a 7-11?

We did it to ourselves..

[annabanana]

8. Actually, they are buying up our assets at fire-sale prices.

We will have precious little left by the time the dollar goes back up.

[wildbilln864]

6. k&r! nt

[alfredo]

9. Thomas Jefferson tried to warn us.

[BeHereNow]

10. I see the usual suspects are all replying to this thread...

You DO realize we are the small minority on DU, don't you?

Meanwhile in GDP... matters of true importance are being discussed
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5801090

BHN:sarcasm:

[Elspeth]

11. "stateless elites whose allegiance is to global economic success and their own prosperity" OR

as Scott Ritter said, "They are not Americans."

[warren pease]

12. So, the answer is further reduction in social services, if that's even possible, along with...

... diminished oversight of corporate treachery and thievery, if that's even possible. I doubt it, given the recent firing of an EPA regional administrator because she tried to enforce actual environmental regulations. Dow Chemical, violators of various bans against dumping dioxin indiscriminately, bitched to their pals, the political appointees who run the EPA and whose job it is to eliminate enforcement of all environmental protections so industry can do everything on the cheap. The problems, as they say, were ironed out.

And let's be sure to educate them in either the sciences of production or the science of applying the exact proper temperature to a vat of cooking oil so those fries come out just right.

At least, I think that's what this quote means, when translated into our native tongue:

“We will be fine however America does but I hope for its sake that it will cut taxes and reduce regulation and put more pressure on young people to study in the ways that are necessary for it to be able to keep competing successfully.”

We absolutely must remove the hands of these elite bastards from the levers of power or we are really and truly fucked beyond imagination. Their idea of a livable world is one populated by maybe a million of them and a servant/slave class to take care of their every want and need.

These people are so completely alien to the other 99.99 percent of humans on the planet that the elites might as well be a separate and hostile species -- more like invasive weeds than human beings.

It's not really an overstatement to say that, like any invasive species that takes over and destroys natural habitats, they need to be uprooted and purged from the environment.

We don't need kings and tyrants; we don't need fascists and right wing dictators; and we definitely don't need an international moneyed caste of elites deciding how things are going to be for the rest of us poor slobs.

They're making their own case for extinction and it seems only reasonable to take them up on it.


wp

[AdHocSolver]

13. Corporate control of our economy brought us this mess. Reversing their policies will save us.

Bring jobs, especially manufacturing jobs, back to American soil using American labor. Then, we can eliminate the debt used to import almost all of our goods. To do this we need exactly opposite of what the corporations promote. That is, we need import quotas, customs duties, and safety and environmental regulations imposed on all goods sold in this country. This will give companies who want to manufacture goods in this country a chance to compete with the multinational corporations who use cheap foreign labor.

Reducing the trade deficit will boost the value of the dollar, whose value is declining only because of the horrendous debt caused by the trade deficit. Moreover, working Americans pay income taxes, which means that they fill government coffers so that we can reduce the federal deficit by bringing jobs back to America.

The corporate mantra about "free trade", "cutting taxes", "reducing regulations" has not only NOT benefitted the people, it has produced the economic problems, such as deficits, lost jobs, and inflation, as well as broken infrastructure, pollution, global climate change, and sparked the terrorism and wars we observe around the world.

The people have to be enlightened to the economic realities. For example, "free trade" is an idiot phrase that describes nothing. It is supposed to inspire positive feelings because it contains the word "free", just as in "free will", or "freedom". There is nothing "free" about "free trade". It refers to restrictive agreements such as WTO, NAFTA, the IMF, et al designed to control and RESTRICT commerce for the exclusive benefit and profit of the corporations who signed on to it. The economic stranglehold these corporations have on the world's economy makes the Roman Empire look like the epitome of laissez faire.

These corporations are run by people whose greed, corruption, and viciousness, not to mention ingrained stupidity, preclude them from ever reaching a level of enlightened self-interest that would keep them from plunging the world into chaos. Most wars, including WWII, were started by people of the same mental ilk (if not belonging to the same families).

The only way to save this country (if not the planet) is by undoing and reversing these economic policies and trade agreements. The only way this has a chance of occurring is if we get a Democratic president and a Democratic majority in Congress (remember FDR and the New Deal?). Hopefully, we won't also require another depression like in the 1930's.