the global melodrama

[John K. Taber]

Louis Proyect wrote:
> 
> Brad DeLong:
> >Exports to the first world are the best way to get the purchasing power to
> >buy the industrial capital goods that embody so much modern technology--and
> >those countries that have exported and used the proceeds to boost their
> >investment rates have done much, much better than other developing
> >countries over the past half century.
> >
> >Of course, there are those developing countries that have boosted exports
> >and used the proceeds to pay for elite vacations in Davos. Those have not
> >done so well...
> 
> This is nonsense. The exports to the first world come at the expense of
> social needs in the exporting countries. Somoza threw peasants off the land
> so he and his cronies could start cattle ranches under the protective
> auspices of the Alliance for Progress. This period actually saw
> simultaneously the most rapid increase in Nicaraguan GDP in the century and
> the immiseration of the bulk of the population. The elite vacations took
> place not because the Somozas were scum like the Duvaliers, Marcoses, etc,
> but because the reward system of capitalism makes this a natural corollary.
> The notion of an enlightened bourgeoisie in Latin America is absurd.
> 
> Louis Proyect
> 
> (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)

BTW, does anybody know the real story on the recent Mexican fires?
The media implied it was traditional slash and burn farming in
southern Mexico that got out of hand due to an unusual dry
season.

But I'm cursed with a suspicious nature. Is it possible, do
you guys think, that the burning was instigated by American
agribusiness clearing a lot of land in a hurry?

But maybe not. Any comments?