World Bank memos

[Brad De Long]

>Dear Doug and the LBOers,
>
>Tom Kruse pretty much lays out in his description of a Bolivian glass factory
>the idea that I was trying to get across in an earlier post on the same
>subject.
>
>The factory that Tom describes has no pollution control and this is reflected
>in both the unsafe conditions and the general environment of the site.  Worker
>safety and health are nonexistent.  I'd be willing to bet that their are more
>deadly conditions present than Tom's tour picked up on---things that we know
>about in this country that they are ignorant of in Bolivia.  Ignorance can be
>bliss, it also can kill you.

Yes. That's the big and powerful argument against Enzo's point: the workers
aren't qualified to judge the risks of going to work in the dark satanic
mills, the bosses aren't likely to tell them, and the executive of the
modern state... is a committee for managing the affairs of the bourgeoisie.

Brad DeLong

Note to Tom Kruse: They have to be *dark* satanic mills, not just satanic
mills. *Dark* is important to the concept, both physically (grime, soot,
and smoke) and morally...