> >So now the left tries to keep the developing economies of the world as poor
> >as possible--lest they pollute?
>
> Speaking for this leftist, I think it'd be far better if the human and
> physical resources of the so-called Third World were devoted first to
> feeding, clothing, housing, and educating Third Worlders, rather than
> competing to serve foreign markets. I'm not arguing for autarky by any
> means, but export orientation is a colonial economic strategy. It turns my
> stomach to read the propaganda from the World Bank saying that comparative
> advantage of the poor is their labor.
Don't forget their capacity to absorb First World pollutants!
Say, if Monsanto could clone a human gene line for pollution-resistence... Pollution-ready impoverished workers could make a smooth transition from extractive to absorbative technologies. The sweatshop blip would hardly be noticeable on the world-historical timescale.
-- Paul Rosenberg Reason and Democracy rad at gte.net
"Let's put the information BACK into the information age!"