-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
>Yes, that and lack of capital and lack of access to technology, and
>the world's structural economic hierarchy. Besides the smell of
>indentured servitude, Nathan's scheme concedes that the hierarchy is
>just something to be adapted to.
ummm...open borders is not exactly adaption nor is it any form of indentured servitude. Why Doug thinks maintaining the INS at the border is progressive is beyond me.
The love of underpopulated farmland powered by cheap oil, eroding topsoil and poisonous pesticides is much more of an "adaption."
The point is that Michael's proposals make far more sense for long-term economic and environmental prosperity than the pro-pesticide contingent. It is also worth noting that the reason technology is not used in many parts of the world, the density of farm workers is TOO HIGH, so there is an overuse of manual labor. The migration of farm labor from those areas to the US and other high-capital farm areas would no doubt benefit both farm systems.
There is no doubt a happy medium of application of farm technology for maximum productivity of farm labor with a minimum of enviro-destroying results. My bias is probably more technology than Michael conceives of it, but that is not based on a high knowledge base on my part. But what I do know are the alarming permanent losses of topsoil and poisoning of both the land and current workers due to heavy pesticide use. So there is little doubt we are far from the happy medium right now.
--Nathan Newman