> > Who got rich? And, on what basis? "East Asia"... ??
>
> Yep. The fastest economic growth rates of any economic zone on the planet,
> plus remarkably equitable distribution of aforesaid growth in Japan,
> Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, etc.
Measuring the relation b/n growth rates and distribution isn't something that can or should be done on a country by country basis in Asia. It's not really plausible to omit the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia ... when considering who got rich, on what basis, and so on.
> But if we're going to change the
> world-system, we've got to understand this basic fact: East Asia is a net
> creditor to the US, to the tune of a trillion bucks. See
> http://www.mof.go.jp/english/e1c018.htm for the gory details.
This I've not disputed, being a fan of your constant mumbling about the Yen and Euro as you know. But that fact doesn't entice me into playing cheerleader for emergent hegemons; it just means pondering what the likely horizon of class struggles are going to be in the near future, and in many cases already is.
> It would criticize what exists, of course. But what exists in East Asia
> and Central Europe ain't Wall Street-style rentier madness. Maybe some
> day far in the future this might happen, but right now these zones are
> characterized by the developmental state in terms of form, and keiretsu
> capitalism in terms of content. Weird as it sounds, the EU really is a
> giant humongous developmental state, with its very own financing arm (the
> EIB, at http://www.eib.org).
I've never thought it was wierd, right? So, yes, and this is my point; which is why I asked you which other country in the world exhibits a 'Wall St rentier madness' such as the US? The EU doesn't, Japan doesn't, not even Australia does... Not just now, but also not before. Your point of view is, to not put too fine a point on it, redundant by your own admission; and historically partial by my account, especially as it turns on the question of the relation between states and markets.
Like others, I still can't quite understand why you've abandoned Adorno in this instance; but perhaps that's a longer discussion.
Thanks for the links, esp the EIB's.
Angela _________