Liberal Democracy (was Robert Mundell: Genius unbound)

[Brad De Long]

>
>Euro-American-Japanese exploitation of Third World resources and labor is so
>thoroughly enmeshed in our economy that the benefits are probably
>incalculable.  Where would we be without all that cheap oil, cheap metal,
>cheap coffee, etc.?  It's not just a matter of multinational profits.  A lot
>of the profits are passed on directly to us, the consumers, in the form of
>lower prices.  And what about the billions siphoned off each year in the
>form of Third World payments on debt interest?  That would have to be added
>in as well.  I would love to see a dollar figure on how much we steal from
>the poor every year.  Europe's take could easily prove comensurate with its
>social spending.
>
>Dace

Oil ain't that cheap--and the countries that most of it comes from 
are pretty rich. Coffee's pretty cheap--but Brazil wouldn't be 
exporting any had not capitalism introduced coffee to the Americas.

The average import into America comes from a country with a GDP per 
worker level more than 70% of the U.S., and that level has been 
rising since World War II.

Imports from countries with GDP per worker levels less than half that 
of the U.S. amount to 0.9% of U.S. GDP. Even if all those goods were 
obtained by the U.S. at a price of only 1/3 their fair value, that 
still means that less than 2% of the American standard of living 
comes from exploitation of the Third World.

And debt interest from abroad is not a big contributor to U.S. 
GDP--although it is a big cause of misery in Africa and Latin America.

Brad DeLong