[lbo-talk] Superprofits

[Michael Dawson -PSU]

Yes, Jared Diamond's book is marvelous.  His next one, on the decline of
civilizations will be just as good.

Unfortunately for your beliefs, Diamond confirms the dependency thesis, not
your independency belief.  The advantages luck granted Europeans were used
for plunder and slavery and wealth extraction from the "new world."  This
greatly magnified the disadvantages of what consequently became the Third
World and the advantages of the First World.  The fact that Potosi's silver
was carted off to Europe, and Potosi's laborers were enslaved and entombed
in her mines, along with later repetitions of the same basic
capital-draining process, explains a large part of the results in both
worlds.

Astounding you could read Diamond and miss out on the fact that this is
precisely his argument!  The Third World has always been trapped in an
unfair system bequeathed to the G7 elites by chance, and enforced by their
greed and brutality.

Diamond's thesis on civilizations' decline is that out-of-touch and
unchecked ruling classes are the key social determinant of that process.
How sad to hear folks on this board spouting one of the core ideologies of
our unchecked overclass --  "Third World, heal thyself!"