"Capitalism has always produced poverty alongside wealth, and capitalism has from the first been an international and internationalizing system--so it makes little sense to try to isolate the "global" aspect as the major culprit in the production of inequality. "
WS: I think that is slightly misleading. A more accurate statement is "Capitalism has always produced wealth, but so far has failed to distribute that wealth equitably. It was a tide that lifted some of the boats while leaving other to their own fate. As a result, the pockets of modernity and high living standards coexists alongside was stretches of poverty and misery. Capitalism did not create them, as they are the relics of pre-capitalist relations of production and social institutions, but neither did it use its vast productive potential to lift these places out of their poverty and misery. This is a sin of the omission rather than that of commission."
Doug in the quoted article: "Along those lines, there's an inspiring quote from Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri's Empire. The book itself is not without its problems--prolixity and abstraction to start with "
WS: That is an understatement - this book is in a great need of what C. Wright Mills called "translation." Ironically, however, if the book in question was properly translated and stripped of its annoying names dropping - it would be reduced to the length of the paragraph that you quoted from it.
In sum - an excellent, highly informative, well-written and refreshing article, Doug.
Wojtek