On Wed, 29 Oct 2003, Doug Henwood wrote:
> At the same time, countries everywhere -- including developing
> countries like China -- are struggling to reduce excess capacity.
> "We've got too many steel plants in the world, too many auto
> companies," says Bill Belchere, chief economist for Asia at J.P.
> Morgan Chase in Hong Kong. "There's going to be a further shakeout as
> we move forward."
I know I should just take statements like this for granted, but I just can't wrap my head around this: about 1/2 of the world's population lives on a few dollars a day, and the problem is -- excess capacity? Color me utopian, but imagine what we could accomplish if we directed that "excess capacity" to meeting human needs! --The global problem seems to be the efficient and effective distibution of goods and services, not our capacity (or lack of capacity) for producing necessary goods and services. (So much for the glorious efficiency of the Market!)
Miles