[lbo-talk] martin wolf and positive sum economies

Jeffrey Fisher jeff.jfisher at gmail.com
Fri Dec 21 10:56:11 PST 2007


hola, all. haven't been dropping in on you for a while, but i feel another surge, so to speak, of lbo-talk participation coming on . . . at the moment, i'm curious what people think, especially doug and the economicalist types, of wolf's FT column a couple of days ago. i've never been a fan of wolf's, as much as i like the FT. but here i can't quite decide whether he's not saying very much at all, or whether it's something important. he's certainly not arguing for a socialist utopia, but maybe in a way he is, even if he doesn't know it.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0447f562-ad85-11dc-9386-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

http://tinyurl.com/3ydokw

cheating and jumping to the end:

---

The response of many, notably environmentalists and people with socialist leanings, is to welcome such conflicts. These, they believe, are the birth-pangs of a just global society. I strongly disagree. It is far more likely to be a step towards a world characterised by catastrophic conflict and brutal repression. This is why I sympathise with the hostile response of classical liberals and libertarians to the very notion of such limits, since they view them as the death-knell of any hopes for domestic freedom and peaceful foreign relations.

The optimists believe that economic growth can and will continue. The pessimists believe either that it will not do so or that it must not if we are to avoid the destruction of the environment. I think we have to try to marry what makes sense in these opposing visions. It is vital for hopes of peace and freedom that we sustain the positive-sum world economy. But it is no less vital to tackle the environmental and resource challenges the economy has thrown up. This is going to be hard. The condition for success is successful investment in human ingenuity. Without it, dark days will come. That has never been truer than it is today.

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he's clearly talking to the wrong socialists. maybe that's the problem.

j

--

"Among medieval and modern philosophers, anxious to establish the religious significance of God, an unfortunate habit has prevailed of paying to Him metaphysical compliments."

- Whitehead

http://brainmortgage.blogspot.com/



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