James Boswell
In my book, The Pathology of the US Economy, I wrote about how I was witnessing the United States following when I called "The Haitian Road to Development." What I meant was an economic strategy based on pushing wages down to make the economy productive.
Over the last two days, I have been thinking about the Haitian Road to Development more broadly. We lost our power. I don't mean political power; I mean electricity that powers our house. Without electricity, the computer was dead. Reading was possible only during particular hours. We were dependent upon a corporation that has been attempting to maximize profits by cutting back on maintenance.
Yesterday I had to ride my bike about 12 miles in a heavy rainstorm with winds up to 60 miles an hour. The rains stung my face. At times, I had to dismount and walk the bicycle to avoid getting pushed into oncoming cars.
Finding myself at the mercy of the elements, for brief moments, I would think about my minor difficulties and inconveniences for brief moments, then imagining how conditions in Haiti were infinitely worse. Everybody who knows anything about Haiti realizes the way that outside forces (largely the United States) have crippled the public sphere. Poor people have no choice but to denude hillsides for charcoal and build shanties that are vulnerable to the inevitable mudslides.
More at: http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/haiti-everywhere/
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Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University michael at ecst.csuchico.edu Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901 www.michaelperelman.wordpress.com