Comments for TripleCrisis

Comment on Aiding Haiti: Let’s get it right this time by Rony

Rony — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:03:44 +0000

Aid should be not only food or medicine but the structures or the opportunity to overcome the current situations. They should provide the materials for constructing house or factories. so people can work can get paid and overcome their misery.

Comment on Letter from Flint, Michigan by Alejandro Nadal

Alejandro Nadal — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 01:49:01 +0000

I really liked your reference to the Flint Journal editorial in 1924. I am writing a long piece called Citizens versus Agents, a long tirade about how ethics was expelled from the discourse on society that later became “social science” (and of course, economics). But this direct reference is a jewel: one is never tired to learn how lucid capital gets in a time of euphoria. For 1924 was a great year for Fordism! Perhaps I should have a section on “Citizens versus Consumers”. Perhaps the fact that citizens lost their souls is the greatest tragedy in American history. But this leads directly to my previous point. US political elites have always relied on the capacity of American capitalism to raise living standards to justify everything in the American political establishment (from the two party system to foreign wars). What will these elites do now if the US enters into a Japanese-style decade of stagnation?

Comment on Letter from Flint, Michigan by Alejandro Nadal

Alejandro Nadal — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 01:36:01 +0000

Very well put. I would add just one thing. Flint was condemned to be disposable in the wake of a bigger movement, one of historical proportions, by which the American power establishment decided that it was time to change the pattern of income distribution: the Volcker recession was just the beginning. It was followed by the Reagan offensive against unions, etc. Dismantling a significant chunk of the US manufacturing industry was just another aspect of this process. Of course, this is when wages started to stagnate and household indebtedness began to grow in earnest. Bubbles and crises followed. So, I would put at the beginning of your list on reasons behind Flint’s collapse the huge (and unresolved) social conflict on distribution. The American right has never accepted the social pact that emerged from the Great Depression. But just how does the American right plan to justify its claim to return and remain in power after the Great Recession?

Comment on How to Build a Better Climate Policy by Les Blevins

Les Blevins — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:11:43 +0000

The Cantwell Collins bill is about right but if anything it should be increased to provide a 40% to 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2025, and my company has a technology that can empower this much more agressive approach without harm to the economy of developed or developing countries. Email lblevins@aaecorp.com for more information.

Comment on Who Pays for Agricultural Dumping? Farmers in developing countries by Tim Wise

Tim Wise — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:37:29 +0000

Kaare,

Good questions. I have only brief answers, from the field at the moment. In terms of measuring dumping internationally, the measures are poor. The WTO has no consistent and easy to apply measure of dumping, except in obvious cases in which a country is exporting at prices that are clearly below those charged domestically or to other export markets. See current EU dairy exports for a good example. The standard I use – exporting at prices below production costs – requires widely accepted and reliable data on what constitutes production costs. Some NGOs have proposed the development of such a standard, but it has not been taken up.

As for shifting production toward biofuels, be careful. Many are actually not sustainably produced, and land use can take production away from needed food production in developing countries. The key, I believe, is to shift away from overproduction in the global North by more careful government efforts to balance supply and demand, keeping prices above dumping levels, and at the same time to stimulate food production in developing countries with a focus on meeting domestic demand rather than relying so heavily on imports. New attention to public investment in smallholder food production in developing countries is very welcome.

Tim Wise

Comment on Getting Ready for Rio+20 by drain clearance

drain clearance — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:34:03 +0000

To the Blogger can I quote some of the information from this above post if credit for the post is given in a link back to your original post?

Comment on Macroeconomic Policy: The Elephant in the Room by anon

anon — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 02:36:18 +0000

Indulging macroeconomic fantasies is well and good for rich countries, but for starving nations, honestly, a pure micro approach is better because you can’t put food on the table with a naked sham.

Comment on Who Pays for Agricultural Dumping? Farmers in developing countries by Kaare

Kaare — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:24:28 +0000

Thanks for an interesting text! Two questions:

1. What can be said about the extent of agricultural dumping globally?
Are there any databases, statistics or numbers that may indicate/ give an estimate of the extent of overproduction and dumping,
and the type of products in volume and in value, as well as figures showing the consequences in different developing countries?

2. On the other hand: The newspapers often write about shortages of food and agricultural production capacity. Is it possible to turn / change the production,
away from the overproduction of food that is dumped,
and instead produce goods the world needs more of, such as biofuels?
What are the obstacles to this? Is it:
a) Lack of competitiveness: Are biofuels more expensive than oil for the consumer,
but generate lower revenue for the farmer, compared to other agricultural products? Is it possible to change this by subsidizing biofuels?
b) Inertia / friction in production and in the markets.
c) The lack of global coordination and global governance.

I Would very much appreciate a reply.
All the best
Kaare

Comment on Decentralizing Global Finance by Matt Solis

Matt Solis — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:40:12 +0000

Despite having access to the technology to help alleviate global problems like starvation and famine, world governments haven’t found a cost efficient way to work together to solve them. Although wealthier nations do send aid throughout the world it’s still difficult to ensure that the people who are suffering actually receive the help they need. Corruption is prevalent throughout the world and to some degree even in developed western nations.

Comment on U.S. Financial Reform: The end of the beginning, or simply the end? by 0ut0f0rder

0ut0f0rder — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:37:33 +0000

Although I don’t think the end of the world is coming, I’d be lying if I didn’t think the value of the US Dollars could drastically drop during in the next couple of years. This could be the equivalent of the fall of American Civilization. I hate being pessimistic but it seems foolish to not think about it. And it isn’t just the American economy, but Europe’s and Asia’s economies as well. For example, when Greece’s economy collapsed in May 2010 it brought down the value of the Euro throughout Europe. It was only because of England buying 1 billion dollars worth of Euro bonds that the damage done to the European economy was reduced. Rebecca Costa discusses in her new book “The Watchman’s Rattle” how human insight is the key to solving the complex problems and recognizing which human behaviors actually prevent optimum decisions from being made. It might be a problem with no solution, but doing nothing is definitely not an option.