story372

I have read a recent article in The Globe and Mail, and I am appalled at the laissez fair philosophy of Gordon Nixon, president and chief operating officer with the Royal Bank of Canada. As a banker, Nixon has no other conventional vested interest but to protect his assets by recognizing that "GLOBALIZATION is irreversible."

Nixon acknowledges that Canada's economic productivity has been decreasing with respect to the United States and states that

"actions need to be taken that will enable Canada to compete more effectively, to maintain a strong economy, to enhance its standard of living and to afford the government programs that reflect the values of Canadians... Whatever the particular solutions may be -- more investment in research and development, greater risk taking, more flexible regulation, new tax policies, new competition rules or government subsidies -- I hope Canadians will appreciate the need for change if our companies are to enjoy the flexibility and scale they need to compete abroad."

The financial system has been supporting the ever greater business consolidation and market speculation with the effect that our social wealth has declined while providing a further gap between the rich and the poor. And this is Nixon's prescription to win in a global economy, to invest in research and development at the expense of people's education, to take greater risk at the expense of full employment, to take flexible regulation at the expense of local markets, to have new tax policies for the rich at the expense of the poor, to have new competition rule and corporate welfare programs at the expense of all the people. In practice, Nixon is supporting an economic policy to assist corporations in externalizing their costs and make more profits, while ignoring the predicament of people and their environment. And GLOBALIZATION is not irreversible, as we can make different choices and create different economic institutions where people can take their power back from corporations, and where life is more important than money.

References

We can't sit back and allow all of our industries to become globally insignificant, by Gordon Nixon, The Globe and Mail, July 3, 2001

LIFE AFTER CAPITALISM, Presentation for Edmonton, Calgary, and Saskatoon. By David C. Korten, November 1998 http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/capitalism.html#GlblCap