[saymaListserv] Fwd: Re: Regarding Quaker Social Concerns for the World's Poor)

[Janet Minshall]

This letter is a response to SAYMA Friend Nancy Winfrey who wrote to 
me about the article I sent out called "Globalization and The World's 
Poor", which was published as TQE (The Quaker Economist) #121. 
Janet



Hi Nancy, Thanks for your thoughtful response.  I really think you 
are not aware of solid political economic research on the effects of 
globalization as published by the men I cite in the article.

The two books I recommended, In Defense of Globalization by Jagdish 
Bhagwati, and Why Globalization Works by Martin Wolf, both deal with 
the concern you raise about corporations, but in different ways. 
Martin Wolf addresses it in his chapter 12, "Corporations: Predatory 
or Beneficial".  Bhagwati, whose book more directly responds to 
anti-globalization sentiment and misinformation, addresses the issue 
in his chapter 11, "Cowed By Corporations".  They each provide their 
version of economic history and show through their research that 
globalization,
as carried out by multinational corporations, has benefitted the poor 
dramatically.  They do not claim that it was the intention of the 
multinationals to benefit the poor, but they did benefit the poor 
nonetheless.  Therefore I believe that the two authors effectively 
respond to your concern about "the corporate entity itself" being 
inherently flawed.

If you read the rest of each of these books, I think you will find 
that Wolf and Baghwati also respond effectively to your concerns 
about growth.  As I state in a letter which appears in the August 
issue of Friends Journal in response to another letter from SAYMA's 
Errol Hess, it isn't simply a question of, as Errol put it, "a notion 
of growth" upon which our economy is based, but rather it is a 
history of more than 700 years of growth upon which our civilization 
is based.

Continuing from my letter:  "Growth from clans to city-states moved 
us to develop the rule of law, property ownership, improved 
transportation, and improved communications. The growth of City 
States to Nation States and then to a world economy resulted from the 
ascendance of reason, science and technology, and the innovations 
they have produced."

(My partner, Free, suggests that you might wish to see the film "The 
Corporation", a documentary produced by the Canadian Broadcasting 
System.  http://www.thecorporation.com.		Best Regards, Janet

















Dear Janet,

Sorry to take so long to get back to you, but I needed to reflect on 
your reply so I could answer it in Friendly fashion.  First, let me 
say that I am looking forward to many face to face interesting 
discussions, if and when you and Free can join Clemson WG.  I don't 
learn much from people who simply agree with me!....

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