Trade Winds

Brink Lindsey from the April 1997 issue

(Page 3 of 3)

Thus, he believes that a new burst of statism is needed to save global capitalism from itself: "The world's nations must eventually turn to political solutions of this nature: collective reform to ameliorate or slow down the destructive forces, to correct the economic imbalances of supply and demand, to reassert control on capital and restore the social understandings, to foster a more stable promise of prosperity." In addition to the trade and capital restrictions I've already mentioned, he advocates progressive taxation, a populist monetary policy, and subsidies and controls to promote "sustainable development."

Although Greider recognizes that his enthusiasm for interventionism is currently out of favor, he warns that the alternative is dire: "Respectable opinion is now enthralled by the secular faith that Austrian economist Karl Polanyi long ago described as 'the utopian endeavor to establish a system of self-regulating markets.' Today, there is the same widespread conviction that the marketplace can sort out large public problems for us far better than any mere mortals could. This faith has attained almost religious certitude, at least among some governing elites, but, as Polanyi explained, it is the ideology that led the early twentieth century into the massive suffering of global depression and the rise of violent fascism."

Well, well. Once again Greider has put his finger on the exact opposite of the truth. The totalitarian horrors of the 20th century may indeed be blamed on a secular faith -- not laissez faire, but the belief that central planning and top-down control were the wave of the future. That same belief, stripped of the bloodthirstiness, helped cause the Great Depression and underlies the chronic ills of the welfare state. Now, at century's end, the world is finally beginning to unburden itself of this misconceived faith, making possible the emergence of the global economy and all its liberating potential.

If the beneficent process of globalization does suffer future reverses -- and that is certainly a live possibility -- they will be due to Greider's beloved "strong social presence of the state," not the lack thereof. In the developing world, warfare or theocratic regimes could isolate markets from the global system. In the advanced economies, a protectionist reaction or continued fiscal profligacy could trigger a major worldwide economic shock. Less drastically, misguided policies around the world that shackle private initiative will reduce the enriching benefits of global commerce.

Ironically and unwittingly, Greider has done all he can to ensure that his prophecies of a future crackup are self-fulfilling. He has advocated, with eloquence and conviction, policies whose adoption could well precipitate just such an economic collapse.

There is no mincing words: This is a truly awful book. It would be easy, but I think improper, to chalk up the book's failures to the author's leftist leanings. One can imagine a book, as yet unwritten, that offers a powerful and challenging critique of the new global economy from a leftist perspective. As Greider notes in his first paragraph, creative destruction on a world scale "throws off enormous mows of wealth and bounty while it leaves behind great furrows of wreckage." A book that engaged our compassion for those left behind and urged some amelioration of their condition would have made an important contribution to the political debate.

There are glimpses of such a book in Greider's opus, but they are swamped by all the pernicious nonsense I have outlined above. Greider's book deserves round condemnation -- richly deserves it -- not because of his perspective or priorities, but because of his woefully flawed understanding.

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