re: #156 LudwigVanQuixote

Agreed and I posted a link to it even.

That is why we need to use coercive market policies ont hem to get then to switch. Right now those cultures really don’t care about the environment or their “excess populations.” It is unrealistic to think they will give up the bonanza the west has given them in manufacturing - with no environmental protections, unless the west stops buying unless they get more green.

Incidently, this is a problem that the free market generated.

Hiring workers in sweatshops with no environmental protections or real wages was cheaper.

We ended up building those factories with our own greed. We did not realize that as they destroyed their own environments, the global aspects of the issue would come to us in the end. We never really cared if our shoes were sewn by seven year olds either, but perhaps the global consequence of this may sink in.

Here’s the problem:
1. Western addiction to cheap Eastern goods is as strong as ever and underpins the West’s standard of living to a considerable extent.
2. If the West did threaten extreme protectionist measures it would probably trigger hyperinflation and social unrest which we can ill afford.
3. We could have an international trade war on our hands, with markets crashing all over the place.
Quite a high stakes game of poker to play with a shitty hand, don’t ya think?