Friday, September 2, 2016

Dear Ma, You Don't Know Jack

Mr. Jack Ma of Alibaba is trying very hard to defend the failed process of globalization. Here is what he recently said:

"We should keep on going along the path of globalization," Ma said Friday in Hangzhou, China. "Globalization is good ... when trade stops, war comes."

You can read the rest @
http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/02/technology/jack-ma-alibaba-g20/index.html

I was not aware that Mr. Ma was a historian, an economist, or an anthropologist of any renown, so his statements should be regarded as his opinions and not as established facts.

Dear Jack: Has anyone other than yourself, Goldman Sachs, and a small coterie of retainers really benefited from the Alibaba phenomenon? The answer to that question in the US appears to be a resounding "NO".

You seem to be claiming that "trade" and "war" are exclusive alternatives. It would be more accurate to say they sit at opposite ends of a continuous spectrum of human interaction.

But that is not to say that "free trade" is the same as "peace". Without question, the modern concept of "free trade" is equivalent to "war by other means". And its goal is not the betterment of humanity, but the accumulation of vast wealth and power by a small group of individuals such as Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jack Ma.

What We The People need is NOT more trade. And we certainly don't need more war.

What we DO need is a way to earn a living which does not make us slaves to people like you; which does not tear up the ground from beneath our feet; which does not poison our air, soil, and water; and which restores value and meaning to human life.

Free trade and globalization are not bettering our lives. And curtailing free trade will only bring war if people in positions such as yours decide to make it so.

No comments:

Post a Comment