————————————————
Thanks, Amos,
You said 1. " Perhaps the Chinese chief economist of the World Bank must convince IMANI that the Church of the Invisible Hand has collapsed."
2. "PS; I really enjoyed the discussion of the issue of subsidy on premix.
I think the original op. -ed. was weak, wrong-headed and over-deduced."
You seem to have wavering appreciation of many things IMANI says or does- an ideal we cherish very much at IMANI, as it encourages us to fill in our flaws where relevant. One correction though-we are not ideologues at all. In fact, we do know and many of our admirers and critics agree that we are a reality-based think tank.
Ordinarily,I wouldn’t comment on the apparent collapse of the "Invisible Hand" in order not to flog a dead horse argument. But let me say that no reality-based capitalist has ever held the view that the market was an end in it self. It is a process, and like all human-centred freely directed processes, there are bound to be ups and downs, but the lesson is in correcting the wrongs, not by subscribing to some strong arm tactics as is currently being deployed around the world, saddling future generations with monumental debts, but by allowing a self-correcting mechanism to be deployed. Wrong-headed populist agitation against the real reasons (mostly government-induced) for the financial difficulties which began in the US has successfully clouded out many commentators reasoning and so it is no longer pretty to engage in that debate.
Greed is in the nature of man, but the excessive degree to which it is activated by self-styled capitalists ought to shunned, by no self-appointed messiahs, but the very system itself- Enron and co. come to mind.
lt just so happens that the market and its attendant capitalist(if you like) system of governance has lifted billions of people out of poverty than any known system of governance. It is also important not to confuse crony capitalism , which many a African countries practice with the true ideals of capitalism, which very few countries can boast of. And let us not confuse capitalism with a Bush war in Iraq or Afghanistan. And by popular extension, the so-called slave wages and slavery itself.
So, yes the invisble hand has been short-changed by the more collectivist hand of ‘I am God’ and so while we remain earthly beings, we might as well just adapt, but history has always and will always be on the side of the reality-based thinkers.
Franklin
——————————————————————————————————–
very interesting.
i presume this is the programme presented by Komla Dumor and not Peter Day’s older programme. I hosted Peter Day in my house for his programme about four years ago. He came to Accra straight from China. The Ghana programme was on BPO. Day mad the point that the Chinese showed great competence and could govern the market. He wanted whether Ghana had the capacity to govern the market.
Is Bright – as an earlier BBC man put it, Bright by name, bright by
nature – going to be a regular correspondent? This is great. you know I fundamentally disagree with you. Africa is not a simple
object. She would take the opportunity of Golbalisation, to put a recent op. ed. of the World Bank president in a mor strong form. Interesting that Bright always finds an avenue for private versus public. Is ZTE really private?
I am in Takoradi now planning the AfricaNext! seminar on China – BRICs and Ghana’s Strategy II. The Ghanaian guitar genius Ebo Taylor would play in Ghana for the first time since his re-conquest of Europe. In support of Bright, the excellently located, but often lousy, Chinese restaurant. Joy, has just closed down. The owner has put it up for rent, "for the oil people". Takoradi has truly become Ghana’s oil city. With the Chinese interested in buying into Ghana oil, Joy may remain Chinese. Perhaps th eChinese chief economist of the World Bank must convince IMANI that the Church of the Invisible Hand has collapsed.
amos
PS; I really enjoyued the discussion of the issue of subsidy on premix. I think the original op. -ed. was weak, wrong-headed and over-deduced.
——————————————————————————————————
China’s challenge to the US in Africa- IMANI on BBC
One of the great stories of globalisation has been the steady spread of Chinese business interests across the face of Africa.
IMANI and Africanliberty.org’s affiliate Bright Simons speaks to the BBC on the subject.
Read and listen to the audio here
Franklin,
Holed up in steamy Southern France, with my able sidekick, Bright Simons