Revista Mensual y Gratuita
Nº83, julio 2010
Transformations
Reflections on the Future of Global Capitalism
The bursting of the sovereign debt bubble in Europe and the weakness of the German and French banks resulting from their high exposure levels, as well as the persistence of high unemployment rates and the loss of consumer confidence in the US, have revived the debate concerning the time frame and nature of the way out of the world economic crisis. Is this only a postponement of the IMF and OECD optimistic forecasts concerning the beginning of recovery? Are we close to confirming Nouriel Roubini’s prediction sustaining that recovery has a “W” format? Are we experiencing the central economies “Free Fall” frenzy Joseph Stiglitz analyzes in his recent book with the same title? Or, put more apocalyptically, are we witnessing the onset of the final decline of late capitalism Santiago Becerra dares to foresee in his best seller “2010 Crash”?
Ten Commandments to Avoid Systemic Crises
The meaning of the word commandment refers to a “precept or order given from a superior to an inferior” and it is in this sense that it would be worthwhile to consider a list of precepts and orders that emerge from the interests, needs and emotions of the people so as to guide the action of those who lead global as well as national political and economic institutions.
Tax Havens: Crimes and Their Victims
The so-called tax havens are havens only for organizations and individuals who operate outside the law; they are used to launder money the source of which they are unwilling to declare, evade taxes and avoid being identified and controlled. They may be businesses or individuals who commit economic crimes, as well as traffic in drugs, weapons or persons, illegal organizations of any type or dangerousness. The term "tax haven" is a deceitful and mild expression concealing crimes, criminals, accomplices and victims. We should cease to call them tax havens and unmask them as havens for criminals and evaders, which is what they actually are
Responsible Journalism
In a context of antagonist confrontation, it is difficult to practice journalism with a certain degree of objectivity. Some media and journalists act intentionally, driven by motivations that could not be openly confessed; the absence of objectivity is deliberate. Others are pillars of democratic life; they may occasionally be wrong, but seek to help channel energies in a constructive manner. Media and journalists select and present the news in a hierarchical arrangement according to their viewpoints, values or interests; they determine what processes and situations are worth covering or ignoring, and how to present the news in either case. There is much to be learned about motivations, ways of operating, how information can be manipulated by playing with headlines, front pages and subtitles.
New International Economic Order: What is the Range of Options
The contemporary crisis will produce changes in the international economic order. The crisis exits taken will determine the nature of the transformation and what countries and social groups will end up favored or harmed. Although the principles of sustainability and justice should prevail, the stark choices are, in essence, to give way to a new global economic system that maintains, replaces, extends, abates, or eliminates the privileges of the prevailing pre-crisis order.
Democratic Traps: Solving them by Deepening Democracy
No democracy is perfect; we know this. Furthermore, some democracies are very imperfect; we suffer them. Democratic traps refer to a set of circumstances that generate or reproduce undesired processes inside a democracy. In the face of those traps there are not few people who, affected by the situation or frustrated by the inexistence of changes, disown democracy. Others address the democratic traps by deepening democracy. Which are the consequences derived from this basic choice?
Transforming Ourselves in Order to Transform
The building of a better collective future also consists in transforming many aspects of our way of thinking and functioning, very specially, becoming active participants in the transformation process; improving our analytical capacity by overcoming the homogenization of strategic thinking that tends to neutralize new searches; developing comprehensive approaches that may be capable of operationally channeling ideas and action proposals; availing ourselves of effective instruments that are capable of impacting constructively on reality and, in the middle of all this, reaching consensuses in relation to values that may serve as an ethical compass to guide the enormous power that emanates from the talent, reflection and work capacity of the world population.
More Green Buds and Some Persistent Weeds in a Still Uncertain Garden
The world economy is clearly going through a transition period, leaving the crunch behind yet not entering full recovery. An uncertain garden where day after day new green buds sprout: the Gross Domestic Product of the major world economies is growing, the financial market is stabilizing itself, the capital market attained a 60% recovery in 2009, restoring partly US households’ wealth and, hence, their spending capacity. But certain weeds persist in the United States: unemployment has pierced the double-digit barrier; thus, fears of losing jobs remain, and consumers have not regained confidence yet; public deficit is coming closer to two-digit figures, and the economy continues to demand further support in order to keep moving ahead along the path to recovery; the housing market, the epicenter of the crisis and of economic activity, continues to fluctuate and does not manage to stabilize itself.
China: the strategic partner for recovery in Latin America’s Southern Cone
The U.S. economy will lose strength as the engine of the global economy but will increase its competitiveness as an exporter of manufactured goods, and China will replace it as the driver of the global economy, mainly during the initial stages of the recovery. Consequently, given the Chinese imports structure, we dare predict that in the short-term, the countries producing commodities, mainly food, energy and certain minerals, will be in a clearly advantageous position with respect to the rest of the world.
Pittsburg: “The World is Heading Towards a New International Economic Order”
With this affirmation Lula da Silva defined the outcome of the G-20 Summit. The Pittsburg summit marked the end of the hegemony of industrialized powers, and ushered emerging nations into the debate about crucial global social economic issues. "The old system of international economic cooperation (the G-8) is over. The new system, as of today, has begun," declared British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. This openness to emerging economies is not an act of “political generosity”; it is the product of an objective need, associated with the peremptory urge to cope in a coordinated manner with a global crisis that is approaching a weak and fragile recovery which, hence, more than ever calls for the joint cooperation of twenty countries that in the aggregate account for 90% of the global GDP, 80% of international trade, and one third of the world population. There is consensus that the exit from the crisis is not likely to be structured on the basis of individual strategies; the advance of globalization calls for coordinated "exit strategies" and a huge cooperation effort to implement it.
What's new
Ways to Donate
10/12/2009
Adjusting the course: Getting out of the crisis towards sustainable development
Opinion Sur Collection
21/10/2009
New E-books
Introducing three new additions to our collection
23/09/2009
Getting out of the Crisis towards a sustainable development
STORM: The ways of the crisis and the ways out of it
International Crisis: Adjusting the Course and Improving the Systemic Functioning
Opinión Sur Presentation
9/09/2009
Working Session: Microcredit in the XXI Century
Catalyzing Interventions to Enhance the Impact of Microcredit Programs
17/09/2008
