Tyler Hits a Home Run

David,

Have you written on your disagreement with pushing for US military intervention in Darfur? I'd like to read an explanation.

Can anyone else point me to his thoughts on this?

Thanks,
TC

Dear Tom,

Yes. Here it is:
http://antiwar.com/henderson/?articleid=9163

Best,

David

I love the coup de grace:

Given the obvious intent that The End of Poverty should be a film version of a propaganda poster and a recruiting device for a new era of anti-capitalist protest, it verges on embarrassing that, when all is said and done, this film does exactly what it complains about: It exploits and markets poor individuals from the South for the purposes of wealthier people, in this case Western moviemakers, commentators and intellectuals.

Thanks for linking to the review. I very much enjoyed it.

1. "Never mentioned is the fact that these so-called natural economies were themselves based on prior conquest and oppression."

I finally saw Apocalypto about a week ago. After watching the atrocities to which the Mayans subjected their captives, I can't say that I felt a great deal of sympathy for the two Mayans (they were chasing Jaguar's Paw) who, at the end of the film, were the first to lay eyes upon the Conquistadors landing on the beach. The following phrase came to mind:

"What goes around, comes around".

2. "I’m willing to state that those sweatshop jobs are better than the “natural economy” jobs they displaced,"

So many people complain about Capitalism that from now on I have decided to ask people what they think our current situation would be if there had been no industrial revolution and division of labor. I guarantee that those who believe we would be enjoying a simpler life by living off the land are the same ones who can't bear to look at a blade of crabgrass without calling their landscaper in a panic. :)

I'm sorry I missed the comment date on the jamaica/barbados articles, but the GDP increase of Jamaica was twice that of Barbados over the past year.
Also, .8% vs. 2.2% grown over a 40+ year timespan? ultimately it's statistically irrelevant. Comparing them to each other without comparing them to the mean global growth in GDP/PC is statistically misleading.

Just saying.

I looked up what data I could in terms of census and GDP.

Jamaica is about 10 times the population and has experienced over 2.5 times the growth of Barbados (38.83% vs 15.42%).

I was only able to get international GDP data backing up to 1962, but Jamaica has had a much higher growth of GDP (63.47%) than Barbados. (55.68%) from 69-02.

Since their GDP growth rate wasn't proportional to their population growth rate, of course their per capita GDP growth was lower. This happens all the time in countries. The Bahamas faired even worse than Jamaica did over this time period.
The UAE experienced a DECLINE of over 70% in GDP per capita, simply because so many people emigrated there from other arab states. And this was BECAUSE it had more economic freedom than it's surrounding countries.

Sorry, this particular bit of vitriol against government doesn't work for me. Because here, it isn't true.

I meant I could only get data back to 1962, but the fact still stands, the intervening 7 years wouldn't have been so significant.

I meant I could only get data back to 1969, but the fact still stands, the intervening 7 years wouldn't have been so significant.