it's a good letter, but the Times left out the last paragraph. arun chandra On Thu, 24 Jun 1999, Louis Proyect wrote: > To the Editor: > > In your report on the Cologne G8 meeting, you refer in general terms to > the "democratic and economic reforms" Balkan governments must agree to > in order to receive economic assistance from the US and the European > Union. This aid is desperately needed to repair the damage caused by > years of conflict in the region and months of NATO bombing. > > The full condition for this aid, however, went unmentioned. At this > meeting the G8 reaffirmed the June 10 G7 stipulation that Balkan > governments adopt "market economies based on sound macro policies, > markets open to greatly expanded foreign trade and private sector > investment, effective and transparent customs and commercial/regulatory > regimes, developing strong capital markets and diversified ownership, > including privatisation..." This doctrinaire formula would be > presumptuous anywhere, but it is especially so in a region whose last 40 > years of economic development has been based on market socialism and an > element of worker management. > > Apparently we have strayed so far from the view that a nation's economic > institutions should be democratically chosen by its people that it is no > longer news when this principle is overruled. > > Peter Dorman > > Louis Proyect > > (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html) > >
