Michael, I have addressed at least part of this question in my response to Sabri. There is nothing technical, to my knowledge, that makes local telephone or postal service not completely feasible and economic, providing a co-operative "inter-local" system is maintained. This is not a difficult problem. International differences in taxation is only a problem (or perhaps I should say is 'mainly' a problem) only because we allow free flow of capital. Since we don't allow free flow of labour, why should we allow free flow of capital? When you mention, local variations in environment, are you talking about natural environment (i.e. absolute natural advantage) or man-made, economic environment (i.e. comparative advantage from low conservation, pollution, labour regulations and standards)? For the better part of a couple of decades I was chair of the milk control board in Manitoba which regulated the price and, ultimately, the supply of milk in the province and which basically eliminated all imports. We managed to keep the price (increase) below the increase in the index for food (dominated by imports) and had a quality standard higher than the international while at the same time maintaining a very stable and remunerative farm sector. In short, we outpreformed the market -- but because we replaced the market, economists, the US and the WTO howled for our downfall -- something that is in the process -- another example of the race to the bottom. Yet it is another example of localism outperforming globalism. Little of that is technologically necessary. Rather it is financially necessary for global capital. The one real issue that transcends local boundaries are the externalities issues -- global warming, pollution, resource depletion, overpopulation. None of these are tractable by local/regional governments. But they are also the very issue that the major mega-governments are refusing to deal with either through deliberate opposition (e.g. US and Kyoto), refusal to police (e.g. Portugal, Japan, etc. and overfishing), or are ignoring (the over-population problem, 'peak oil'). Yes, the issue is complex, but not as complex as you seem to picture it. Nor is it solved by burying one's head in the sand.
Paul P. Michael Perelman wrote:
Isn't the question of local versus national extremely complex? Global warming requires international cooperation, yet local planning that would facilitate less driving and more convenient mass transit can make an enormous contribution. A local postal system or telephone network has limited value. International variations in tax systems make tax avoidance too easy for transnational corporations. Yet better planning would require legal structures to take account of local variations in the environment. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
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