Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Mexico's Hot Money Challenge

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Mexico's Hot Money Challenge

by Manuel Perez-Rocha from Foreign Policy in Focus.

The article illustrates how international "free trade" agreements restrict the options that individual governments have to provide stability for their economies. An economy is merely the systems whole societies use to supply the material needs of its citizens. Free trade policies have been imposed on many nations by the Empire to serve the interests of its ruling capitalist classes while reigning havoc on the lives of working people.

For a country like Mexico, which is suffering from the escalating violence of President Felipe Calderon’s drug war, the volatility of financial flows could have a devastating impact on long-term stability.