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A review by tanja_alina_berg
Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang
4.0
This is an excellent book that shows how protectionism helped today's rich countries become rich. Chang successfully dismantles the neo-liberalistic lies that a market should be as free as possible in order for nation's to become richer. This is simply not true. There is also an axis of evil consisting of IMF (international monetary fund), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO) that through recent history has imposed rules on poor countries that have had to borrow money, which have further impoverished them.
Now, I live in a "rich" country, Norway. Sadly, this country's politicians have to a large degree bought into the lies of the Chicago boy's club, neoliberalism. Although not a member of the EU, Norway is a member of EEA, and thus have had rules of free movement of labor and other things imposed. I am derailing a bit here, but, we do NOT live in a post-industrial world of service. We definitely live in a society that thrives on production. Sadly, Norway has dismantled much of its industry, so that, aside from oil, we have very little left. This has been out-competed by cheaper competition abroad and through foreign investment having bought in to and then sold off Norwegian companies. We are also swamped by cheap labor from some EU countries, that erode the wage levels in Norway and the foundation on which society rests. Even in this global pandemic, there has been no restrictions - or even enforced testing - on the free labor movement. So this happens in Norway, which is still, by all definition "rich" (for as long as we have oil and there is a demand for it) - think of what happens to countries who have only fledgling industries which are forced into free trade. Correct, it goes to hell.
The economics of society and the world is a table that we choose to set. In a completely deregulated society, we would - as Chang says - not invest in a child's education, but send them to work when they were six years old. We also need to invest in young industries, in order to reap rewards later, and that means protecting them from competition until they are mature.
Now, I live in a "rich" country, Norway. Sadly, this country's politicians have to a large degree bought into the lies of the Chicago boy's club, neoliberalism. Although not a member of the EU, Norway is a member of EEA, and thus have had rules of free movement of labor and other things imposed. I am derailing a bit here, but, we do NOT live in a post-industrial world of service. We definitely live in a society that thrives on production. Sadly, Norway has dismantled much of its industry, so that, aside from oil, we have very little left. This has been out-competed by cheaper competition abroad and through foreign investment having bought in to and then sold off Norwegian companies. We are also swamped by cheap labor from some EU countries, that erode the wage levels in Norway and the foundation on which society rests. Even in this global pandemic, there has been no restrictions - or even enforced testing - on the free labor movement. So this happens in Norway, which is still, by all definition "rich" (for as long as we have oil and there is a demand for it) - think of what happens to countries who have only fledgling industries which are forced into free trade. Correct, it goes to hell.
The economics of society and the world is a table that we choose to set. In a completely deregulated society, we would - as Chang says - not invest in a child's education, but send them to work when they were six years old. We also need to invest in young industries, in order to reap rewards later, and that means protecting them from competition until they are mature.