Paula: Regrettably, it's true. the U.S. ranks near the top,
fourth in the world, in quality of life. Canada is first. Canada,
too, is a land of corporations, but there is a degree of control
and a larger degree of concern for public welfare -- single-payer
health and now something approaching that in child-care -- that
makes for a more human life. But both there and here it actually
is corporations and, specifically, the competition among them,
that has brought technological change to the society as a whole,
even when that change -- the PC -- was invented by a bunch of 60s
kids with the ideal of putting information in the hands of the
people at large.
The countries that abolished corporations -- the
Communist-governed ones -- replaced them with government
monopolies. Monopolies public or private feel no pressure to
introduce technological change.
Neither PCs, televisions or refrigerators can be produced at
affordable prices except by what are corporations, no manner what
name you give them. The point is that affordable prices are the
result of economies of scale: mass production.
Bill Mandel
PNFPNF@aol.com wrote:
>
> Well maybe David would like to think about some of those benefits of
> turn-of-the-centurycorporate colonialism that, as Adam Hochschild's recent
> book points out so well, the remaining third or half or so of sub-Saharan
> Africans "enjoyed." What an upper lifestyle-wise.
> Generally, is technological change now being credited to corporations?
> Sounds like the "Wow we live in the US where it's better--we have
> refrigerators and television!" of '50s grade school recitations....
> Paula
-- To be removed from list, e-mail "Opt Out." You may find of interest website www.BillMandel.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 13 2000 - 05:36:23 CUT