Correction - should of course be proportion of people NOT living in absolute poverty has increased over the decades

for long term data on global living standards see Angus Maddison's book and dataset
http://www.theworldeconomy.org/publications/worldeconomy/

for recent trends in people living on a dollar a day see the UN Millennium Development Goals website:

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2006/MDGReport2006.pdf

No prizes for feathering your own nest Saul...this should make your corporate masters very happy with you...even give you a nice bonus to your grossly over-indulgent salary package.

You admit that corporate wealth has increased dramatically with globalisation and indeed world poverty and household income has declined...and you are CONCERNED that globalism is 'threatened'.

The sooner the better, I'd say.

Your cheaper food might just have more carcinogens and toxins than is good for you if you import it from countries with lower health and chemical regulations than the country you're lucky to live in...wake up Australia! Saul too!

If you want cheaper goods Saul, I'd like cheaper interest and less fees from my bank too...yeah, I thought that might be your answer. :(

Martin Luther King's comment about inequity and abhorrent human greed was that 'the world leans towards justice' ... eventually it always does...so globalism and the greed it feeds off will come to its sorry end...thankfully!

We have seen the end to manufacturing industries, primary industries, small businesses galore...the lists go on...all sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed and globalism. Good work Saul!

What have we 'gained' or 'increased'?...well, in this country, we've seen the highest rise and numbers of rural suicide in this nation's history...closely followed by the highest rise in youth suicide across the nation...and so through all age groups. So, some achievement for Saul's globalism...no hope, no possibility of living with much dignity for most in rural industries over the last decade or so...and ANZ forges on with the spin and propaganda and foreclosures on these families...with a great tax reward to boot for the bank and it's economists and 'hatchet men'.

(tbc)

(cont...)

Saul should be hanging his head for supporting this abomination and this self-seeking greed for what he admits is a smaller and smaller group of corporate players...while the masses are increasingly expected to accept less and less.

The greatest 'threat' to globalism is the poverty it has created and the fact that not all humans are as full of #>*^%#! as its proponents and supporters. Some can't live off the misery of others...without coming to the realisation that it's just not ok.

Right now we're seeing the workers of this country being 'levelled' to compete with the workers from China, Malawi, Brazil, etc. I guess you support that too, Saul?

Globalism will end...justice will ensure it. There is no level-playing field and no equity in it...Saul's prattle demonstrates that convincingly.

Meg1

Poverty has indeed declined – surely that is a good thing?

The article does NOT say that household income has declined. It says that profits have grown more quickly than household income, which is not the same thing at all. If total income is growing then everyone can be better off, even if some gain more quickly than others. It’s a common illusion to say that trade and globalisation are zero sum games – that if business is better off households must be worse off, of if western countries are better off then developing ones must be worse off. But it’s not true.

You ask what we have gained or increased. The answer is, pretty much every important measure of economic welfare. We have the lowest unemployment rates in more than 30 years. The number of small business is increasing, not falling. Far from being “levelled” down to match the Chinese, real incomes are rising. Long-term unemployment is the lowest on record. So are per capita bankruptcies.

Meg, where do you think our rural industries would be without global trade? Our rural exports were worth $26 billion last year, and most of our agricultural products are exported. Do you seriously believe that farmers’ suicide rates would get better if these markets were closed to them? Or is Australia to be the only country permitted to export?

You self-righteously claim that “some can’t live off the misery of others.” But that is exactly what you intend to do, if you want to close off access to global markets and investment. Can you name even one country that has stopped being poor by withdrawing from global markets and seeking economic self-sufficiency? Saul has named dozens that have got rich, or at least less poor, by doing the opposite.

Rhian, anyone who says world poverty has declined is delusional…it clearly has not.

Globalism’s a myth as are its suggested merits…global trade has never been slanted more inequitably against Australia by our trading partners…that’s fact…there is NO level playing field for trade and never will be. Saul&Co won’t accept salary packages consistent with a Chinese or Brazilian bank employee, neither will others making policy decisions levelling off only the most vulnerable. Hypocrisy? Yes, do-as-I-say,-but-not-as-I-do…

My suggestion wasn’t that we should withdraw from global trade, but it’s sheer stupidity to ask our farmers to maintain quality food production and then import foreign ‘food’ laced with the very toxins, carcinogens and poor ecological practices banned here …or are you arguing that low quality ‘food’ is ok for ‘us’ rather than ‘them’? There should be financial rewards for good food and sound practices and penalties for poor quality imports…

Take a look at the supermarket shelves…Australian foods…diminishing quickly…where’s the benefit in that? Our defence capabilities are pretty feeble if we can’t feed ourselves self-sufficiently…

Household incomes have declined in Australia…wealth is increasingly concentrated in the pockets of the few…as Saul Eslake concedes…and that’s globalism’s purpose.

As for reduced unemployment figures…there’s a saying you’ve heard about lies, damned lies and statistics, that fits the bill here…they are so fudged they should be sold at a sweet stall fundraiser .

Go into your local Woolies store and ask the ‘check-out-staff’ how many hours they work each week and what security they have for those hours…there’s none. They don’t know from one week to the next what hours they have and they don’t have a full week’s work. Take out part-timers in the work force, for the real picture. Then take a long hard look at the average incomes of rural Australian families…it’s a national disgrace…sure they export Billions of $’s worth of goods to prop up the nations balance of payments, but thanks to Saul’s globalism and NCP, etc. they are left as little more than serfs, living in penury.

I didn’t ask what has increased or declined Rhian, re-read the post…

(tbc...)

(Cont...)

I listed increases in suicide…directly relative to the introduction of the distortions of NCP, deregulation and the leveling or selling off of all things Australian…

Take a look at the so-called competition in supermarket share…Coles and Woolies…what competition? Look at what these vultures charge consumers for groceries or fresh produce and compare it with what they pay the farmers…another national disgrace festering in the pit of globalism and its craven offshoots…NCP, etc.

You are making inaccurate statements that you cannot substantiate, Rhian. Bankruptcies are increasing – NOT decreasing…so are corporate failures…too much emphasis on partying, networking and back-slapping, etc. to get any real work done in that sector as indicated by the more public examples of corporate debauchery and collapse.

… ‘most of our agricultural products are exported’ again you are incorrect. Some agricultural products, like sugar, are predominantly exported, most are not.

Your inability to comprehend the written word effectively requires that I re-iterate my statement on the excesses of corporatism, globalism and their ilk…living off the misery of others. At no time did I suggest ‘closing off access to global markets and investment’

Indeed however, recent Australian trade agreements with our main trading partners are heavily weighted in their favour and against Australia, especially regarding agriculture, thanks to the incompetent economists, politicians and bureaucrats directing the ‘globalism show’.

You are confused regarding ‘economic self-sufficiency’ Rhian…you’ve just shown incredible ineptitude…unless we maintain a strong stable economy, we cannot survive or grow…nor can we support our own let alone the needs of our global neighbours…you surely cannot be such a monumental fool.

My estimation is that your post is not even worthy of a first year economics student in high school…tragically this is the sort of mindless prattle used to distract any real discussion on the damaging consequences clearly evident from globalism to date.

You might like to check out the national debt for homework, Rhian…not too healthy, huh?

…Nor is the increasing level of individual household debt or the fact that it is significantly attributed to credit cards…all good for Saul.