WTO- and *The* Problem

[courtj at globalnet.co.uk]

Dear Friends, all,

In all this WTO-stuff, I remember Vaclav Havel's word for the present system
as :

"Auto-totality."

Tho' he doesn't say it:

"Auto-totality" = The need for money to make the maximum return in the
minimum time.

And, since:

The need for money to make the maximum return in the minimum time =
*The* Problem.

Thus:

*The* Problem = Usury.

And, so:

Our task is to abolish usury.


(And quick - Seattle, Euston, N30, J18 etc was the start ! )


Hugs

j

**************
----------
>From: Maryellen Lewis <lewisma9@pilot.msu.edu>
>To: arnova-l@wvnvm.wvnet.edu, communitydevelopmentbanking-l@cornell.edu
>Subject: WTO--Canadian overview, business press
>Date: Sun, Dec 5, 1999, 7:52 pm
>

>[from the"Globe and Mail", Canada's conservative business newspaper.]
>
>Power whining and the battle of Seattle
>RICK SALUTIN
>Friday, December 3, 1999
>
>What a load of power whining around the
>World Trade Organization mess in Seattle.
>
>PW is when those with power get to sound
>like victims.<snip>
>
>A striking feature of the fight is what you
>could call a deep disconnect between formal
>politics and real power.

<snip>

>Governments left and right have caved in,
>ceded authority, to "the free market," i.e., the
>rich and corporate.
>

<snip>

Come to think of it, when Bill
>Clinton arrived in Seattle to diffuse the heat,
>he looked like King Richard in a Robin Hood
>movie, just back from the Crusades, telling his
>people to trust in him -- and in that good old
>democratic process. Whether they buy it
>remains to be seen.

(j: I don't !! )
>
>| Copyright © 1999 Globe Information Services |
>
>************************************************
>FAIR USE: This re-post of copyrighted
>material is for limited personal or
>educational purposes. The original
>copyright citation, if any, is included.
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>.·´¯`·.¸ ><((((º> .·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ <º))))>< .·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·.¸
>.·´¯`·..·´¯`·.¸ ><((((º> .·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ ·.¸.·´¯`·.¸ ><((((º>
>.·´¯`·.¸ <º))))>< ¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·.¸ ><((((º> ¸.·´¯`·..·´¯`·.
>
>


This post transferred from the cdb-l mailing list

[courtj at globalnet.co.uk]

************

Dear Friends, all,

HELP!!

I'm getting some odd stuff from some-one(s?) called Jeffrey Moore;


----------
>From: "Jeffrey J. Moore, Chairman,CEO." <champnet@greatbig.net>
>To: "john courtneidge" <courtj@globalnet.co.uk>
>Subject: Re: NEW: Web-based training for small business (fwd)
>Date: Sun, Dec 5, 1999, 3:39 pm
>

>
----------- Is one example

These seem to be associated with f/w or c/b postings or some such.

These oddities now switch off my m/s outlook express even when I try to
open them ??!!

Any advice any-one(s) can give ?

Thanks

j

**************
----------
>From: "john courtneidge" <courtj@globalnet.co.uk>
>To: lewisma9@pilot.msu.edu , arnova-l@wvnvm.wvnet.edu ,
communitydevelopmentbanking-l@cornell.edu
>Subject: WTO- and *The* Problem
>Date: Mon, Dec 6, 1999, 10:56 am
>

>Dear Friends, all,
>
>In all this WTO-stuff, I remember Vaclav Havel's word for the present system
>as :
>
> "Auto-totality."
>
>Tho' he doesn't say it:
>
> "Auto-totality" = The need for money to make the maximum return in the
>minimum time.
>
>And, since:
>
> The need for money to make the maximum return in the minimum time =
>*The* Problem.
>
>Thus:
>
> *The* Problem = Usury.
>
>And, so:
>
> Our task is to abolish usury.
>
>
>(And quick - Seattle, Euston, N30, J18 etc was the start ! )
>
>
>Hugs
>
>j
>
>**************
>----------
>>From: Maryellen Lewis <lewisma9@pilot.msu.edu>
>>To: arnova-l@wvnvm.wvnet.edu, communitydevelopmentbanking-l@cornell.edu
>>Subject: WTO--Canadian overview, business press
>>Date: Sun, Dec 5, 1999, 7:52 pm
>>
>
>>[from the"Globe and Mail", Canada's conservative business newspaper.]
>>
>>Power whining and the battle of Seattle
>>RICK SALUTIN
>>Friday, December 3, 1999
>>
>>What a load of power whining around the
>>World Trade Organization mess in Seattle.
>>
>>PW is when those with power get to sound
>>like victims.<snip>
>>
>>A striking feature of the fight is what you
>>could call a deep disconnect between formal
>>politics and real power.
>
><snip>
>
>>Governments left and right have caved in,
>>ceded authority, to "the free market," i.e., the
>>rich and corporate.
>>
>
><snip>
>
> Come to think of it, when Bill
>>Clinton arrived in Seattle to diffuse the heat,
>>he looked like King Richard in a Robin Hood
>>movie, just back from the Crusades, telling his
>>people to trust in him -- and in that good old
>>democratic process. Whether they buy it
>>remains to be seen.
>
> (j: I don't !! )
>>
>>| Copyright © 1999 Globe Information Services |
>>
>>************************************************
>>FAIR USE: This re-post of copyrighted
>>material is for limited personal or
>>educational purposes. The original
>>copyright citation, if any, is included.
>>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>.·´¯`·.¸ ><((((º> .·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ <º))))>< .·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·.¸
>>.·´¯`·..·´¯`·.¸ ><((((º> .·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ ·.¸.·´¯`·.¸ ><((((º>
>>.·´¯`·.¸ <º))))>< ¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·.¸ ><((((º> ¸.·´¯`·..·´¯`·.
>>
>>


This post transferred from the cdb-l mailing list

[r_yager at conknet.com]

The WTO is very relevant to community banking for a lot of reasons, some of which

have already been enumerated. A couple of years ago, its major task was the
creation of a multilateral agreement on investments, which had a lot to do with
financial institutions and their role in the global economy. It failed, in part
because it so blatantly placed the desires of the investors as a higher priority
than the need of the nation state, whether that be to regulate environmental
impact or impact on local currency.
The recent financial modernization legislation was all about doing what
financial institutions perceive they need to do to compete in the global market.
The big banks, which in some communities may be the only game in town, are also
very caught up in international investment. Part of why the bail outs of Asian
countries was so important and why there was pressure from Congress to push
through the IMF bail outs was because Chase, Bank of America, Citibank and others

were so heavily exposed in investments there. Many of the mergers are about
getting big enough to become international players. It was striking that while
the debate in Boston about the Fleet/BankBoston merger was all about who was
better to the community and an effort to preserve that, the merger was really all

about Fleet buying BankBoston's huge franchise in Brazil and other Latin American

countries. That focus on the international shifts the focus of a bank. Its
energy is not in the communities where it has its roots. And it may be harder to

push capital into those areas as a result. It makes our jobs, getting banks to
make serious investments in marginal communities in this country, all the
harder. We would do well to pay some very close attention to what the WTO is up
to.
While not a banking issue, community development and job creation are also
significantly tied to the larger economic forces going on around us. For that
reason alone we should be paying attention. I appreciate Maryellen's posts -
though very interested, I haven't had the time to do the search of international
media and have appreciated those perspectives.
Martha Yager, Granite State Community Reinvestment



NFCDCUCNR@aol.com wrote:

> 1. Regarding the World Trade Organization -- or more accurately, the debate
> over postings to this list regarding the WTO.
> It seems to me that general accounts of the WTO clash in Seattle add
> little to the list, assuming most of us can get it from other news sites on
> the Internet, public radio, and more. But it DOES seem to me that there are,
> indeed, very potent implications to globalization that I would very much like
> to see discussed on this list -- not that I'm qualified to draw all of them
> out. What does it mean to the deployment of capital in our (U.S.)
> communities when trade barriers are lowered? How are the banking giants
> involved in the WTO? Will the Community Reinvestment Act, for example, be
> ultimately disallowed because it "unfairly" inhibits the entry of foreign
> financiers and bankers into U.S. markets? Are "we" (community development
> finance advocates) opposed, per se, to globalization (on the assumption that
> all finance should be local), or rather, to unrestrained global dominance of
> multi-trillion dollar companies?
> Anyone?

>
> >>



This post transferred from the cdb-l mailing list

[jf at shibboleth.com]

Well spoken, Martha.

The thrust of much of the trade agreements is to lower the risks and raise
the rewards for capital (deployed in lesser developed countries). Thus, a
lot of capital could flow out of the US, impacting low income communities
in a variety of ways. Interest rates might increase (furhter) which might
make our community-based mission more difficult. Wages could be driven down
or not increase which could make difficult increasing the standards of
living in many areas where we work.

So, while the blow-by-blow details might not have been particularly
beneficial (I for one was getting the info from only one other place and
appreciated the postings, even the cynical ones - and the contrasts were
fascinating), I found uplifting a couple of things - God knows, some us may
need uplifting.

One was the difference between the corporate media reporting and these
other sources. Another was the diversity of groups and the differences in
the voices of those groups joining forces to protest these talks AND the
energy boost that direct democracy has gotten as a result.(Many of us work
in so called democratically controlled organizations. There may well be
some implications here for us as workers/managers/organizers/member-owners.)

I feel that this disucssion has shifted me and my perceptions in subtle and
maybe not so subtle ways. I do feel a bit more hopeful, less like I'm
laboring in a trench or foxhole on my own. I am reminded once again of the
importance of laboring from inside the (US, capitalist) system to change
it. I feel more like the internet can be a tool for change. I have heard it
talked about since the beginning and the rush to commercialize it has
almost totally overshadowed the potential to insert more (or more properly,
bring more control of) democracy and democratic institutions into our
lives. Also, this instance has demonstrated (to me anyway) that random
seemingly events (posting to this list for example) can have unexpected,
positive results.

-----------------
Jim Frazin
CEO
Amphlett FCU
voice: 650.343.2266
fax: 650.343.2266
$2.0M assets, 301 members
San Mateo, CA 94401

As of January 4, 1999, a community credit union!

"Shibboleth, n. [Hebrew, a stream, or flood, from shabal, to flow.]
1. In the Bible, the test word used by the Gileadites to
distinguish the escaping Ephraimites, who could not pronounce the initial
sh: Jud. xii. 6
2. Any test word or password
3. Any phrase, formula, custom, etc. considered distinctive,
as of a party, class, faction, etc."

Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, Deluxe Second Edition




This post transferred from the cdb-l mailing list