globalization

The last ten or so days were rather untypical. I was put under pressure as university and work related tasks queued up to consume my free time. As a direct result I wasn’t as much dragged into the city as usual – it’s just that after ten or so hours of coding my body just wants to stay at home, listening to music and doing rather nothing.

But I can’t claim that this hurt me. I even started to read again. Okay, I never stopped but was stuck in some hard to read book. It feels good to finally getting back to my old ways. I started with ‘Die Schule der Egoisten” followed by “Hagakure“. Both were finished after two to three days (yes, I must have read around hundert pages a day). Then came “Globalization and its discontents” written by Joseph Stiglitz, former Worldbank leader and Nobel price winner. It rattled my cage.

I count myself to those die-hard liberals, guided by words of thinkers as Friedman and Hayek. The book put some new perspective in my thoughts, I’m rather ashamed that it took that long. I still believe that liberalization is one of our greatest goals, but accept that this is an end rather than a means. Development countries might not be ready for it as some IMF expeditions show. Well, it took Europe till the 70s to get banking liberalized, it’s echos can still be heared (think basel3) why should others be expected to take a shorter path?

It’s the same old fight between self-determination and greater good for all. Hume vs. Rand. I’d love to think humans as able to make decisions for themselves while honouring the life and sanity of others – but I’m wrong. We still need a safe system for those that are not able to help themselves, even if this includes most people nowadays. But I’d like more opt-out opportunities for the few of us that want to take certain aspects of their lifes in their own hands rather than let governments control that for them. They are here to protect and arbit the rights of individuals, maybe they should create the same starting conditions for everyone. But where’s the border between a state body trying to protect the dumb masses (and liften them up through forced education and social safety) and a junta protecting yourself from your own stupidity? History showed that things can go very wrong if too much power is placed into the hands of few.

What do I want my world to be? Liberal. Free. There’s need for inter-country institutions that prevent countries from poverty and help poorer ones with their development. Someone needs to watch over the next depression and some sort of peace-keeping institution would be nice. Humour me and lookup the founding charta of the Worldbank, the IMF (international Monetary Fund), WTO and UNO. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Call me sarcastic, but seeing how those worked out makes me urging to lean back and swallow some whisky to burn away the sour taste left in my mouth. After all, those are just sleep deprived ravings..

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