I was just listening to this morning's edition of Democracy Now, and heard reference to the following Larry Summers quote:
I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that... I've always though that under-populated countries in Africa are vastly UNDER-polluted
This comment bore a remarkable relevance to current events, considering the generally unreported economic piracy that is happening off the coast of Somalia, in the form of illegal fishing and toxic waste dumping- practices that depress the local economy, in effect encouraging that other form of piracy. The show's host, Amy Goodman, mentioned that Summers has defended the remark as sarcastic, so I figured I'd hold off judgment and try to learn a little more.
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The quote came from a memo in December of 1991, the full text of which you can read here (please do). Summers was chief economist for the World Bank at the time. If you read the full memo, it becomes horrifyingly clear just how serious Summers is. You don't even need to know economic jargon. After presenting 3 arguments for dumping pollution in LDCs (less-developed countries), Summers summarizes:
The problem with the arguments against all of these proposals for more pollution in LDCs (intrinsic rights to certain goods, moral reasons, social concerns, lack of adequate markets, etc.) could be turned around and used more or less effectively against every Bank proposal for liberalization.
Ah, so concerns about human and environmental rights are a "liberal thing", and the 1991 version of Obama's economic guru waived them off like flies.
Notably, there was the following deeply critical response from Brazil's then-Secretary of the Environment, Jose Lutzenburger:
Your reasoning is perfectly logical but totally insane... Your thoughts [provide] a concrete example of the unbelievable alienation, reductionist thinking, social ruthlessness and the arrogant ignorance of many conventional 'economists' concerning the nature of the world we live in... If the World Bank keeps you as vice president it will lose all credibility.
Mr. Lutzenburger was fired resigned after making that remark.
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The San Francisco Bay Guardian spent some time on this issue in May of 1999, when Summers was being tapped to replace Rubin as Treasury Secretary. In the article, authors Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman posed the following challenge:
...here is the question that remains unanswered, and that should be atop the list of questions posed by the senators who have to confirm Summers's appointment to replace outgoing Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin: "Ironic or not, from your point of view, what was wrong with the logic of the memo?
Indeed. I may have missed it- did anyone ask Larry that question recently, prior to his new position? Any transcript, or video of that?
While some reporting that has been done on Summers' memo has given the indication that it was written by someone else, and Summers just put his name on it, it is telling that he apologized, and that he called it a "thought experiment".
I think we need to let the president know that this kind of "thought experiment" is vile. It is beneath us. It is the kind of drivel that Bush relied on Yoo to come up with.
Thank you for reading my diary.
-Kumar Plocher