Wednesday, September 30, 2015

[Rethinking] The need for making international trade non-critical to survival

The originating argument for having global inter-country trade was never about survival; the survival of each country was obviously presumed to be well taken care of by the natural  and human resources of that country by itself.

The rationale for the trade, then, was thriving. Getting that little extra. Making MORE wealth. Not surviving, but thriving. An add-on. A bonus. That's what trade was always supposed to be about.

If then we reach a point where this trading has become so interlocked and so inter-dependent that one domino falling risks the whole board,

If we have reached a point where SURVIVAL itself is threatened by unpredictability in what's happening outside the country, many times on the other side of the planet,

Then that means that the original rationale for having inter-country trade in the first place, has been violated. It has shifted from optional thriving to compulsory surviving.

And with this context in mind, people who say that we need the inter-country trading, FDI, derivatives trading, etc for the sake of our survival, "or else,,".. need to pipe down and remember what that trade was originally meant for. When a pundit regurgitates the "wisdom" that international trade is crucial for everybody's survival, we need to think critically and not accept that rhetoric. A system that is SO prone to collapse, where it's acceptable to send one or two countries down the tube and cause immense suffering, and also to risk the planet's biosphere itself but the trading and economic order is supposed to be sacrosanct, where one country depends on the other guys buying their stuff for survival : is simply not sustainable and is inherently programmed for inevitable collapse.

We need to work towards an international trading system that, while not turning its back to trading and exchange entirely, does stay loyal to the original pact and where each country's for-survival needs are met in-house. Trade internationally for thriving, for the bonus, for the add-on. Not for survival. And don't lose your survival mechanism in the blind dash for the add-on.

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