Economic Policy

[Jean-Marie Gogue <jmegogue@wanadoo.fr>]

In free market economy, governments adopt various economic policies,
depending on whether they are conservative or liberal. The point is the
trade-off between free competition and government control. But anyway I
think that the market must be in the service of men, not men in the service
of the market. I hope that all the DENizens will agree with me.

In my opinion the economic policy of the Worldwide Trade Organization (WTO)
is inspired by the most conservative ideas, namely those of Adam Smith and
Milton Friedman. The risk is to put men in the service of the market.

In a paper titled "Les Mensonges de Mike Moore", Le Monde, Tuesday 12 June
2001, Jose Bove analyses the dogma that the WTO tends to force on the whole
world. According to him, the WTO system is based on four wrong ideas. He
explains how our experience shows that they are wrong. These ideas are:

1. Free market has self regulating virtues. Wrong.
2. Competition produces wealth for everybody. Wrong.
3. Worldwide market price is a pertinent criterium for directing
productions. Wrong.
4. Free market is the booster of economic growth. Wrong.

The paper is available at
http://www.lemonde.fr/article/0,5987,3232--194727-,00.html

Best wishes,

Jean-Marie Gogue
Versailles France
jmegogue@wanadoo.fr