Saturday, September 27, 2008

The Economist is a rag that I love to hate. In terms of international political affairs coverage it can’t be beat. In terms of its politics, I’m inclined to throw a Molotov Cocktail—a figurative one of course—into its editorial department.

The Molotov Cocktail would create less damage than the 160-plus years of its publication has created by helping decision makers, bureaucrats and those who hold the power of the purse think responsibly.

The recent “Think Responsibly” marketing campaign is crafty, The Economist logo on a bottle cap, with a play on the phase beaten into our heads with every booze ad, “Drink Responsibly” printed underneath. It’s very good, and I’m sure they’ve sold a few more papers by showing the world what makes neo-classical economists laugh.

By thinking responsibly The Economist has espoused an unquestioning free-market ideology that creates winners and losers of the most extreme degrees, and that calls any form of defense the loser takes a barrier to trade.

The losers may be Mexican maize farmers washed out of the market with freely traded U.S. subsidized corn, or U.S. steel workers cut out of the market by an undervalued Chinese currency.

While The Economist’s distinctly wry British wit is entertaining, it lacks unique and innovative insights.

The world yet again faces a crisis bred out of capitalist greed and neoliberal economic principles, and The Economist supports the $700 billion Wall Street bail out, but with no systemic reform.

I think it’s prime time for a little irresponsible thinking.

--Nico Rahim