Untitled Document

CARTOONS
DEALING WITH
"THE SIMPLER WAY" THEMES.

Notes are given on some of the points that could be made when these cartoons are used for educational purposes, and reference is made to documents where more detailed discussion and evidence on the themes they deal with can be found.

Copyright:

Some of these cartoons have been published. Sources are given so that acknowledgement can be made if this is thought to be appropriate. Sources referred to in the copyright notes are;

TASE. T. Trainer, Towards a Sustainable Economy, Envirobooks, Sydney,1995.
AA. T. Trainer, Abandon Affluence, London, Zed Books, 1985.
DD T. Trainer, Developed to Death, London, John Carpenter, 1989.
DE T. Trainer, Development Economics, Melbourne, Heinemann Educational,
1989.

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I. OIL

"YES I COULD SELL IT TO YOU FOR $2, BUT I CAN SELL IT TO HIMN FOR $34!"

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2. RESOURCES FOR SALE.

Cartoons 1 and 2 show how the market system allows those who are richer to take scarce goods. Cartoon 3 shows how the same market mechanism results in inappropriate development.

This principle explains most of the problems in the world;, most suffering is due to the deprivation of basic necessities such as food and water. The rich countries take 80% of the world’s resources, at a per capita average consumption that is 17 times the average for the poorest half of the world’s people – simply because they can bid more for them. Need is totally irrelevant. The fact that many people are hungry makes no difference to the fact that about 600 million tonnes of grain, one third of world production, is fed to animals in rich countries every year while at least 1.2 billion people are hungry. Much animal feed is exported from poor and hungry countries to rich countries…because that is the most profitable thing to do in a market system.

For more detailed discussion and evidence, see Our Economic System; Why It Must be Scrapped, and Third World Development.
Copyright: Cartoon 1, TASE, p. 39, DE, p. 78 DE, p. 64.
Cartoon 2, TASE, p. 3, AA p. 163.
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3a. LOOK! DEVELOPMENT!!

3b. THE DEVELOPMENT MACHINE

Conventional development involves production of what is most profitable. The few who own most capital are allowed to invest it in the production of whatever will maximise their incomes. Often the result is very different to what would happen if capital was invested in what is most necessary or socially desirable. A capitalist, profit driven economy attends well to those with most money to spend, and it usually completely ignores those who are poor. A foreign investor who goes into a very poor country will never produce what is most needed there; he will produce things for local rich people or to export to rich countries. This fundamental distinction between profit and need is basic to Marxist social analysis.

(See Marx: An Introductory Outline.)

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4. ACME PTY LTD.

Marx drew attention to the contradictions built into our economy. One of the worst is that the owner of the factory has an incdentive to automate production, but if all the factories use no workers, no one will have any income, so they will be unable to buy things the factories produce, and the factory owners will not be able to sell their products. Thus there are powerful tendencies within a capitalist economy to self-destruction.

For discussion and evidence, see
Marx; An Introductory Outline.
Capitalism; A brief critrical Outline.
Copyright:
TASE, p. 36.
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5. OVER-FED COUNTRIES

Much of the food eaten in rich countries comes from poor countries where hunger is a problem, including feed for animals in rich countries. People who wok in the plantations receive very low wages. Only about 10% of the retail value of the crop goes to the Third World, and most of that is taken by plantation owners and transporters.
For discussion and evidence see Third World Development.
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6. BUY! CONSUME! WASTE!

Massive waste of resources is absolutely essential to keep our economy going. If we cut out production of many things that are frivolous the economy would collapse. In fact it must constantly increase production and consumption or problems escalate.

For discussion and evidence see Our Economic System: Why It Must Be Scrapped.
Copyright: TASE p. 11.
AA p. 239.
DD p. 131.
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7. COMMUNIST SUBVERSION.

An important way in which many Third World regimes have been able to keep their people to the economic policies that disadvantage the people and benefit the rich has been to identify any call for change as communist subversion. Note that now this is no longer necessary; the globalisation of the world economy forces Third World people to accept as legitimate and inevitable conditions that deprive them, e.g., the Structural Adjustment Programs imposed by the World Bank.

For discussion and evidence see Third World Development, "Maintaining Your Empire", Ch. 6 in Developed to Death, T. Trainer, 1989.
Copyright: AA, p. 174.
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8. PLENTY LEFT FOR YOU.

For a discussion of resource scarcity see The limits to growth __________________________________________________________________________________

9. UNEMPLOYED - HUNGRY

This is another of the absurd consequences built into our economy. It is not possible to organise productive capacity so that those without work can start producing things that people need – because what is to be produced is left to the few with capital to decide, and they will only invest in things that are very profitable to them.
The idea of contradiction built into capitalism is central in Marxist social theory. See Marx: An Introductory Outline.

For discussion and evidence see Third World Development,
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11. INVESTMENT

Most of the capital available is taken by the big corporations and invested in what will maximise their profits. Very little capital is available to ordinary people to develop their communities. This distribution occurs because the big corporations can pay more, ie., can meet the higher interest rates lenders expect.

There is a huge difference between what happens when production and investment are determined by what will maximise profits, and what is most necessary and desirable for the welfare of people, the environment and society. Profits are maximised by production for richer people ( i.e., those with more "effective demand"), by producing shoddy goods and by producing what does not provide properly for the environment.

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11. STOP HIM.

Most effort to save the environment only goes into bandaiding, i.e., fixing or defending damage doe by the economy. An ecologically sustainable society is not possible without huge reduction in the volume of producing and consuming going on, and that is not possible in this economy. This economy must have constant increase in production and consumption, i.e., economic growth.

The issue is the theme of the book Saving The Environment; What It Will Take, Sydney, UNSW, Press, 1998.
Copyright, DD 125.
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12. SHARES OF THE PIE.

There are not enough resources for the Third World to rise to the "living standards" of the rich countries.
For discussion and evidence see Global Economic Injustice, orThird World Development, or The Limits to Growth.
Copyright:
TASE p. 17.
DE, p. 93.
DD, p. 122.

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13. OVERDEVELOPED NEVER-TO-BE-DEVELOPED

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14. "TRICKLE DOWN";

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15. CRUMBS

The fundamental assumption in conventional development theory is that wealth will "trickle down" to enrich the poor, in an economic system which allows capital to go mostly into producing for the rich. But very very little ever trickles down; the poor get very little benefit from development which is most profitable, and in fact the land and productive capacity the poor had and could use to produce for themselves are typically taken from them and put into production for the rich.

Consider shirt makers in Bangladesh who are paid 15 c per hour. They are getting a minute proportion of the value they create, while most goes to the corporations and supermarket shoppers in rich countries. They would be far better off if they could devote most of their time to producing collectively basic things for their own use.
Conventional development is best regarded as a form of plunder. It ends up taking from Third world people the capacity they once had to provide for themselves. Their land and forests are taken, and their labour is drawn into producing exports in factories and plantations. In general Third World people not only receive little trickle down benefit; they lose what they had…and rich world people and their corporations could not be as rich as they are if they were not getting far more than their fair share of the world’s resources.

For discussion and evidence see Third World Development,
Copyright:
DE p. 91
DD p. 119
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16. DEVELOPMENT ADVISERS.

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17. PROGRESS.

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18, "WE SHOULD BE FREE TO COMPETE…"

Globalisation is about giving enormous freedom to compete for markets, resources and labour. Obviously this means the biggest and richest players will win and take most of what is available. It is not possible to have a just and humane society unless there is considerable regulation, so that the society somehow makes sure that the biggest, smartest, fittest and richest are not allowed to take much more than their fair share.

The rules being built into the World Trade Organisation GATS, etc are giving corporations this sort of freedom, and actually making it illegal for governments to intervene and make foreign investors do what is in their interests of the people.

For more detail see , Globalisation; A Summary, Third World Development ( section on market forces and on inappropriate development) or Our Economic System; these accounts are much the same. For much evidence on the effects of the free market system see Globalisation: Documents, especially the sections on the World Trade Organisation.
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19. LOOK! DEVELOPMENT

There is a great deal of development taking place in the Third World…but most of it is inappropriate to the needs of most people. It is not development of the things most people need. This is precisely what you must expect when what is developed are only the industries that those with capital can make most money from. These will be industries producing for the local rich and for export to rich countries.

See Third World Development, or Our Economic System: Why It Must Be Scrapped.
Copyright.
DE p. 78.
DD. p. 68.
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20, CONSUME FASTER

There is far more producing and consuming going on than is necessary or sustainable, but in our economy, if production and consumption slows or falls there is economic chaos. Unemployment and bankruptcies rise. We actually have to constantly increase output for the economy to remain "healthy". We need an economy in which we can just produce as little as possible to provide all with a high quality of life.

See Our Economic System; Why It Must Be Scrapped.

21. COMPETITION.

In general competition is obviously the silliest way to organise things. The best way is cooperatively, especially where there are problems of distribution and fairness. In a family the sensible thing to do is to cooperative and to consider people’s needs. If you let competition determine who gets things then the biggest smartest and meanest will get them. (It could be desirable to have place in the economy for competition, but only in an economy which is under social control.

See Our Economic System; Why It Must be Scrapped.
Copyright:
Not drawn by TT; source unknown.
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