Buying Time or Building a Future: Labor Strategies for a Global Economy

Abstract

[Excerpt] A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to the global economy. Mexico, the bright, new star in the investors' heaven, crashed as spectacularly as a meteor in December last year. By June, two million jobs had been lost, wages had declined bv 50-60 percent in dollar value, and 83 banks and some 80 percent of small businesses were headed for bankruptcy[...] The crash serves as a case study in the workings - and failings - of the world economic system. It also needs to serve as a wake-up call to labor. Armed with an understanding of the world economic scene, labor needs to develop adequate responses to capital's efforts to maximize profits by moving investment capital from one country to another in the blink of an eye - or more accurately, at the touch of a finger on a keyboard.