133 lines
5.6 KiB
Plaintext
133 lines
5.6 KiB
Plaintext
The information in this file was recently published in FREEDOM -
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the fortnightly anarchist journal published by FREEDOM PRESS:
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FREEDOM PRESS (IN ANGEL ALLEY) 84B WHITECHAPEL HIGH STREET,
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LONDON E1 7QX GREAT BRITAIN
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Do write for a sample copy or for a copy of our booklist of
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publications. We will be putting more of this information out so
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watch this spot...
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DEPRESSION AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN LATIN AMERICA A VIEW FROM URUGUAY
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In 1990 the total level of unemployment in Latin American
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countries hit 50 million; but by the year 2000 a further 100
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million jobs will be needed. The population of the area is
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doubling in the space of 30 years as opposed to 100 in North
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America and 600 in some European countries. The bed produces many
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births but the table little food and with underdeveloped
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agriculture and industry the future looks bleak for the end of
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this and the beginning of the next century.
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Some Latin American analysts, who look at the persistant
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structural imbalances in the economies of some 20 countries south
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of the Rio Grande, estimate that the crisis is growing more
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severe year on year with a snowballing effect. In this climate of
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ideas, journals linked with CEPAL, believe that between 79 and 89
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'Latin America lost 10% of economic growth'... it can also be
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noted that growth in GDP per capita in the region was negative in
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88 and 89 with figures of -1.5 and -1% respectively. This is due
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to the fact that the annual rate of population growth is 2.6%,
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one of the highest in the world and only surpassed in Africa.
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Faced with the slow growth in agricultural and industrial
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production in the region and the rapid population growth, some
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international financial organisations have put conditions on
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credit demanding malthusian family planning policies.
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The truth, however, is that this is not the main cause of the
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inertia in GDP but rather the fact that the developed world has
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shouldered the underdeveloped world with external debt amounting
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to $1.2 billion of which 440.000 million is Latin American.
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The region is not overpopulated: population density is 20 per
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km2, against 101 in Asia, 100 in Europe and 27 in the USA with
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Japan coming in at 322. However, Japan enjoys double the GDP rate
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of Latin America in absolute terms and is six times richer than a
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Latin American.
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South Korea and Taiwan, two decades ago, were underdeveloped -
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as much or more so than Latin America. Both countries were
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overpopulated but economic growth was high because they ceased
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being exporters of primary products and started producing and
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exporting manufactured goods, which gives added value, provides
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work and sells well internationally. Thus, unbelievably, Taiwan
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in a reduced area and with a population of only 20 million
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produced in value terms half the exports of Latin America and has
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currency reserves many times greater.
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The population growth in the area is actually beneficial. In
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reality a vacuum lies at its centre given that the population
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concentrates around the deltas of its great rivers and the
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seabord penetrating the interior by about 1500 kms.
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Economic and technological development within a given country
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requires population densities of some 100 per km2 for only thus
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can markets be created which can supply the demand necessary to
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sustain agriculture and industry. Currently in those markets that
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do exist only primary materials are produced and exported and
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therefore given the lack of added value trade balances are in
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deficit and the final outcome is crippling external debt.
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In this sense, accelerating population growth coupled with
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exports of primary materials has led to the collapse of economic
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and technological development and the necessary importation of
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modern machinery, up-to-date technology has proved impossible to
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finance as has also the cost of patents and new materials to
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export quality manufactured goods - the only way to maintain
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relatively full emploment. This all explains the level of 46
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million unemployed roughly the equivalent of half the young
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labour force. But in the perspective of 2000 if the region wishes
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to escape from this crisis of underdevelopment 100 million new
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jobs will be needed. Currently the active labour force stands at
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around 124 million paradoxically with more emploted in the
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terciary sector rather than agriculture and industry.
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If on top of official unemployment we add unproductive
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employment of travelling salesmen, shoeshiners, domestics,
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excessive bureaucracy in the state aparatus, supernumaries in
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small businesses and low productivity companies we arrive at an
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unemployment rate of 40%. But, moreover,since the active part of
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the labour force is no bigger than 30% as opposed to 43% in the
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EEC there is a difference of 13% underemployment in Latin
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America. The reality is that work is scarce and 50 million live
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in extreme poverty. The EEC has a productive labour force of 139
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million as opposed to Latin America's 124 but has a GDP four
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times higher.
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Given the facts one asks oneself. How come Latin America with
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more university and technological development than for example
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South Korea 20 years ago the later has industrialised whereas a
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country like Argentina is facing an almost inescapable crisis?
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It all suggests a crisis in the economic, scientific,
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technological and cultural development model in Latin America
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which has perversely led to growth in the wrong sectors of the
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economy...
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Abraham Guilln Quark Dec. 93 URUGUAY
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