GlobLog - July 2007
A direct link to each entry is obtained by using the button below the entry.

22:39 - A LIVING WAGE: 

First they paid farmers to farm.

Then they paid farmers not to farm.

Then they took another step by paying non-farmers not to farm.

And just when you thought they´d run out of ideas, here comes the logical conclusion: Agricultural subsidies for the dead. Washington Post reports that deceased farmers in the US get $157 million a year. That makes a decent wage per working hour.

(Via The Insider)

21:58 - THE GRAYING OF ANTI-GLOBALISATION : 

A new FT/Harris Poll shows that people in the west think that globalisation has a negative effect on their countries. This is not surprising, earlier polls have showed that rich countries on average dislike globalisation, whereas poor countries like it. But the results (from US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain) are brutal nonetheless. Only 21,3 percent think that globalisation is positive and 50,2 percent think that it’s negative.

An obvious reason is that the negative effects of competition (a factory closure) can easily be seen and reported, but the positive ones (lower prices, improved standards of living and new industries and jobs) are spread out in time and space. But if you look closer at this poll, it suggests another reason: Discomfort with change. Those who grew up in centralised and protectionist welfare states are most negative to globalisation, and the young who have never known anything else are the most happy with it.

If the oldest group surveyed, those aged 55-64, was a country, it would be the one most hostile to globalisation. Only 17,8 percent of them think that globalisation is positive and 59,8 percent think that it’s negative.

In the youngest group, 16-24, there is also a plurality against globalisation, but it’s smaller than the national average in all countries except Italy. 28,2 percent of the youngest think that globalisation is positive and 39,6 percent think it’s negative.

Pictures of young anti-WTO protesters claiming to speak for the poor, have deceived us. If you are looking for the real anti-globalists, look for someone born in the 1940s in the world’s richest countries.

(Most surprising response: Should free competition be one of the European Union´s objectives. The French: 45% yes, 38 no. Sarkozy is in the minority.)

21:28 - HUR FÖRÄNDRAR DIN FAVORITFILOSOF VÄRLDEN?: 

"Vad kan vara mer praktiskt än en god teori?" frågade den svenske 1800-talsliberalen J G Richert. Och den poängen kommer sommarens essätävling (pdf) från Timbro och Captus att inskärpa. Här förklarar Mattias Svensson varför du bör delta.

22:44 - WHAT I DO INSTEAD: 

I am not blogging as much as usual. That´s because it´s summer. And that´s an excellent time to relax with the family, watch some Wimbledon tennis and get some reading done. The best book so far is Tom Standage´s entertaining A History of the World in Six Glasses. Its only fault is that I had to interrupt the reading all the time since it made me thirsty.

Summer is also a good time to get some writing done. Right now I am writing two things: A study of human development for the Swedish government´s Globalisation Council and a book on the idea of happiness in history, research and politics for a Swedish publisher. So if you have too little to read here right now, you´ll probably get lots of it later on.

21:11 - WHERE TO GO IN STOCKHOLM: 

If you´re visiting Stockholm this summer, be sure to stop by En annan salladsbar on Birger Jarlsgatan 22, close to Stureplan. One reason is that the food is delicious (the sausage salad is an unexpected favourite), another reason is that it has been started as a protest against ruthless trade unions that destroyed a salad bar in Gothenburg because its workers wanted individual working agreements and didn´t accept the union´s demands.

UPDATE 23.53: This post has the potential to become a classic in bad timing. Just when I told you to go there, the owners announce that they are fed up, and are looking for a buyer. I should have eaten more sausage salads...