03 May 2006

Are you with or against outside investment?

Everything in the world is turning around the concept of economic surplus... Lebanese big champ group is having town meeting …. Theoretically we presume that they will make a difference, but who am I kidding if these people strongly believe and convince the poor people that allowing outside investment in an immature economy such as Lebanon would assist them to reach economic maturity faster……..what do you expect ? Do you think this is this the case? Is this possible? They bully people, trying to impose their convictions which are mostly absurd …….

I will prove this point by stating:
· First: capital creates work in the place where it is spent.
Banking system in Lebanon mostly concentrates its targets in the urban areas allowing fast growing businesses to flood in urban areas which in turn attracted young men who needed to work to raise their own capital. However, these needs create further demands for loans and more work for building trade. On the other hand business in their hometown goes into obliteration because the young workforce abandon their roots, which in turn leads to shrinking of the business in countryside…… lamenting situation……
· Second: outside investors are only interested in the rate of return on the money they invest, all other payments to workers is considered to reduce their own crippling profit, every effort is made to decrease this wastage while in-house investors aim to maximize total income generated in the community not just profit, the outside investors seek to attain ultimate profit with the cheapest possible labor, while community investor is merely satisfied by the employees efforts and counts them as stakeholders and not just domino characters in the game-field
· Third aspect: outside investors have very short time horizon, eager to make the maximum profit within a short period of time, while community investment has a long term view they want to produce in safe, stable markets, not in a risky gambling fashion because every penny is counted in the fishbowl, they don't have that large pot of jam to pour in it all their sweets.
· Fourth: the escalating amounts of interests that are being poured in the system while the World Bank projects the image of a fairy to provide equal funds and packages to poor countries through human right perspective, ya right as if we believe it…. The devastating interest that piles on the debts is enough to leave us with the misery for the rest of our lives……..

In this world it's hard to fight globalization, to prevent its claws from penetrating into the developing countries which are being used as tools for the market of the exports of the developed…. It is sad but true, maybe I'm too idealistic and this world is my other paradox …..
Should we allow foreign investment or I'm being impractical living in a world of unrealism……..