2005-10-05,+DT+letter+on+IMF+in+Business+Day


 * Business Day, Letters, 04 October 2005**

= **IMF’s fantasy** =

The International Monetary Fund’s Saul Lizondo volunteered to oppose Neva Makgetla in his letter, Not IMF’s way (October 3), but only succeeds in confirming the truth of Makgetla’s original column.

The IMF “argues plausibly” that “centralised” collective bargaining “may” stifle small business, he says.

This is simply an unsupported attack. Lizondo hardly even tried to address Makgetla’s complaint.

He contrived to raise up yet another unsupported fantasy — that of “the small business-led growth seen in many other developing countries”.

There is no such thing, of course. It is pure neoliberal dogma, based on wishful thinking.

It is necessary to go back a century-and-a-half, to the dawn of industrial capitalism, before we find genuine examples of “small business-led growth”.

Those days are gone forever.

It is time the IMF ceased spreading debilitating urban legends.

Rather, let it rejoin the rest of us in the 21st century, studying how to mobilise big capital for development at the required scale.

Dominic Tweedie Lombardy East

From: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/opinion.aspx?ID=BD4A98433


 * Original:**

The IMF's Saul Lizondo, volunteering to oppose Neva Makgetla, (Not IMF's Way, Letters, October 3) only succeeds in confirming the truth of Makgetla's original article.

The IMF "argues", says Lizondo, "plausibly", that "centralised" collective bargaining "may" stifle small business.

This is simply an unsupported attack on the basic idea of combination of workers. It is no different from the point of view of the judge in the case of the 19th-century Tolpuddle Martyrs.

Lizondo has hardly even tried to address Makgetla's complaint. On the contrary, he contrives to raise up yet another unsupported fantasy, that of "the small business-led growth seen in many other developing countries". There is no such thing, of course. It is pure neo-liberal dogma, based on wishful thinking.

It is necessary to go back a century and a half, to the dawn of industrial capitalism, before we find genuine examples of "small business-led growth". Those days are gone forever.

It is time the IMF ceased spreading debilitating urban legends. Rather let them re-joined the rest of us in the 21st century, studying how to mobilise big capital for development at the required scale.

Yours,

Dominic Tweedie.