On Wed, 2 Feb 2005, Gomi no Sensei wrote: >"The economy is global, but political government is >still determined by nation-states" is about as >contradicting a statement as 'Water is wet, but >stone is hard'. Different objects, different >properties. The economic crises that do occur are >generally traceable to interference with the >operation of the market and poorly crafted and >enforced property rights. Government is about economics. If it weren't, then why would the one common feature of modern governments be taxation (aka resource management or the choice between winners and losers)? Put simply, the government's main duty, taxation, is interference in the market. You should read Barnett's (Sp) new book _The Pentagon at War_. Let's look at a few of the more recent "economic crisis." Very Possible: The crash of the dollar due to excessive government deficits, too little savings by the American people, and the rise of a suitable competitor in the Euro. The best way to prevent this crisis - cut the budget deficit and interfere with the market by encouraging the American people to save more money. 1. Minor recession of 2000 - 2004: A small business-cycle recession made worse by the destruction of America's best known office building by international terrorists. You could call it an interference in the market by terrorists, but a better description would be a recession caused by the government's failure to provide security to its market. 2. The Asian Flu of the mid 1990s to present: caused by numerous bad choices by Japanese banks as to whom they loan money (due to cultural factors and the lack of oversight by the Japanese government). 3. 1970s Inflation crisis: caused in large part by the strain placed on America's economy by the Vietnam war and the breakdown of the Breton Woods system. There are other examples but I think these make my point. An economy is an engine but government policies, at least in the modern world, are the lubricant. Globalization is nothing more then the extension of America's economy to the world. It can be compared to a worldwide system of government because it is one, and the dollar is king. If America falls so does globalization.