another big idea...

international capital mobility, coupled with free trade, allows corporations to escape from national regulation in the public interest, playing one nation off against another. since there is no global government they are, in effect, uncontrolled. the nearest thing we have to a global government (IMF-WB-WTO) has shown no interest in regulating transnational capital for the common good. their goal is to help these corporations grow, because growth is presumed good for all--end of story. if the IMF wanted to limit international capital mobility to keep the world safe for comparative advantage, there are several things they could do. they could promote minimum residence times for foreign investment to limit capital flight and speculation and they could propose a small tax on all foreign exchange transactions (tobin tax). most of all they could revive keynes’ proposal for an international multilateral clearing union that would directly penalize persistent imbalances in current account (both deficit and surplus), and thereby indirectly promote balance in the compensating capital account, reducing international capital movements. // herman daly, adbusters