Homestead mailing list

[Don Bowen KI6DIU <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>]

At 2/23/2008, you wrote:
> The potato famine is not an example of the failure of a localized and
> diversified economy.  Relying almost entirely on a single crop is
> certainly not diversification and in the case of Ireland, where the
> famine was most acute, the control England exercised over the country
> forcing the Irish population onto smaller and smaller plots of
> marginal land (necessitating reliance on the single crop that could
> be cultivated on such land) while forcibly maintaining the exports of
> food from Ireland while people were starving is not an example of a
> 'local' economy.  Moreover, the current program of globalization has
> nothing in common with ancient population migrations.  Globalism, in
> its current form of political/economic philosophy, specifically
> excludes the free motion of labor (people, that is), as do most so
> called 'free trade' programs.

The Irish Potato famine is an example of a lot of things with many 
contributing factors.  One was overpopulation caused by large families and 
the subsequent small plots for food growing.  Larger plots were not 
available, the greed of the rich made sure that there was no land 
reform.  In England, enclosure laws were forcing peasants off the land but 
various laws restricted movement of the now landless in order to restrict 
the growth of city slums.  Corn Laws restricted the import of food.  The 
new mills needed wool so English farmers grew sheep and imported food from 
Ireland.  Irish farmers grew grain for export forcing locals to grow food 
on ever small plots.

I believe it was the early economist Ricardo who pegged the price of labor 
to the price of food.  It took several years for his arguments to cause the 
removal of the corn Laws.  Land owners still held the power in England 
until quite late in teh 19th century.



Don Bowen              Awl Knotted Up                       KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com