THE EDITOR, Sir:
WE ARE being told that the progress and prosperity of the 1990s was a "bubble", an "irrational exuberance" that was misconceived and that was bound to collapse. In fact it was no such thing.
The communications revolution of the 90s was the first decade of a technological revolution that should have lasted at least 50 years, and which would have remade the entire infrastructure of the whole world to wean us from oil and replace it with sustainable affordable non-polluting energy.
Extended to the poor world this revolution would have provided a solid foundation for growth without debt, and brought hundreds of millions of poor people into the consumer net. The boom years of the 90s would have continued, the momentum would not have slowed, there would have been no end in sight to the benefits of what was being achieved as the incredible success of the communications revolution was extended to power generation, manufacturing, transport, architecture, education, healthcare ... on and on.
Instead a tiny group of incredibly greedy old men said "Hold on! We have made our money out of oil, and we are going to continue to promote the use of oil until we have pumped the last barrel out of the ground and sold it for our profit no matter how many people we impoverish and choke to death! Revolution? Forget it! We are turning the clock back 30 years to the old routine of oil and arms, and if you stand in our way we are going to bomb you into submission!"
Is the world really going to bow to this? Or is the world going to isolate and ignore those greedy old men and their younger puppets and continue the technological revolution that will make the politics of oil irrelevant? My bet is that the revolution will continue and those who want to turn the clock back will shrivel and die. If the dollar is their currency the world will turn to the euro. If the Bush regime continues to mesmerise the people of the United States with paranoia and propaganda the rest of the world will simply ignore the USA and go on with their lives.
That would be a great pity to say the least, but the people of the United States should be aware that it can happen, is happening, and will continue to accelerate unless there is a regime change in Washington. They should use their vote to achieve that change while they still have the chance, the opportunity might not last forever.
I am, etc.,
PERRY HENZELL
