WASHINGTON, D.C. -- From Disneyland comes the dismaying news that the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride is being renovated, and will no longer feature pirates chasing damsels in distress. Bowing halfway to current sensibilities, the pirates will now reportedly chase after women bearing platters of food (low-fat food we presume, and not rum-raisin cake). Just what message a child will learn from this reformed tableau is unclear; perhaps confirmation of the old saying that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Isn't that just exchanging one stereotype for another? If Disney really wanted to reflect political correctness, it would have the women, complete with NOW membership cards, chasing the pirates. . .

Speaking of stereotypes, a faithful reader of this page called to comment on our Capital Ideas from two weeks ago that mentioned the Derrick Bell story "Space Traders," in which aliens offer to exchange gold and other natural resources in return for taking America's black population back to the cosmos. We're all supposed to feel guilty because the story ends with the Power Structure of the nation agreeing to the deal. But-our faithful reader points out-who is it who believes that in the balance sheet of society humans are a liability while "natural resources" are an asset? It is liberals who believe this most fervently, not the advocates of free markets and individual liberty.

Liberals have long hooted at Julian Simon and others who argue that people are the "ultimate resource," and not physical matter, especially not gold. So, what the Derrick Bell story really makes clear is which segment of opinion thinks African-Americans are a liability on America's balance sheet, and, by implication, who the real racists are at the present moment. Only a liberal would find "Space Traders" to be a plausible scenario. Perhaps "liberal guilt" isn't so silly after all. . .

Finally, our query for the week is: Why is the Harvard Business Review so friendly to fatuousness these days? The feature article in the latest issue on sustainable development-the latest penumbra of environmentalist angst-can be forgiven since there is a business angle to any bogus enthusiasm, but there is no excuse for the fawning review of William GreiderÍs new book decrying "the manic logic of global capitalism."

Greider, whose previous alarms and excursions focused on the sinister neighborhood of the Federal Reserve, thinks that the opening of world markets in the aftermath of the end of the Cold War is a bad thing. We're heading for a cataclysmic fall!, he worries. No one is taking responsibility for the global economy! (which we thought was rather the point of free markets and liberty„that no one would have the power to assume "responsibility" over other people's lives and activities).

No reason to let your blood pressure get up about this. Greider's silly books serve as excellent contrary indicators. His book on the sinister ministrations of the Fed appeared just as the Fed's prestige was rising higher than it has ever been. His doom and gloom book about global capitalism can only mean one thing: Time to buy emerging market stocks.

By Steven Hayward