EPI is a plural consciousness, not monadic. Some would be for exprop, others would say sure if it was possible, and I would say it's not worth talking about as a general goal. I would say worth talking about are taxing wealth, forgiving debt, capital levies, and un-privatizing some services, among other things, all of which are expropriation of, dare I say, a more likely and practical sort.
> and I don't think they'd agree that it's necessary to create fear among
the ruling class to accomplish even a reformist agenda.>>
Probably not.
> I'll bet there are very few folks at EPI who'd agree with me that the fall
of the USSR was a blow to social democracy.>
There you'd probably be wrong (again), though nobody would regret the loss of the Soviet system in and of itself, I would imagine.
>> . . . No fixes from the IMF or G7 will work. The problem is that there is
excess capacity. We are witnessing a crisis of overproduction. Capitalism
has no solution for that.>
Excess capacity only exists in relation to an external thing -- insufficient demand. (Look Mom, it's dialectics!) Otherwise you'd be saying there is too much consumption overall, not merely the "wrong" kind of consumption. If you're that green, we need a truly red Lou P to expose you to the masses. Obviously the system can create new demand if it chooses. It's real difficulty in my view is its ability to juggle the mutually aggravating instabilities of business failure, debt default, capital flight, etc. Creating new demand is simple.
Ecological catastrophe is a different matter, but we do not see such a problem presently menacing the advanced industrial nations.
Cheer up, things probably will get worse.
Regards,
MBS