Liquidation Sale! (was Replacement costs)

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

At 09:23 AM 2/29/00 -0500, Rakesh wrote:
>Ted wrote:
>
>>If we were to "green" the economy in various ways, such as subsidizing
>>organic agriculture, banning cars in downtowns in favor of public
>>transportation, and replacing destructive products with
>>environmentally-friendly alternatives, etc., the result would be new
>>opportunities for economic growth and long-term lowering of the costs of
>>production.  But since this would occur at the expense of short-term profit,
>>the impetus has to come from the state.  Unfortunately, "In liberal
>>democratic states the normal political logic of pluralism and compromise
>>prevents the development of overall environmental, urban, and social
>>planning."
>
>Ted, this makes it seem as if you are arguing for a more authoritarian,
>centralized state (a Leninist dictatorship of the proletariat?) freed from
>democratic pressure as it takes form in liberalism? Ah, that outstanding
>problem of the relationship between democracy and communism. Are Marx's and
>Lenin's ideas the same (Hal Draper, Paul Mattick, Richard Hunt, Paul
>Thomas, John Ehrenberg all give different answers)?

Rakesh, phleeeez, be serious.  There is a whole spectrum between stalinist
"dictatorship of the proletariat" and the executive committee of the
bourgeoisie a.k.a. United States government.  Like social democracy, for
example.  Most Western European countries fall into neither extreme - they
have sensible land use and transportation policies without banning private
ownership of the means of production. 

I understand that US leftists blame their political impotence on iron laws
of capitalism - but in reality there is no such thing as capitalism - only
different interest groups having different political clout.  In some
countries, like Sweden, the working class had enough clout to make the
government pursue policies favorable to its intersts.  In the US, however,
government sucks up to business big time and does not give a shit about the
workers.  But that is the problem of the US political system, not the
abstaction a.k.a capitalism.

 

wojtek