JKSCHW at aol.com wrote:
>
> Brad raises an important question, again, by askinga >bout positive alternative. Doug asserts--I won't say >defends, since he offers no argument--the alternative >probably preferred by most people on this list, >democratic planning.
Democratic planning has been defended at length and defended against Hayekianism by Robin Hahnel and Pat Devine amongst others. As for market socialism, no thank you. If given the choice between MS and democratic or even central planning, no working class person would choose to live in MS even *if* it can allocate consumer goods more efficiently. People who are alienated by and driven to despair by labor markets are not going to trumpet the supposed virtues of them. Class struggle will continue in MS, between the workers and the managerial class. What then? All markets are evil and need to be abolished. IMO, market socialism is part of the 1990's retreat of the left in the face of defeats in various locations.
Sam Pawlett