"During the 1980s and 1990s the scale of state intervention in economic, social and cultural life has not diminished, but on the contrary has grown. Deregulation" - and I would also add, privatization - "is also a form of interventionism, albeit a perverted one. Now, however, this intervention has been aimed at destroying the public sector, at reducing living standards and at removing customs barriers. Practice shows that keeping markets open demands no less activity from governments than protectionism. All that happens is a restructuring of the government apparatus and a change of priorities, as argued in an article in Nezavisimaya Gazeta.":
'However paradoxical it may seem, under the conditions of the market economy the administrative globalism of the Russian government sometimes surpasses the gigantomania that afflicted the economic structures of the USSR. It will be recalled that the exorbitant cost of the mistakes made by the Soviet managerial hierarchy was one of the main reasons for the crisis of the national economy.' (pgs. 17-18)
Its no accident that a Russian leftist would take note of the reality of the so-called "neoliberal" process. It is simultaneously the affirmation and contradiction of the Schumpeterian thesis expressed in the metaphor of "gales of creative destruction", except that where Schumpeter saw this as an autonomous process of capitalist economy, today's reality reveals it as a process that requires both _initiation_ and regulation by the capitalist state all along the line. Which means also that it is not 'inevitable' and quite reversible, even by the capitalists and their states themselves.
-Brad Mayer
>Wednesday, February 21 4:35 PM SGT
>
>Japan considers full privatization of Japan Railway group
>
>TOKYO, Feb 21 (AFP) -
>
>The Japanese government said Wednesday it was considering fully
>privatizing three former state-run Japanese National Railways companies by
>as early as the middle of this year.
>
>The three Japan Railway group companies are East Japan Railway Co. (JR
>East), West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) and Central Japan Railway Co. (JR
>Tokai).
>
>"The ministry is...considering selling all the government's shares in the
>three companies after June, when the law revision passes the Diet," said
>Shinya Onodera, spokesman for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and
>Transportation.
>
>Under the current law, the three companies must get government approval
>for initiatives including new business plans and the appointments of
>executives, Onodera said.
>
>"By fully privatizing, the freedom and speed of the companies' management
>will increase," Onodera explained.
>
>The government has a 12.5 percent stake in JR East, 31.5 percent of JR
>West and 39.7 percent of JR Tokai.
>
>The total value of the government-owned shares at current market prices is
>estimated at about 1.2 trillion yen (10 billion dollars).
>
>"Since the privatization in 1987, the government has been aiming to fully
>privatize the companies in terms of both management and shareholdings,"
>Onodera said.
>
>When the government sold one million shares of JR East in 1999, 650
>billion yen (5.6 billion dollars) was added to the national coffers.
>
>"Currently, the share price situation is not good," Onodera said.
>
>"The ministry will watch share prices and the economic situation to decide
>the timing of selling stocks," Onodera said.
>
>"The revenue will be used to compensate for former JNR's debts,
>particularly those for pensions," the official added.
>
>After incurring massive debts, state-run Japanese National Railways was
>broken up in 1987 into seven partially privatized companies, which include
>JR East, JR West and JR Tokai.
>
>The government kept shares in the companies as a safeguard against the
>deterioration of services and to support the companies financially as they
>transformed into private businesses.
>
>Four other JR companies are still not listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
>
>Stock investors would be dismayed if the government rushes to sell its JR
>shares, a dealer said.
>
>"While the overall market situation is gloomy, the share volume the
>government is considering selling will be large," said Mizuho Investor's
>Securities's broker Eiji Shio.
>
>"Investors might also sell other shares to procure funds for buying JR
>shares, which means the government sell-off might affect prices of other
>corporate shares," Shio said