----- Original Message ----- From: "Eric Beck" <rayrena at realtime.net>
> Doug Henwood wrote:
> >
> >But you were being ironic about the barricades, right?
>
> Yes, I was. Maybe my face was a little too straight. Judging
> from the article this comes from, "adaptable capitalism" is
> capital circa 1967 or 1934 or 1871, or some other time in
> Ralph's fantasy world, in which competition was free, the
> playing field was level, the government didn't favor certain
> businesses over others, owners (investors) controlled what they
> owned, and something called "consenual freedom of contract"
> reigned. I'm no historian of capitalism, but this separation
> of corporation and state never really existed, did it?
>
> Eric
==================
As for your question, nope the separation never existed.
As for RN, one need only look to the lives and works of Louis Brandeis and Thurman Arnold to get a sense of where he's coming from.
Ian