Capitalism Forever?

Gordon Fitch gcf at panix.com
Sun Feb 24 17:55:23 PST 2002


Justin Schwartz wrote:
> >Personally, apart from thinking that Schweickartian market socialism
> >is our best alternative, my view is this: capitalism is not
> >foreover, no social system is. It's probably around for the long
> >haul, though, this century anyway; we might be surprised, but it's
> >pretty resilient.

Doug Henwood:
> You're probably right, but 20 years ago, who'd have imagined the USSR
> would be gone? And Jeremy Rifkin - who's not the most reliable
> source, so I'd like to check this out - quoted a Harvard Business
> Review poll of CEOs from the late 70s showing that most assumed
> capitalism was doomed and their grandchildren would live under
> socialism. So you never know....

Assuming the complete victory of imperial liberalism, which now seems assured, I expect there to be a considerable shift in capitalism (meaning the economic and social system). In the future, for instance, the ruling classes, now at peace with themselves and cohered into a single entity, may be much more interested in stability than acceleration of production and accumulation. Hence strong regulation of markets and other capitalist sacred cows, and the establishment of a universal Welfare/police state could be anticipated, along with a generous degree of Byzantine decadence appropriate to nearly uncontested dominanace.

-- Gordon



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