[lbo-talk] Oil touches $57 per barrel, many OPEC membersator above capacity

Michael Dawson MDawson at pdx.edu
Fri Mar 18 14:09:44 PST 2005


Amen, and isn't this also a soft-versus-hard-landing issue, with the main determinant being whether or not we ever manage to democratize/socialize transportation policy? Right now, the only thing more taken-for-granted and less debated than general level of Pentagon budgets is the public subsidy to automobiles.

And did people notice that almost half the new record trade deficit is for autos and oil? According to Commerce Department data, 48 percent of the record ($651 billion) U.S. trade deficit is for cars and oil. For those inclined toward liberalism and ABBism, this share has actually _declined_ slightly under Shrub. It was over 50 percent in 2000. It is as systemic as anything out there.

My thesis: Cars _are_ corporate capitalism. The former are the ultimate core commodity for the latter. They are, to borrow from Braverman, the voice of capitalism made real at the level of the commodity. And, because of their unique mix of expense, fragility and marketability (fetishization), and their huge multiplier effects in the economy, you simply can't have the latter without the former. You also can't have ecological survival WITH either.

This is likely to prove to be THE political issue of our time, IMHO. And what the left has said about it thus far is pathetically mushy. We're in a real race against time here. It's socialism or Mad Maxism.

(Can you tell I'm writing a book on this?)


> -----Original Message-----
> From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
> On Behalf Of Doug Henwood
> Sent: Friday, March 18, 2005 1:36 PM
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: RE: [lbo-talk] Oil touches $57 per barrel, many OPEC membersator
> above capacity
>
> Michael Dawson wrote:
>
> >Peak or no peak, how many more decades of oil-BURNING can we take?
>
> That's the real question. I don't think Hubbert's going to do the work for
> us.
>
> Doug
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk



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