[lbo-talk] The State and Capitalism

[Mr. WD]

On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 5:50 PM, Eric <rayrena at realtime.net> wrote:
>
>  >Is there anything in actually existing society that you see as a
>  >model for your ideal economy, or would it have to be created out of
>  >whole cloth?
>
>  I refuse to answer that, since it would compromise my moral purity. Heh.
>
>  It's hard to name specific models because I think the key might be in
>  virtualities instead of actualities, gaps rather than structures. So
>  I don't know. I'll have to think about it.

I've always thought the most realistic proposal for a decentralized,
egalitarian economy is Philippe Van Parijs's proposal for a Universal
Basic Income.  ( http://www.bostonreview.net/BR25.5/vanparijs.html )
Which is basically to keep the capitalist economy, but provide
everyone the highest possible unconditional income with no
restrictions on what it can be used for and no requirement that
recipients perform any income-generating labor.

You'd still have capitalism, sure -- but it'd have a lot of its teeth
pulled out.  It would give workers infinitely more bargaining power
than they have presently.  Leisure time would increase dramatically.
Eventually, I suspect, a lot of the worst capitalist institutions
would wither away as more and more people choose leisure over the rat
race.  Are there any better medium-term proposals?

-N