[lbo-talk] US not a private enterprise system

[Carrol Cox]

"Private enterprise" is not a technical term of politial economy; it is
part of the folklore of capitalism, and there fore discussing whether
Country X is or is oot a private enterprise system is        rather like
discussing whethr one's pet spaniel is or is nota a unicorn. The U.S. is
a capitalist nation, and the degree of public or private ownership is
important in run-of-the-mill politics but has no theoretical
signficance. The assumption that public  ownership is or can be a
"socialist" element within a capitalist society is the assumption that
we can get to heaven in a rocking chair as capitalism peacefully drifts
into socialism. It is a repudiation of Luxemburg's "socialism or
barbarism" and her key insight that, given the ultimaaaate rule of
contingency in human history, barbarism is at least as likely an outcome
as socialism.

Carrol