[lbo-talk] Soros, Volcker, Depression, Nationalization

[Fernando Cassia]

On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 1:23 AM, Miles Jackson <cqmv at pdx.edu> wrote:
> Doug Henwood wrote:
>>
>> On Feb 23, 2009, at 1:10 AM, Miles Jackson wrote:
>>
>>> On the contrary: we have all kinds of successful socialist economic
>>>  production, even if we limit ourselves to the U. S.  Why people  think in
>>> terms to philosophical abstractions here rather than  actual, concrete
>>> examples such as public libraries and public roads  is a mystery to me.
>>
>>
>> These are fine examples, but they're also services that are not well-
>> provided for by private entities. You've got a steeper hill to climb  when
>> it comes to consumer goods.
>>
>> Doug

Agreed, but the US of A also has a long way to go in making affordable
public services (ie transportation, water, natural gas, electricity)
to its population. Think Enron and the California electric crisis due
to hiper-deregulation (for more data see the DVD "The Smartest Guys in
the Room"), or the lack of trains or affordable health care for all
vis-a-vis Europe.

So even if the US starts with public services, that'd be a good starting point.

I'm not sure either that consumer goods (particularly tech) is an area
where the government might have a positive step from stepping in,
other than promoting open source software. I'm of the idea that in a
socialist world we' d be all running 486 powered computers still,
simply because advances in hardware were only a result of the fierce
throat-cutting competition in the semiconductor industry...

FC