Wojtek
On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 12:58 PM, Chris Sturr <sturr at dollarsandsense.org> wrote:
> I think what is especially noteworthy (and maybe this is why Woj posted
> this) is that the lead op-ed in the NYT yesterday was by someone who is
> promoting the new edition of his book called "America Beyond Capitalism." I
> think that speaks volumes about the current political moment--I find it
> exciting. (Disclosure: Dollars & Sense co-published the new
> edition--another reason I was excited about this op-ed!) Gar is a smart and
> serious guy with very interesting ideas. Check out the video of the book
> launch event he had in Boston a couple of weeks ago:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3l4PtC7iTA. It's the first of three videos.
> I think people will find it worth watching. He's an engaging and compelling
> speaker, with ideas worth grappling with even if you disagree with the
> particular vision he has (which does have some communitarian elements).
>
>>
>> >
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/opinion/worker-owners-of-america-unite.html
>> >
>> > "But at another level, something different has been quietly brewing in
>> > recent decades: more and more Americans are involved in co-ops,
>> > worker-owned companies and other alternatives to the traditional
>> > capitalist model. We may, in fact, be moving toward a hybrid system,
>> > something different from both traditional capitalism and socialism,
>> > without anyone even noticing."
>> >
>> > "And while the American public has long supported the capitalist
>> > model, that, too, may be changing. In 2009 a Rasmussen poll reported
>> > that Americans under 30 years old were ?essentially evenly divided? as
>> > to whether they preferred ?capitalism? or ?socialism.?
>> >
>> > Wojtek
>> >
>> > ___________________________________
>> > http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>> >
>>
>>
>> "hybrid system"? That brief piece reads like liberalism with a few Fabian
>> gestures, though I imagine next to David Brooks and Thomas Friedman it
>> reads like, well, anything else. I note that "Some 130 million Americans,
>> for example, now participate in the ownership of co-op businesses" has "and
>> credit unions" appended to it, and considering that many co-ops simply
>> require a buy-in, I think that this more constitutes local and regional
>> 'communitarianism' or something like that. "More than 13 million Americans
>> have become worker-owners of more than 11,000 employee-owned companies, six
>> million more than belong to private-sector unions" reads far more honestly
>> to me, since 13 million is not exactly huge. That said, it is still early
>> and I'm glad to hear that "don't trust anyone under 30" has been reversed.
>
>
>
> --
> --
> Chris Sturr
> Co-editor, Dollars & Sense
> 29 Winter St.
> Boston, Mass. 02108
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> email: sturr at dollarsandsense.org
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