[lbo-talk] Class nature of the state (Was: Socialist modelling)

[c b]

Somebody Somebody
.
Somebody: There's no need to invoke American exceptionalism to note
that the trajectory of the U.S. economy is not necessarily the same as
for other Western nations. It's true - about 2/3rds of OECD nations
have had increased inequality over the last generation. That still
lives major nations like Spain and France that have either seen
significant reductions in their Gini coefficients or have seen their
levels of inequality flat-line in the last generation.

And then we have Latin American countries where, if we can speak of a
regional trend in levels of inequality, it has been a decline and not
an increase in income disparities. Big countries like Mexico and
Brazil have seen their Gini coefficients go down in the past decade
and more. So much for the notion that globalization has to mean
increased inequality and the immiseration of the working class.

The irony here is that some Marxists have imbibed the propaganda of
neo-liberals that there is no alternative to the weakening of the
bargaining power of the working class and to increased inequality as a
result of cross-border labor arbitrage. But when we peer past truisms
and bland generalities about class and capitalism, we see this is not
always the case.

^^^^^^^

CB: What are the levels of inequality ? 1% own 20 of all wealth ? Is
capitalism ok in the long run afterall ? No need for world socialism ?