That which is never questioned

One of the biggest problems facing the world today is that the economy is global, but there is no government with the power to manage that economy. As a result, the capitalist economy is broken, having increasingly fallen into anarchy. Everything is for sale, and the rules (and those who make them) are controlled by those who profit. That’s NOT capitalism.

We need to get capitalism back on track. That means either eliminating the global economy (not likely) or creating a world governmental body that can do what a capitalist economy requires. That includes assigning actual costs as a government is supposed to do in a working capitalist system so that (for example) the true societal cost of fossil fuels is reflected in their price. It also includes a universal system of graduated taxation to share the wealth across the entire economy. (Sound Marxist? That’s Adam Smith.)

Secondly, our nation (and the world) would clearly benefit from combining the repaired capitalist system with socialism where it makes sense– e.g. health care.

But we cannot even begin to speak of capitalism while the economy is ungovernable. That’s like saying the concept of a bicycle doesn’t work because the one you’re trying to ride happens to have no brakes.

With such a system in place, we can begin to tune the capitalist-socialist mix for maximum efficiency. But until then, it’s all just words. And if there is a better system (at the political level as opposed to the intentional community level) than a hybrid capitalist-socialist democracy, show me.

2 Comments

DJ

Sun, Jun 10, 2007 / 12:44 pm Reply

One of the biggest problems facing the world today is that the economy is global, but there is no government with the power to manage that economy. As a result, the capitalist economy is broken, having increasingly fallen into anarchy. Everything is for sale, and the rules (and those who make them) are controlled by those who profit. That’s NOT capitalism.

We need to get capitalism back on track. That means either eliminating the global economy (not likely) or creating a world governmental body that can do what a capitalist economy requires. That includes assigning actual costs as a government is supposed to do in a working capitalist system so that (for example) the true societal cost of fossil fuels is reflected in their price. It also includes a universal system of graduated taxation to share the wealth across the entire economy. (Sound Marxist? That’s Adam Smith.)

Secondly, our nation (and the world) would clearly benefit from combining the repaired capitalist system with socialism where it makes sense– e.g. health care.

But we cannot even begin to speak of capitalism while the economy is ungovernable. That’s like saying the concept of a bicycle doesn’t work because the one you’re trying to ride happens to have no brakes.

With such a system in place, we can begin to tune the capitalist-socialist mix for maximum efficiency. But until then, it’s all just words. And if there is a better system (at the political level as opposed to the intentional community level) than a hybrid capitalist-socialist democracy, show me.
Bob Morris

Sun, Jun 10, 2007 / 12:55 pm Reply

Your points are all excellent. In the next several days, I’ll be blogging a series of posts on ecosocialism, and why socialism is a better platform for remediating global warming, among other things.

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