America Beyond Capitalism

[BurtWorm]

I saw Gar Alperovitz on Washington Journal this morning talking about this book. Has anyone read it? He was very impressive, a reassuring presence amid all the red-state callers accusing him of being a socialist. His prescription doesn't sound at all socialist, to me, but, as he says, something beyond socialism and capitalism, and rooted in experiments in ownership going on presently all over the country.

For instance, he cites the 11,000 worker-owned enterprises in the US, which, if I heard him correctly (though I find this hard to believe), now have more workers in their ranks than do traditional unions. (Doing the math, it would seem to come up very short, unless each of these enterprises had 1,000 workers each, which seems unlikely.) He also spoke about the municipal-owned public utilities that produce clean energy, for instance, which can be sold and the profit for which can be used to reduce local taxes.

Sounds interesting, if a tad wonkish.

[MissBrooks]

1. I saw it too

And it sounds like total fiction to me.

Like the exaggeration you pointed out - I believe all of his "facts" were a little - shall I say - creative.

He'll sell books - but the world won't change.

[BurtWorm]

4. I wouldn't go that far, at all. To call it "total fiction"

or say "all of his 'facts'...were creative," is, as you would say, "creative."

This one fact I would need to see more evidence of. I was reading in his introduction on-line just now that the number of union-members in the labor force has dropped from over 30% to about 13% and is heading steadily downward. This seems credible to me. I didn't know it was that bad, but I did know it wasn't great.

[JaneDoughnut]

2. I've been reading up on related subjects lately

Capitalism has worked very well for America, led to great innovation, product quality, etc. But it relies on a faulty assumption that the economy can just grow and grow and grow even with a dwindling supply of resources. Capitalism does not address the resources problem, and Democratic Socialism doesn't do much better. We will need to move beyond capitalism.

Reccommended reading: The limits to Growth analysis
http://www.arts.unsw.edu.au/tsw/06b-Limits-Long.html

More on the book in question:
http://www.garalperovitz.com/

[BurtWorm]

5. Thanks for those links!

:toast:

[Fovea]

3. If it is socialist to nationalize

energy, then we better start thinking about socialism.
I don't think that providing the stability and cost effective
delivery that re-socialization of human services is socialist.

Indeed, the EU is killing us for three important reasons.

1. Healthier, better educated workers.

2. Lower per capita energy costs, not per BTU, but they conserve.

3. Significant differences between what is private and public sector, with greater respect for civil government.

Nationalizing Yukos may seem fascist, but indeed, it is the opposite case, where Corporatist oligarchs are broken, to provide the people with needed resources. I think America needs to do the same, and I have been saying so since 2000.

We need to encourage public transportation, and move the car out of the city as much as possible. We need national healthcare, universally provided. With that, and government providing petrochemicals, we would also have an official energy policy, and we would not have corporations punking our state department for their greater profit margin.

This, plus free public education to the BS/BA level for students, with admissions and financial aide determined by GPA.
And if nepotism and plutocratic admissions to our current top tier schools in the last generation hasn't sufficiently shown the abject failure of the current system, nothing can.

You can call this whatever you want to call it. And smear as much Rove on it as you can fish out of the litterbox, and it is still the only way we are going to become competitive again.

A balanced economy, a well educated and healthy workforce, and rigorous conservation of resources. Driving a Hummer is not a sign of wealth, it is a symptom of a disease of the spirit.

[JaneDoughnut]

6. "Driving a Hummer is not a sign of wealth...

"Driving a Hummer is not a sign of wealth, it is a symptom of a disease of the spirit."

How right you are! Going "beyond capitalism" has to start at an individual level, with changes in our lifestyles.