> f) make decisions about whether or not to invest in factories,
>stores, etc. according to the needs of society as determined by
>democratic involvement of an informed populace; and
This is where the rubber meets the road. Unfortunately, beyond the biological
basics, "need" is subjective and culturally determined -- in other words, it is
*political.* Should we invest in a store that I can walk to, or a factory
on the other side of the county where people can work? Will *farm* investments
be subject to collective decision-making? At what level? Etc. etc. There
are real tradeoffs, not just "needs" that can be determined with a tape
measure.
Regardless of the system, most people most of the time have better things
to do than attend endless meetings and bone up on all the issues. Don't expect
people to suddenly become well-informed and public-spirited just because the
economic system has been turned upside down. A careful examination of the
*failures* of utopian plans -- the Soviet Union comes to mind -- might suggest
some dead ends not to go down. As others have suggested, starting small may
not be a bad idea.
Harold Henderson
hs@niia.net
219/324-2620
Chicago Reader
cityfile@chicagoreader.com
312/828-0350
"When all else fails, read the directions."
**No electrons were injured in the production of this message**
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with "unsubscribe sanet-mg".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".