re: capital must give way

Frederick R. Magdoff (fmagdoff@zoo.uvm.edu)
Tue, 25 Aug 1998 14:47:41 -0400 (EDT)

Harold,
What you seem to be saying is the following:
Rather than try to find a way to have meaningful citizen input
into decisions - because an attempt to have government control of
investment failed - let's just leave it up to people who are motivated by
one goal, the making of profits.

I don't see why there can't be real input without going to endless
meetings. It is possible to have meaningul input through elected
representatives instead of everyone going to a meeting. (I also think it
is possible to have meaningful input into political decisions through the
deomcratic process - but certainly not before some real reform of
the how individual and corporate monied interests permeate and control
the system).

FRED
******************************************************************************

On Tue, 25 Aug 1998, Harold Henderson wrote:

> Fred Magdoff wrote:
>
> > 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**
>
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