Greetings Economists,
On Jun 15, 2008, at 5:35 AM, Doug Henwood wrote:
Yeah, there was a depression and a world war. Does that mean there
will be another? Is that some generalized model, or just a one-off?
Who knows?
Doyle
Crisis is interesting in the sense that Marx thought crisis was built
into the system, and Lenin used crisis in Russia to make a left
shift. The thesis is easy to summarize and meets common sense.
Crisis brings on liquidity in the political consensus. Which moves
when say monarchy structures crumble during WWI. The British retained
their monarchy though.
While I don't agree with your discount of crisis, I admit you have
shifted me thinking I think for the good. I think the U.S. faces a
crisis now, of which Bush's failures are the most public record.
But unlike 1914, massed armies cannot be used to re-align global
power. I.E. technology makes massed armies useless as a tool of
creative destruction.
The political tool Lenin had doesn't exist anymore. Big armies rife
with the killing fields mentality, and rejection of order, have gone
with the wind. Armies exist, Iraq was conquered, but weakness in
imperial dreams still appears.
It is also easy to say that neo-liberalism is crumbling. The pillars
of U.S. power are not sufficient to run forever.
What is the left target then? I think Ravi makes the point it is
cultural. What is culture? Why would it be a left tool? That needs
debate I think because one can easily see barriers, and promises, and
no clarity about what to do. But still if one says environment is a
major problem, then culture is at the heart of a solution. And crisis
runs the show.
thanks,
Doyle Saylor
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