me: >> FWIW, no one in this discussion took the "capitalist class as homogenous."
> Why then so much resistance to the idea that there may be saner > elements of the capitalist class like Volcker who may be invaluable as > tactical allies (I emphasize again 'tactical allies') in reining in > the dangerous elements in the finance sector? If you read what I said, you'd see the issue is not homogeneity. Rather, the issues are (1) avoiding such an individual-focused analysis and looking at social forces; and (2) the meaning of "sanity" here (parallel in many ways to the meaning of "progressive"). If I may ignore point #1, Volcker _is_ different from, and maybe "saner" than, Summers or Geithner (especially if we ignore his history). But V's "sanity" is different from mine: his goals are complete anathema. (At least that's true in political-economic terms; in psychological terms, he may be as sane as I am or even more so. But who knows?) By the way, what's the point of claiming to be a "tactical ally" of someone who would refuse to reciprocate? Claiming Volcker as a tactical ally without his joining the alliance (or even hearing of the proposal) is nothing but fruitless cheer-leading. Unless there's some sort of inherent pleasure in dressing up in a miniskirt and waving pom-poms... ;-) Michael Perelman writes: >As Jim mentioned, no one suggested homogeneity. Of course, there are times >when one can use divisions within the class. Marx noted how child labor laws >were passed because of divisions between the landowners who wanted >agricultural protection and the industrialists who wanted cheap food for lower >wages. When they got their cheap food, landed interests got the restricitons >on child labor.< There was enough ferment in the working class -- and likely in the "middle classes" -- at the time that this division among capitalists could create positive results in terms of child labor laws. When talking about financial reform, the forces outside of the capitalist class are so weak that all we should get is symbolic reform, especially after it's been through the Lobbyist-dominated Congressional meat-grinder. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
