A lot of capacity was wiped out by war, and there was huge pent up demand. Accumulation rose phoenix like out of the ashes, and was strong enough to accommodate some progressive redistribution which then smoothed over the business cycles via automatic stabilizers. But now profitability and accumulation are not strong enough to afford social democracy. Obama will not realize it. He can't. <
Yes, the destruction of a lot of US capital helped, as did the US government's paying for retooling and the like. Also important was the fact that US competitors were in really bad shape after World War 2. The automatic stabilizers were an automatic accompaniment of the (anemic) US welfare state, since they are a result of the progressivity of the Federal income tax and various New Deal and post-New Deal programs like unemployment insurance. I agree that Obama isn't going to do anything like social democracy unless he's forced to do so by popular pressure. Can the US afford social democracy? Possibly not, though if any country outside of Euroland can afford it, it would be the US. Likely the next stage of social democracy will be on a world-wide scale (if it ever happens). ^^^^^^^ CB: Note that Congress is necessary to do social democracy. The idea that Obama can just "do" social democracy is a left anti-Obama exaggeration. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
