Louis Proyect wrote: > We do know that the bourgeoisie has been able to > transcend externalities in the past. Theodore Roosevelt's > ambitious conservation program was evidence of that (so much so > that Lenin sought to emulate it in the USSR), as was the creation > of a public school system that was second to none in the world. > > Something else is going on that I can't quite put my finger on, > but it has something to do with the decline of America as an > industrial power. Investments in infrastructure and education are > usually connected with a belief that your own country has a future > as an economic power. Just look at China's investment in green > technology.
three things: (1) China's ruling class is organized as a political party, which gets away from the particularistic or individualistic attitudes of US capitalists and encourages attention to externalities. The Chinese CP's reason for existing is to promote economic development, so they want to invest in the best technology. (2) I'd bet that a lot of the biggest capitalists based in the US don't identify with the US population as much as with the world bourgeoisie. They don't care about those of us who have to live here. (3) US efforts to get beyond the narrow-minded capitalist mentality have reflected massive crises of the system (e.g., financial & banking reform during the 1930s) and/or social ferment (e.g., a lot of the relatively pro-working class elements of the New Deal). -- 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
