Nathan, > I don't know what you mean by depreciate. it is of course > **conceivable** but it seems intensely unlikely. the only scenarios i > can imagine is if a state starts increasing it's deficit > exponentially, way beyond full employment, a collapse in the ability > of the state to collect taxes or an incredible fall in productive > capacity.
Conceivable but unlikely is fine. That's consistent with my own current beliefs. So, why dwell on the unlikely? These are times of crisis. In volatile times, history is pregnant. It offers the promise of a better future but also the threat of collective ruin. I believe that, as Engels and Rosa Luxemburg put it, the dilemmas of the human race in our times do boil down to a stark *choice* between socialism and barbarianism. But that is not always apparent. It often seems to us as if the day-to-day choices we make are all decided on very narrow margins, and in a sense---of course---they are. The biggest obstacle we face is not lack of organization. It is ideology. By default, we tend to take for granted the existing social structures, and by so doing we make them more robust. The promises of the state (public debt, currency, public policies, laws) are just that: promises. Promises can be honored or can be broken. No human being or human institution is above this. The sooner we understand it and take it to heart, the greater our chances of rebuilding our society for good. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
