"Capitalist production" isn't independent of government policy. The flight of manufacturing from the United States was actively encouraged by government policy, and different government policies would have different results. There is no plausible and desirable government policy that would turn back the clock, but there are plausible and desirable government policies that would reverse the current bias against retaining manufacturing outside of the Pentagon-industrial-complex.
Also, even if pro-manufacturing policy were beyond reach - there's no reason to think that it is, but suppose it were - your use of the word "austerity" doesn't match how other people are using it, so even if we could convince ourselves that your use is correct in some narrow technical sense, insisting on your use would likely be an obstacle in engaging the world. If Greece experienced "austerity" as a result of the policies of the Troika, if the U.S. did not experience "austerity" in the same way after 2008 - which in a macro sense, it did not; if that difference made a significant difference in the well-being of a lot of working people, which it did - why throw all these distinctions in the trash? What is the point of being hopeful or disappointed about the success or failure of Syriza's challenge to the European institutions, which was all about opposition to "austerity" in terms of government policies? Why should the US left be a cheerleader for social democratic reformism in Greece and Venezuela, but opposed to social democratic reformism in the United States? Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected] (202) 448-2898 x1 On Wed, Sep 23, 2015 at 9:10 AM, Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote: > On 9/23/15 10:04 AM, Robert Naiman wrote: > > Even if that is not "socialism," is it not still a good idea? > > Austerity is not a function of government policy. It is a function of > massive changes in the capitalist system that have been ongoing since > the early 70s. Capitalist production grew wings and went to China and > elsewhere, leaving behind an America based on financial speculation, > high technology, and the service industries. Cleveland, Buffalo, > Pittsburgh, Chicago, Oakland, Detroit, Philadelphia, Newark, Baltimore, > Milwaukee, et al are not coming back--at least as long as private > property exists. > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l >
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