tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413935813892441553.post7392486508237469836..comments2024-03-29T00:30:39.262-05:00Comments on real economics: Hating banksters is hardly new in USAJonathan Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05217670446743983955noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413935813892441553.post-49193615009510374192011-10-29T10:01:56.724-05:002011-10-29T10:01:56.724-05:00Return Quibble--
There was (and is) no need for a ...Return Quibble--<br />There was (and is) no need for a Socialist to equal a Marxism to equal a Bolshevik to equal a Communist in any country...that is like GOP idealogy uber alles lockstep crazy talk.<br /><br />Which is a lesson that I took away from the novel Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler--that what was failing their movement (which seems very obviously based on the realities of the first decades of the Soviet implimentation of communism)--that the elimination of political criticism, while initially appearing to strengthen the movement, in actuality it dooms it by reducing critical improvements and quashing motivation and intellectual discussion.<br /><br />Your Finnish friends and their nordic neighbors have all constructed SOCIAL democratic policies that are doing better than average progressing through time against all the usual faults and failed idealogies humanity can create. But there is no need for any of them to become more idealogically pure, whether that purist is preaching Marxism or Capitalism or any other -ism.<br /><br />I cannot understand even the goal of becoming ideologically pure--is this a holdover from religious thinking, some need to have one true God (or Rand or Marx or at least a golden calf celebrity leader) to worship?<br /><br />But, back to America...the oligarch elites in 1900-1915 made some tactical labor consessions that defused some of the socialist movement here, and then WWI and the Sedition Act cut the legs off it when the oligarchy feared a Russian Revolution repeat here.<br /><br />The New Deal prevented a banking collapse or rise in Soc Cred appeal or massive worker revolt in the 30s. The post WWII Red Scare was prevented from spreading here as it was calmed by actual worker rights and middle class prosperity.<br /><br />But now the last 20+ years of upper class greed has shuffed out much of the middle class buffer, resulting in an implied class warfare--not because anyone in the 99% had an axe to grind, but the crass stupidity of the 1% in their blind ignorance of history or appreciation of the wisdom of their own grandfather's decisions has caused them to break the social contract that kept comfort in the masses and peace in society.<br /><br />The 1% has only their own stupidity and greed to blame for global unrest; and their own herd mentality that prevents them from stopping their rush to the cliff ahead, that prevents them from fixing health care and banking, funding green energy and the jobs/economy it would create.<br /><br />And on and on...I can only shake my head, I cannot even muster a snort at the spot-on cartoons you post each weekend now.Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05252804186064393926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413935813892441553.post-46370928417639044622011-10-27T11:39:45.738-05:002011-10-27T11:39:45.738-05:00Quibble back
Visit some country where they have M...Quibble back<br /><br />Visit some country where they have Marxist Parties and THEN claim that Socialism in USA was anything more than a distraction. Good grief, I had a Finnish academic through this summer who could (and did) quote Marx in German! Yet when I quoted Veblen or Donnelly or any of the Populist positions that DID influence USA Progressivism, he had never heard of any of them—although in fairness, he was impressed by many.<br /><br />Please understand. Before 1917, there were literally dozens of anti-capitalist critiques. It is only after the Bolsheviks came to power that folks began to believe that you weren't REALLY against capitalism unless you were a Socialist as Marx described it. Well, since Marxism was such a murderous failure, I suggest we look at some of the rest of those critiques that were swept away by Bolshevism. I have spent much of my adult life looking at this stuff and I can assure you, we most certainly do NOT need Marxism to build a better society.<br /><br />Just remember, virtually all of the Progressive alternatives don't have 100 million innocent victims to explain away like the Marxists.Jonathan Larsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05217670446743983955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413935813892441553.post-27613888829772507092011-10-27T10:50:41.864-05:002011-10-27T10:50:41.864-05:00Hi Jonathan and congratulations on your 1000+ post...Hi Jonathan and congratulations on your 1000+ postings! All are great stuff, insightful and thought provoking.<br /><br />And of course I am here to quibble a bit, about the statement--<br />"...baffle the academic world is "Why didn't USA have a significant socialist (cooperative, labor) movement?""<br />--because I believe the USA had a significant socialist movement, and if academia does not recognize it, it betrays either the level of their ignorance or how they have become part of the co-opting of history to serve 'American Exceptionalism'...which in this case, means how exceptional americans are in believing they are exceptional and in how much they can deny the realities in their history.<br /><br />There were three periods in history where the elites in America made some briliant concessions to combat the growth of socialism/communism--<br />1--the 'progressive age' where Teddy Roosevelt and his posse caved in and allowed labor friendly legislation...which served to undermine the appeal of the socialists/wobblies/et al.<br />2--the 'new deal' where FDR and his new dealers had to rescue the country from the abuses of investment bankers by creating a functional banking industry...which gave people confidence to keep/start using banks.<br />3--the 'cold war' where Ike and his ilk had to contruct a middle class fat and happy enough to fight off the red scare of the rest of the world.<br /><br />And of course...we were too young to understand how lucky we had it, how close the USA was to becoming socialist, how controlled we all were by these masters of the universe elites and the 'democratic' idealistic propaganda under which we were all being held in check...until they were too greedy and took it away and our eyes were opened.<br /><br />Thus, we have the Arab Spring, EU meltdown, OWS and tea parties in the USA...and if the oligarchs are not wise in restoring the economy and a separation of investment banking...socialism and communism movements will return worldwide, no?Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05252804186064393926noreply@blogger.com