"The future of capitalism is again a question. Will it survive the ongoing crisis in its current form? If not, will it transform itself or will government take the lead?"
"trans form itself "?
"The term “capitalism” used to mean an economic system in which capital was privately owned and traded; owners of capital got to judge how best to use it, and could draw on the foresight and creative ideas of entrepreneurs and innovative thinkers. This system of individual freedom and individual responsibility gave little scope for government to influence economic decision-making: success meant profits; failure meant losses. Corporations could exist only as long as free individuals willingly purchased their goods – and would go out of business quickly otherwise."
well well
that sounds like the agit prop of the manchester school doesn't it
--see below --
note :
this recipe lacks the principal item
freely bought and sold wage labor
but never mind ...
"Capitalism became a world-beater in the 1800’s, when it developed capabilities for endemic innovation."
mechanized production here carefully identified with the mode of social production that spawned it
"who knew till then and there
what powers of product lay in the lap of society"... or words to that effect
" Societies that adopted the capitalist system
gained unrivaled prosperity
enjoyed widespread job satisfaction
obtained productivity growth
that was the marvel of the world
and
ended mass privation."
quite a narrative of "first light" industrialization eh ??
economic history as written by the winning class
-----------------------
our tale now darkens
"Now the capitalist system has been corrupted.
The managerial state has assumed responsibility for looking after everything from the incomes of the middle class to the profitability of large corporations to industrial advancement. "
did this come as an inspiration from hell ?
"This system, however, is not capitalism
but rather an economic order that harks back to Bismarck in the late nineteenth century and Mussolini in the twentieth: corporatism."
get it
corporatism was a response to capitalism in its industrial stage
corporatism not to be confuse with incorprationism
which arose in parallel
"In various ways, corporatism chokes off the dynamism that makes for
engaging work,
faster economic growth,
and
greater opportunity and inclusiveness. "
can you imagine any good reason for this fungal development ??
when
"corporatism maintains lethargic, wasteful, unproductive, and well-connected firms at the expense of dynamic newcomers and outsiders, and favors declared goals such as industrialization, economic development, and national greatness over individuals’ economic freedom and responsibility. "
quite a mouth full that
i note the bold hurling out of prima facia goods like
industrialization and economic development
---capitalism's world historical gift to human kind --
and scare bleu
national greatness
but there were even higher values sacrificed here
" individuals’ economic freedom and responsibility. " !!!!!!
"Today, airlines, auto manufacturers, agricultural companies, media, investment banks, hedge funds, and much more has at some point been deemed too important to weather the free market on its own, receiving a helping hand from government in the name of the “public good.”
what manner of beast is this public good
to be opposed as a trump
to " individuals’ economic freedom and responsibility. " ???
lacuna here
-----------------
jump we instead to
"The costs of corporatism "
which are
" visible all around us:
dysfunctional corporations that survive despite their gross inability to serve their customers;
sclerotic economies with slow output growth, a dearth of engaging work, scant opportunities for young people;
governments bankrupted by their efforts to palliate these problems;
increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of those connected enough
to be on the right side of the corporatist deal."
gulp !
"This shift of power from owners and innovators to state officials is the antithesis of capitalism."
recall capitalism has been stipulated to MEAN
"an economic system in which capital was privately owned and traded; owners of capital got to judge how best to use it, and could draw on the foresight and creative ideas of entrepreneurs and innovative thinkers"
" Yet this system’s apologists and beneficiaries have the temerity to blame all these failures on “reckless capitalism” and “lack of regulation,” which they argue necessitates more oversight and regulation, which in reality means more corporatism and state favoritism."
key here:
"blame all these failures on “reckless capitalism” and “lack of regulation,”
the failures remain AWOL eh
what failures ned ??
one has to assume the recent crash of the credit system as the lot bubble burst
and the global economy's subsequent limping back toward a distant full recovery
how ned is this recent outcome of 30 years of freed up capitalist incorporated activity
NOT the product of reckless capitalism and lack of regulation ??
-------------------------------------
"It seems unlikely that so disastrous a system is sustainable."
why ??
---------------------------
comes now the unlinked implicit why
the rise of a generation interconneted thru the web
" The corporatist model makes no sense to younger generations who grew up using the Internet, the world’s freest market for goods and ideas."
" The success and failure of firms on the Internet is the best advertisement for the free market: social networking Web sites, for example, rise and fall almost instantaneously, depending on how well they serve their customers."
"Sites such as Friendster and MySpace sought extra profit by compromising the privacy of their users, and were instantly punished as users deserted them to relatively safer competitors like Facebook and Twitter. "
"There was no need for government regulation to bring about this transition; in fact, had modern corporatist states attempted to do so, today they would be propping up MySpace with taxpayer dollars and campaigning on a promise to “reform” its privacy features."
a bold challenge to us corporatist to gainsay ..no ??
i think i'd start with the IP counter revolution
"The Internet, as a largely free marketplace for ideas, has not been kind to corporatism."
free market for paid for ideas ned paid for
free of charge is fast becoming a edenic moment lost
the intellectual commons is antithetical to the logic od "capitalism "
----------------------
"People who grew up with its decentralization and free competition of ideas must find alien the idea of state support for large firms and industries."
yes and let us hope the rally against the incorporateds attempt to tol gate the intellectual commons
" Many in the traditional media repeat the old line
“What's good for Firm X is good for America,”
but it is not likely to be seen trending on Twitter."
smug idiocy ned in your little sun shine green house
while huge incorporated armies crush us by night
-------------------------------------------
"The legitimacy of corporatism is eroding along with the fiscal health of governments that have relied on it."
interesting
blaming the systemic saviour for the crimes of its incorporates
-----------------------
" If politicians cannot repeal corporatism, it will bury itself in debt and default"
proof by self evidence ned
or oracular prophecy ??
" a capitalist system could re-emerge from the discredited corporatist rubble. "
a could emerging from a might be
who can nix that linkage
and who would pay it any serious heed ?
-------------------------------------
"Then “capitalism” would again carry its true meaning,
rather than the one attributed to it by corporatists
seeking to hide behind it and socialists wanting to vilify it."
i'll leave that rather sour final lyric
to be sung by itself
--------------------------------
------------------------------------
after thoughts:
phelps is so far out of sync with his times and its turns
its delightful
he always was always will be
i love his double use of corporate
the corporate state and the corporate form of organized capitalistic social production
as usual he dabbles in much he mis understands
"corporatism" is a vintage response to the ravages of the raw market system
so beloved of free range capitalistic types
hegel was a sure fire corporatist
but his second generation pupil from trier
has a nice manifesto for
this party of capitalists ned adores
--- see recent post ---
-----------------------------------
ron paul is a parade float toon version of this
phelps
one mesmerized by the faustian thrust ever on ward
into novelty innivations congeries of uncertain powers of nature and man
romantic ass tickling
but it serves the free range global agenda
of multinational corporations
one wonders what neddy thinks of global intellectual property law
the IP movement
clearly the present and future set up
is likely to remain "on net and at the margin"
a block
on rapid global advance
and by declension
also a block on
world history's prime objective
the pace of human innovation itself
yes rewards now in place
" to incentivize innovation"
are self contradictory
as they "inspire"
so do they stink and stifle
take the present patent system as fleshed out in civil court
despite a literature full of clever
well paid and honored
casuistry to the contrary
we could easily improve on its pace
but only at a net loss to the incorporated hegemons
----------------------------------
ned should have moved from columbia to nyu
he belongs
with that tribe of wall street sycophants
----------------------------------------
the guy hasn't the slightest interest in substantiating
his oracular horse shit
he has this perception in his head
of free wheeling free ranging ventureship
and its remarkable innovative impact
his paradigm de jour
the internet
as if to look at the frontier stage of a new sector is instructive fuly enough to evaluate the whole system thru all its necessary stages
imagine if male female relationships were judged
by exclusively relying on observations of 13 year olds
