That's an eye-opening perspective! I've been a big supporter of the socialist dem's, but you're right - even they are not talking about physically rebuilding what we've failed to do for so long. As you'ver pointed out, Corbin, lots of money chasing dwindling supplies merely raises the price of those supplies. Explains a lot, I think.
Seems to me that a smart politician/party could gain a lot of traction and solve several problems at once with a 4-word platform: Universal Free Vocational Education.
Socialists advocate for free quality education for all, including the DSA.
Socialists (maybe not DSA leadership, but plenty within DSA and others outside of it) advocate for a centrally planned economy, which is the main reason why China has been able to outperform us.
I like the crux of this article, but I think it could afford to dive deeper into socialist policy to interrogate the claim being made.
This problem of *production* is exactly what the late Professor Seymour Melman was talking about since the 1960s, emphasizing it more and more into the 90s. Melman claimed that the 'ruling class', as it were, had thought they had solved what he called 'the problem of production', that is, the question of how a society produces the goods and services it needs to thrive. In fact, in his book 'The Demilitarized Society', he argues that the United States has gone past 'the point of no return' (this was written in the 1980s), because the industrial machinery sector had declined badly (you can get the book from https://archive.org/details/demilitarizedsoc0000melm). We needed to import engineers from around the world, he argued, which would now mean from China, Japan, Korea, Germany, etc. to train up a competent skilled labor corps, engineers, and operational managers (NOT middle managers). Other of his writings are viewable at SeymourMelman.com
Hugely important post for everyone to digest. We decided to give everything away because it became all about profit for our corporations and to fund our 401ks. If we are going to get back to a place that works, we need a fundamental restart that our present crop of politicians cannot and will not admit to themselves. It will take a 1917 revolution to actually change anything. Our system and technology will not allow that to happen.
Yes. I love what Corbin is saying, and I've been reading every post of his for two years. But attempts at building a movement have stalled. The Abundance folks have Adelson money, Sulzberger money, and Lauren Jobs money. "America's Undoing" has a Substack. However, there is a Productivism movement, headed by Economist Dani Rodrick at Harvard's Kennedy School. Rodrick preaches industrial capacity combined with specific implementation. Corbin, are you aware of him? https://drodrik.scholars.harvard.edu/
I think there is more than one piece missing. Trained labor, from skilled users of hammers to high quality engineers, are a major piece. Another piece are abundant natural resources. We have drawn them down to a point where finding sources is extremely difficult and expensive to extract, causing more environmental harm. The single most important piece, healthy ecosystems, are also in global decline. To reverse the ill-health of ecosystems will require a world willing to live with far less energy and stuff (as in "The story of Stuff"). Yes, solar and wind can power the future, but they cannot power everything we now expect in the same way. Societies have to change, from Andorra to Zimbabwe. The US has to change most of all in part because our false abundance, extreme divergence of wealth and proliferation of weapons, makes us extremely fragile. We are in for a bumpy ride even with the best of politicians in charge.
That's an eye-opening perspective! I've been a big supporter of the socialist dem's, but you're right - even they are not talking about physically rebuilding what we've failed to do for so long. As you'ver pointed out, Corbin, lots of money chasing dwindling supplies merely raises the price of those supplies. Explains a lot, I think.
Seems to me that a smart politician/party could gain a lot of traction and solve several problems at once with a 4-word platform: Universal Free Vocational Education.
Socialists advocate for free quality education for all, including the DSA.
Socialists (maybe not DSA leadership, but plenty within DSA and others outside of it) advocate for a centrally planned economy, which is the main reason why China has been able to outperform us.
I like the crux of this article, but I think it could afford to dive deeper into socialist policy to interrogate the claim being made.
Corbin,
This problem of *production* is exactly what the late Professor Seymour Melman was talking about since the 1960s, emphasizing it more and more into the 90s. Melman claimed that the 'ruling class', as it were, had thought they had solved what he called 'the problem of production', that is, the question of how a society produces the goods and services it needs to thrive. In fact, in his book 'The Demilitarized Society', he argues that the United States has gone past 'the point of no return' (this was written in the 1980s), because the industrial machinery sector had declined badly (you can get the book from https://archive.org/details/demilitarizedsoc0000melm). We needed to import engineers from around the world, he argued, which would now mean from China, Japan, Korea, Germany, etc. to train up a competent skilled labor corps, engineers, and operational managers (NOT middle managers). Other of his writings are viewable at SeymourMelman.com
Production missing
Hugely important post for everyone to digest. We decided to give everything away because it became all about profit for our corporations and to fund our 401ks. If we are going to get back to a place that works, we need a fundamental restart that our present crop of politicians cannot and will not admit to themselves. It will take a 1917 revolution to actually change anything. Our system and technology will not allow that to happen.
Yes. I love what Corbin is saying, and I've been reading every post of his for two years. But attempts at building a movement have stalled. The Abundance folks have Adelson money, Sulzberger money, and Lauren Jobs money. "America's Undoing" has a Substack. However, there is a Productivism movement, headed by Economist Dani Rodrick at Harvard's Kennedy School. Rodrick preaches industrial capacity combined with specific implementation. Corbin, are you aware of him? https://drodrik.scholars.harvard.edu/
I think there is more than one piece missing. Trained labor, from skilled users of hammers to high quality engineers, are a major piece. Another piece are abundant natural resources. We have drawn them down to a point where finding sources is extremely difficult and expensive to extract, causing more environmental harm. The single most important piece, healthy ecosystems, are also in global decline. To reverse the ill-health of ecosystems will require a world willing to live with far less energy and stuff (as in "The story of Stuff"). Yes, solar and wind can power the future, but they cannot power everything we now expect in the same way. Societies have to change, from Andorra to Zimbabwe. The US has to change most of all in part because our false abundance, extreme divergence of wealth and proliferation of weapons, makes us extremely fragile. We are in for a bumpy ride even with the best of politicians in charge.
JHORTONPHD@GMAIL.COM