Re: Beyond Communism and Capitalism?

[Adam Rose <adam@xxxxxxxx>]

It's not as if Capitalism has no planning. It's just that
the planning which capitalism does is done in the context
of competition between states and multinationals, and
so the planning is taking place in an anarchic context.

When Ford brings out a new model, it does all sorts of planning,
using sensible estimates of time to market, productivity
improvements etc. However, since its competitors are doing
exactly the same it may well over or under produce, wasting
resources and making a loss on the one hand, or losing market
share on the other.

The idea that somehow we have to solve a 14 million variable simultaneous
equation, and that if we can't, socialism won't work, is ridiculous.
The converse, that if we can solve this equation then socialism
will be fairly easy is equally silly.

It will be quite easy to decide how much could be spent on housing
in the first world and how much on agriculture in the "third"
world, in rough terms. The difficult thing is getting into the
position where we have the power to make the decision, and then
taking the decision -  but these are political problems, not technical
ones.

Adam.

Adam Rose
SWP
Manchester
UK


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