Re: Beyond Communism and Capitalism?

[dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx (Doug Henwood)]

At 5:17 AM 1/19/96, boddhisatva wrote:

>        I nearly always agree with your posts, and I'm not sure whether that
>trend has hit a blip or not.  You wrote :
>
>        "s money. Accounting translates commodities and social
>relations into entries on income and capital statements. This is not
>compatible with socialism, which must deal in far more detail with
>qualitative matters."
>
>Are you saying that socialists should attend to modifying commerce to attend
>to social needs, and leave the rest alone, or make that the defining force in
>the economy?  Where does the split between public and private sectors occur
>in your thinking?  Clearly socialism is not some advanced form of noblesse
>oblige, but a qualitative change in the way business is done.  Is the
>socialism that deals with "qualitative matters", a private sector or public
>sector socialism?

No, I was saying that accounting turns everything into money, whereas
socialists have other goals. The accounting mentality would approach, say,
the housing question by asking what arrangement produces maximum profit and
asset growth; the socialist would ask, who most urgently needs housing, and
hang the profit concerns. You know, production for people and not for
profit.

Doug

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