Re: Rethinking Marxism

[Dennis R Redmond <dredmond@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 13 Sep 2000, Xxxx Xxxxx Xxxxxx wrote:

> Really? Where is the evidence for the miracle of Asian capitalism,
> Dennis?

Fifty years of the highest per capita growth rates on the planet, and net
creditor status vis-a-vis the USA.

> What I am disputing is
> the overall economic performance of Asian economies, the well being of
> ordinary Asian people (not capitalists) and the living standards of the
> population.

They've done well by the boom. Life expectancy in Hong Kong and Japan is
higher than the US, income distribution in the core is surprisingly
egalitarian, and living standards everywhere have gone through the
roof. And everyone has enough to eat in China, for the first time in that
nation's history. More to the point, the keiretsu system does a
remarkable job of socializing investment and subordinating financial
capital to long-term development, something any socialist society would
have to do.

Which doesn't excuse the ecological or human devastation wrought by
capital in the region, or the repressive states therein. But the
keiretsu model has indeed delivered growth and equity to the East Asian
core, and significantly raised incomes throughout the SE Asia
semiperiphery.

-- Dennis