Re: [Marxism] Walmart and Costco

["Carlos A. Rivera" <cerejota@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marvin Gandall" <marvgandall@xxxxxxxxxx>

> You would think so, but I don't see any evidence - certainly not in the
> the
> Bush administration or the Federal Reserve, and not in that wing of the
> Democratic Party representing the liberal bourgeoisie - of support for a
> "Keynsian turn".

Well, Cotsco, American Apparel and other growing companies "who do business
differently" stand in contrast to that.

Yet I agree that this is far from a rule or even an emerging rule, which is
why I insist on calling it a "section". The jury is still out, but as the
NYT's article shows, this is not an insignificant, nor recent, development,
and not one focused on idealism (beyond the certain marketing hype) but
grounded on a material basis. Some capitalists simply refuse to sell us the
rope with which to hang them. How successful will they be, well, the jury is
out.

Yet I think, by reading WSJ, NYT, FT, and The Economist (always a fun read,
if you have a morbid sense of fun, like me), a picture emerges of a USA
losing hegemony rather quickly, and adquiring economic characteristics more
a kind to a developing country than to an imperialist country. The Great
Depression is still used as a case study in major MBA programs, and I don't
think all of the MBAs are of the style of GWB.

As to the conditions you expect for a "Keynesian Turn", well, I think you
are ignoring some wildcard factors:

1) The emergence of a Chinese sphere of influence and economic development
on par of that of the USA in a few decades.

2) The existing foreing policy of the USA, which even a Democratic
administration will continue to pursue either because of ideological
agreement or because of the old "we are too commited already" arguments.

3) A declining standard of living for the borderline high class. In
particular, this class is hard hit by heavy in-debtness, as they depend on
an investing, cash economy for survival. Lawyers don't generally take credit
cards.

4) The crisis of the healthcare and insurance system, which is having a very
negative impact (I personally know of cases of US doctors that have 70% of
their revenues go to insurance and finance costs) on a whole tier of
economic development.

Thats said, in the abstract I agree with your rather gloomy (for us)
outlook, as it certainly seems to fit the reality we see. Yet all of these
factors I think should be explored.

sks


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