Re: [Pen-l] Naomi Klein: Beware of Obama's Chicago School of Economics boys

[ravi <ravi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Jun 15, 2008, at 8:35 AM, Doug Henwood wrote:
> On Jun 15, 2008, at 2:59 AM, Patrick Bond wrote:
> > Doug, let's review this tired debate now:
> > a) there is a certain tendency shared by you and other dear friends  
> > like Leo and Sam, to poohpooh capitalism's deep-rooted, underlying  
> > crisis tendencies;
>
> Capitalism gets in trouble now and then. Financial crises,  
> recessions, whatever. But it gets out of them too. It's just part of  
> normality. I don't see what the point of emphasizing that  
> cyclicality is. If anything, it supports an effort to stabilize the  
> system, not transform it. It's the rest of capitalist normality -  
> polarization, alienation, environmental destruction - that is the  
> real problem.

I know the environment is all the rage these days but I will ignore it  
with your indulgence for a second... as for the rest: alienation etc,  
it is the sort of thing that alter-Doug would have dismissed as  
sentimentalist claptrap (more on that soon in my comment on your Joel  
Kovel interview) ;-). I will offer that if the public truly understood  
the implications of the cyclicality of capitalism, they would rebel  
against the system a lot more, for it places the issue (bread and  
butter) at the centre of their lives. Consequently it seems to me (and  
I hope one of you will step forward and stop me from embarrassing  
myself), limiting the extremes of the cycles seem to be the primary  
liberal programme from Keynes on.

If capitalism has "deep-rooted underlying crisis tendencies" then it  
is not possible to "stabilize" it, yes? Pointing to the cyclicality is  
an attempt to show that the liberals are wrong -- that the ravages of  
the cycles are inevitable and cannot be stabilised and regulated while  
still reaping the other "benefits" of capitalism.

On the other hand, alienation, environmental destruction, etc are ably  
addressed within the system -- other than for a few effete pomo- 
reading urban intellectual types, alienation is at most a nagging  
suspicion in a life full of Yankees and Red Sox, American Idol and  
Applebees, and guns and church and xenophobia to cling to. And the way  
to deal with environmental destruction is for capitalism and the  
market to provide "green" products and ways of living. etc.

	--ravi

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