by Alan Weinerman
Part 1 of this article appeared on 9/18/2009. You can read it here.
PART 2: Obama is a brilliant capitalist. He not only knows that starving and homeless people are not good consumers, but he seems to actually care about people. In his first address to the joint session of Congress, Obama talked about great goals, a green economy, better schools, available health care, and modernizing our economy to compete in the 21st century. Wonderful goals, but impossible to achieve without coming to grips with the fact that “we the people” and our government do not own the economy. The economy is owned by private corporations. This obvious problem is usually completely ignored. The only time nationalizing an industry or company is discussed is when that industry is going broke. What a deal. Put the money-losers in public hands, and leave the profitable businesses in private hands. Somehow I don’t think that would work. Until the commanding heights of industry and finance
Marxism predicts that the development of technology will bring about the downfall of the system. Capitalists look at all advances in technology as ways to make their enterprises more cost effective. Replace workers with robots and computers. Great idea. And moving factories overseas is made much easier through technological advances. We were told we’d all get new jobs in “information technology.” Blame it all on the individual’s lack of proper expertise. This “rationalizing “ of enterprises is great for the bottom line in the short term, but destroys the consumer base of society in the long term. The more computerized technology is put to use, the deeper the contradictions become.
Marx said that the ruling power structure controls the parameters of the public discussion and debates of society. Discussions of whether private corporations should be allowed to own our economy are never heard And why do most left/liberals seem to accept the common notion that real socialism is dead? If socialism is discussed, it is usually limited to the benefits of social democratic welfare policies, like health insurance, social security, and subsidized housing. Social welfare policies are completely separate from the question of real socialism, which is all about who owns the major means of production in society, and who has to sell their labor power to survive. Public spending is of course very important but it’s dependent on the tax base, and if no one’s working, the coffers are bare.
Right-wing think tanks are already hard at work trying to convince us that to stabilize the economic situation, we will need to further cut entitlements and all public spending. Make the poor poorer—that’s how to fix things. Obama is not immune to these pressures, especially regarding entitlements. The liberal left needs to begin to inject into this debate the question of who owns the major productive forces of society (large factories, mines, industrial farms, power grids, and so on) and the need to use these productive forces for the public good.
Just how the major means of production can be put into public hands is a complicated question. And it doesn’t mean we have to collectivize small entrepreneurships or corner grocery stores. But unless we begin to deal with the question of who owns our major means of production, the human species may not be around much longer.
Alan Weinerman is a political psychologist living in San Francisco and an original member of the CCDS.
This article appeared in the Jan-Mar 2010 issue of the Northern California CCDS newsletter, the final print issue.
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