Date: Mon, 30 Jan 95 2:55:51 EST From: boddhisatva <foucault-AT-eden.rutgers.edu> Subject: Re: underconsumption again--and Luxemburg I feel I must object to Mr Keen's analysis of socialist vs. capitalist investment climates. Let's look at it this way : accepting some sort of labor theory of value, one can equate the financial risk taken by capitalists with the "labor risk" taken by socialist workers who invest their time and effort into a new venture. Without question the marginal propensity for risk is HIGHER, when taken in aggergate, in a socialist system than in a capitalist one much the same way that marginal propensity to consume is higher among poor than among rich people. Having said this, I must also say that Mr. Keen's analysis assumes away the independence of worker-controlled enterprise. This independence is vital if the flaws portrayed in his arguments are to be avoided. Clearly planned economy is undesirable for the flaws that Mr. Keen clearly points out. However, the individual syndicat in world of syndicats of one form or other are absolutely unconstrained by the "resource shortage" that Mr. Keen cites. In fact, since human effort is far more important in a modern economy, socialist firms have it all over their capitalist counterparts because worker inspiration is vastly less diminished. The simple fact is that people are not going to stop wanting to get rich, nor should they. Consumers are not going to stop wanting innovation, nor should they. Our job as Marxists is to unshackle the productive force. Wage exploitation is that shackle. Independent worker enterprise is the key. ------------------
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