edgewaterconvention's Blog

Re: Socialism Defined

Pretty sure we all know this, but most of this economics stuff really comes down to what we each think about what matters.  Right, so, is it going to be material possessions ad infinitum that is the most important thing, or is "the economy" more just the tool we want to use to produce the stuff we need to go about enjoying our lives.  I think it's worth pointing out that neither capitalism or socialism really have existed anywhere - to take the Red Bureaucracy of Soviet Russia, or the vaguely capitalistic corporatist system that exists over much of the "global" economy as examples of either theory seems to do a bit too much violence to the ideas underneath the rhetoric and shouting.  Does seem to generate a lot of smoke, this economic organisation issue.  I guess living in a free capitalist democracy, and looking at how it "really" runs does tend to pour a bit of cool water on the principles of capitalism.  And I guess it comes down to moral beliefs anyway: more important to profit and so on for your productive work as an individual, or are you more likely to see yourself as part of a community.  The idea of socialism seems better, but you can always make up dumb stuff to beat these things - any system is the same.  Besides, if you grow up in a culture that takes the principles that underpin capitalism to be THE principles of good livin', it's a little hard sometimes to reimagine how to do things.  I mean, why empty bins in a society that pays the same for bin emptying as it does for neurosurgery?  What's my motivation for doing something hard and complex?  Well, again, is the goal in life to sit on the Earth with friends and lovers and be here and do things, or is it to amass toys and try to join the "leisure class"?  Do I want a world where the current "merit" system produces the L-curve of wealth distribution, having a few giant corporations owning more gross world capital than many countries allows me to get a financial services job where I can make a million moving numbers around?  The Randians and their individualist-striving idea are sweethearts, to be sure, but the "real" world of actually-existing economic systems is a little less theory-friendly.  Much else.  Einstein's essay, "why socialism", does make some points.  And it's not an either/or sort of distinction, is it?  Economy Domini?