Long live socialism: The great right-wing swindle has hoodwinked too many

[marmar]

from the Detroit Metro Times;




Long live socialism
The great right-wing swindle has hoodwinked too many

By Jack Lessenberry
Published: August 24, 2011


Here's the truth: I love socialism, and so do you, even though you may well neither know it, nor admit it. Matter of fact, so do most of the poseurs trying for the Republican presidential nomination.

They, however, want socialism only for the rich, and never call it that. Instead, they pretend what they call "socialism" is the problem. Well, if you want to see someone who lived a life free of socialism, go to Italy.

There, you can visit the body of the so-called "Ice Man," who was found after being frozen for 5,000 years. He was in his 40s; his teeth were decayed, his body was pretty much worn out, and, oh, yes, he had been murdered. But at least he didn't have to pay taxes.

Nor did he have police protection, schools, health care, roads or any agency in charge of seeing he wasn't sold tainted reindeer meat. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://metrotimes.com/columns/long-live-socialism-1.1192546

[robcon]

1. The invention of agriculture (domesticating animals and plants) 'invented' private property.

That has been the hallmark of progress for humans since then.

The book to read is Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond - the best book I have ever read.

[marmar]

2. And corporate agribusiness has put an end to all that.

nt

[robcon]

4. What you call corporate agribusiness is the reason why the planet supports 7 billion people.

Why should agriculture be any different from manufacturing... economies of scale, technological progress leading to higher yields per acre, and higher productivity per person.

2% of the U.S. population feeds the other 98%, plus exports food all over the world. That's real progress. Hunting/gathering was a reason why the Ice Age guy's life was nasty, brutish and short. Subsistence farming is disappearing in much of the world, replaced by farming for the market. As a result, humans live much longer and are much more well-fed now.

[marmar]

7. And yet there are about 1 billion on the planet who don't get enough food.

Funny that.

[robcon]

11. The smallest % ever in human history- the ones who don't have agribusiness. Funny that.

Subsistence farming is the problem - subject to bad weather and famines, and causing short life spans.

[Blue Meany]

8. Modern agriculture does not land as efficiently some methods of small-scale

organic agriculture, but it makes money by minimizing labor costs. This is totally dependent upon oil inputs: for fertilizer, pesticides, running farm equipment, etc. When cheap oil disappears, which is likely to be soon, this mode of production will not longer be competitive and much more labor will be required for food production (organic farming is more labor-intensive than the current agribusiness model).

I don't think most economies of scale are like this. They don't necessarily use resources more efficiently. Instead the use energy and automation to minimize labor costs. And these use their position in the political economy to externalize production costs and gain subsidies. Sometimes they are able to produce things more efficiently; sometimes not. But centralized, large-scale production is always efficient at centralizing profits.

[robcon]

12. U.S. agriculture is not the leader in yields per acre, but is the leader in yields per ag worker.

Like manufacturing, labor-saving methods and technology has enabled farmers to prosper, and enabled our economy to grow beyond subsistence into relative comfort.

The consumer economy benefits tremendously because so few workers are concentrated in farming, and can work in satisfying other needs and wants.

[Odin2005]

9. Private property was invented when somebody got a little army together and...

...took lands by force and made the people on those lands his slaves. private property does not evolve voluntarily, in it imposed by military force.

[robcon]

13. Bullshit. Read some science. Making shit up like that is ridiculous.

Private property was invented when hunter/gatherers decided to stay in one place to grow their food by domesticating plants and animals. Until then they only 'owned' what they could carry, and had no need for private property.

[Odin2005]

16. Most traditional societies don't have "private property" as we know it.

Even the ones that farm. They have usage rights bound by tradition and practical need. Private property has the same origin as slavery, from some people conquering other people.

[robcon]

17. That's a lie.

Traditional societies that didn't farm until a few centuries ago (like Native Americans, Australian aborigines and African plains dwellers) didn't have private property and didn't have a written language.

As anthropologists have known for a long time, the invention of agriculture in China, the Fertile Crescent (mostly Iraq), Mexico and Peru led to those innovations.

[Blue_Tires]

3. thanks for this

I always wonder why Corporate America never get the 'socialism' label slapped on them, since they utilize it much, much better than ever thought possible

[deutsey]

5. The link doesn't open for me

Maybe it's the filters where I work. I'll look forward to reading it later.

[Denninmi]

6. Jack Lessenberry is one of the most prominent political journalists in Michigan.

He's also pretty non-partisan, fair, and balanced. Nice to see people speaking the truth about what is going on in this country.

[brooklynite]

10. So, if capitalism doesn't work...

...please point out an example where socialism does.

[xchrom]

15. all western capitalist systems exist within the framework of the welfare state.

socialism.

while ours is dreadully out of whack -- the welfare state is still there.

[xchrom]

14. recommend