Deng Xiaoping's Capitalism

Very interesting historical analysis on Deng Xiaoping's bringing of capitalism to China and its consequences by Mark Sumner, the quote below is from the end of the article:
"Daily Kos: Owners of the world, unite:  It's become popular to view American workers in the decades after World War II as "highly paid." The truth is they were "rightly paid," with incomes that tracked well against the value of the products they produced. This was only possible because of the tight alignment between workers salaries and the price of goods.    

"Rather than organize an international revolt of workers, Deng generated a conspiracy of business leaders willing to devalue their work force. He showed CEOs that they could become fabulously wealthy if they only reduced their companies to nothing more than nameplates and outlets – brand names for China Inc. He showed them that they could profit from the destruction of their own system. What we took as economic victory was really an invitation to economic suicide, and corporations lined up to jump. 

Deng and the leaders who followed him rightly judged that we would overlook any abuses for money. That we would not severe relationships no matter how radical their actions. That we would mouth platitudes about the connection between capitalism and democracy, long after we were fully aware that no such relationship existed."

I only disagree slightly with a minor point mentioned here.  American workers may have been better paid in the decades after WWII, but they still produced surplus value and were still exploited.  They, CEOs, are profiting as normal from "their system" and not necessarily destroying it.  Like most establishment liberals, Sumner still takes capitalism as a system for granted.   

Connecting the Dots Follow Up and the Negative Economic Consequences of Attacking Immigrants

So I thought I would do just a shotgun approach to posting some links and thoughts of my own (mostly links). 

A few posts ago I posted a quote from Daniel Little about the value of Marxist theoretics, and "connecting the dots" and I thought it was a generally a favorable view.  Little however thought that Marx doesn't exactly give us enough empirically to go on for the present.  And of course how could he when he was writing about 150 years ago.  Radical economist David Ruccio takes exception to Little's verdict, and has a different take; it is interesting reading.

Eventually if I can ever find time, I would like to do a well thought out post critiquing the so-called "illegal immigration" debate we have in this country.  So much of the real issues never makes it into mainstream discourse because mainstream liberals ignore them. One of the things that irks me is the assumption that undocumented workers are "taking" and not contributing.  Of course from a Marxist perspective, if one knows what that is, this is absurd.  By working here, immigrants are a tremendous source of easily exploited labor, and thus surplus value and profit. And their illegal status makes them that much more so.  However, even from the perspective of taking the capitalist system for granted, the attack on immigrants, regardless of legal status, is counter productive and bad for the economy.  Here's a post from a Tucson Citizen blog The Data Port on immigrant contributions to the Arizona economy.  The orignal link from the Center for American progress is broken, but this quote is worth pasting at length:

The complex relationship of labor and consumption means that driving undocumented workers from the state would not “free up” more jobs for native Arizonans. Instead, it would have the same impact as driving out any other significant slice of the workforce. The report uses the town of Riverside, New Jersey, as an example.

After a construction boom in Riverside led to an influx of undocumented construction workers in the first half of the 2000s, the town adopted an ordinance in 2006 that imposed heavy fines on any businesses or landlords who hired or rented to undocumented immigrants. The ordinance was never enforced, but nonetheless had a big impact.

Feeling persecuted, 75% of Riverside’s immigrant population left, resulting in 45% of the town’s businesses being boarded up as they had been before the influx of immigrants. The legal cost of defending the ordinance in court also forced the town to delay infrastructure repairs and improvements. The ordinance was rescinded in 2007, but the damage had been done.

Aborted Post Link Dump 1 (or is it 2 or 3?)

Well, my original intention for this blog was for me to do the actual writing and thinking. But I am busy with a job (wooo hooo lucky me), a naggy wife, and an energetic seven year old boy.  I just don't have the time I would like to have to devote to this.  But I want to stay active, so here is another "link dump" of articles I intended to think and write about.  With maybe just a little commentary from yours truly.  That Blogger share button sure is handy!


Why the Rich Are Getting Richer | Foreign Affairs
I am sure its complicated, but this article makes the argument that it is purposeful government policy.  


Then there is all this righty rhetoric about how the U.S. Constitution is the closest to thing to perfection that a political document could ever be.  And then the poppycock about the infinite wisdom of the "Founding Fathers".  Its about time that people start turning a critical eye on these quasi-religious beliefs.
Let's stop pretending the Constitution is sacred


The battle over the Constitution: newyorker.com


For the next two links I was going to write about how the US Military is so widely adored in American society, but is in fact a very socially ill and corrupt institution in any number of ways.  From the corruption linked to military spending, rape and sexual harassment in the military, imposed religious persecutions and conformity, to the epidemic suicides of returning soldiers etc..  Shit, this isn't even getting started on the atrocities perpetrated by the U.S. Military overseas!

Defense firms lure retired generals - The Boston Globe

Rape rampant in US military - Features - Al Jazeera English

Don't go, don't kill! - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

There were a few days when I happened on lots of links at Al Jazeera.

2010: A year in review - Al Jazeera Top 10 Of The Year - Al Jazeera English

And of course healthcare, which I should have more links for, oh well:

The right's war on healthcare is back

Facinating Links Recomended by Your's Truly

Three cheers for collectivism and individuality! Here is an interesting article suggesting that there is group intelligence based on the unique contributions of group participants.  


Group IQ - The Boston Globe

Glenn Greenwald does a partial sum-up of what we have learned from Wikileaks this year.

Michael Moore and Wikileaks revelations on the health care industry and Bush Administration's inappropriate attempts to smear him and his movies. The latter seems strangely out of proportionate concern about over Moore's influence.

Holy smokes!  Quick, somebody call in a Marxist to untangle this convoluted discussion about class in America!  All of the contributors have the dominant view that social  classes are a state of aspirational consciousness and identity, and based on this the vast majority of Americans are still "middle-class".  Even the Chief Economist at the Department of Labor, Betsey Stevensen takes this view: 

"So what defines the middle class? Not income. Your current income is a poor predictor of the social class with which you identify." 

Not a single mention of a more objective or scientific perspective on class such as that one's class is defined by an objective relationship to a societies organization of production. 

What is the environmental damage of factory farming in the U.S. Southwest?