Re: GLOBAL KEYNESIANISM

On Fri, 28 Apr 2000, Paul Riesz wrote:

>What they do not want to admit, is the fact, that all past attempts to
>create such an ideal society have turned out to be dictatorships of a small
>minority, that brought few, if any benefits to the great majority of
>ordinary citizens.

This is false. State socialist countries brought comparatively tremendous
benefits to their people. Under communist parties these countries were
substantially better off than they were before socialism and they are now
much worse off after the fall of state socialism. Between 1960 and 1980
all state socialist countries compared favorably with middle and
upper-range capitalist countries, and all state socialist society easily
surpassed the bottom third capitalist countries. In fact, there were after
1960 no state socialist societies in the bottom third of poorest
countries. There was substantially less inequality in these countries, and
the ruling parties, while having some bit more of the social surplus than
the average person, were much less well off than their counterparts in
capitalist societies (a Soviet leader, if so inclined, could only dream of
the wealth and privilege of the US politician). All this came with a high
level of social services.

State socialist societies were not perfect. There is no requirement that
any society be a utopia or live up to any ideal to be a desirable
alternative. There is probably not a single wage-laborer who desires to be
a slave. We live in the real world, Paul, and we always will. People
living under state socialist regimes were much better off than most people
living under capitalism. They really were.

Andrew Austin
Knoxville, TN