blame capitalism?

Pat Gunning wrote:

> Second, if this is true, is there any way to bridle the free market so
> that either wealth will not be so uneven or that the wealthy will not be
> able to dominate government decisions? On wonders whether trying to
> answer these questions might be more productive that simply blaming the
> world trading system for many of the world's evils.

Pat, I raise some more w-s basics that many people on
this list might agree as being essential to the
w-s perspective of modern capitalism.

First, if by "world trading system" we mean trade, then it
should be noted that trade is only one feature of the world-economy
(btw, the world-economy is the world division of labor that spans states,
and in which all people are interdependent for their livelihoods).  It is
the division of labor that we should focus on when considering
the boundaries of an economy or society.  States are not independent
economies linked by "international trade."

The world-economy is the economic side of capitalism, with the
interstate system of somewhat sovereign states being the political
dimension of capitalism.

As long as there are states, which in fact have been
required for a capitalist world-economy to exist,  then there will
always be political forces that seek to use the states to gain
monopolistic advantages over other states, enterprises, and
workers, or to gain protections from the exploitation of others
(hence "the modern Janus"), or to try to catch up with other states
via protectionist-developmentalist policies.

But, the more powerful states and enterprises are often pro-free
market because they have little to loose and much to gain, already
having a temporary monopoly on the most profitiable activities in
the world-economy.  They want access to markets and low cost
resources, and increasingly this means labor.

Second, capitalism is the cause of inequalities.  Giving capitalists free
markets (free unfettered access to use labor and resources as pleased)
has and will continue to exacerbate the inequalities.   A free market system
is no solution to inequality, for it will work primarily to the advantage of
the
most wealthy and powerful who will gain further from it, causing the gap
to grow further.

If state policies are a model for what is required to
reduce inequality on a global scale, then states like Sweden or even
Korea, where the income gap is lower, show us that we need to greatly
decrease the "freeness" of capitalists.  Such state policies also show us
that they will only work on a world-system scale since enterprises
leave these states and set up shop else where which leads to high
unemployment in the respective state.

elson
binghamton graduate