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Chomsky on the Economy

Part 1

Part 2

tip to Roger

Tags: economy, Noam Chomsky

Posted by Norm on March 31, 2009 10:36 AM | Permalink

Comments

RedSeven | March 31, 2009 3:07 PM | Reply

Thanks, It's always good to hear about the ideal in an ocean of compromise.

Christiaan replied to RedSeven | April 1, 2009 12:42 AM | Reply

Ocean of compromise? More like business as usual.

Gary | April 1, 2009 1:05 AM | Reply

Chomsky complains that the public often takes the risks and the profits are often private. Sounds like he's arguing against government funding of science, clean energy, technology, etc.

Despite the best of intentions on the part of those in government, private enterprises find a way to manipulate government funding. There's no better argument for less government activity.

Sweet. Chomsky the Libertarian.

RedSeven replied to Gary | April 1, 2009 1:45 PM | Reply

Actually he is arguing for socialism, He just thinks the "profit" or at least the benefit should be public, not that we should stop work on an Aids vaccine or the space program.

Gary replied to RedSeven | April 1, 2009 9:25 PM | Reply

Fair enough. It's just interesting to note that socialists and libertarians see a common enemy in private enterprises that pour honey in government ears.

Socialists respond by asking for stronger, honey-resistant ears. Libertarians respond by asking for fewer ears, noting that honey-resistant ears have yet to be invented.

RedSeven replied to Gary | April 2, 2009 1:23 PM | Reply

Technically he has an anarchist streak, which is where the commonalities occur.

Gary replied to RedSeven | April 2, 2009 7:52 PM | Reply

Interesting. Libertarians are fairly anarchist, too, although they usually want a Leviathan state to prevent violence and to enforce property rights.

leftbanker | April 1, 2009 11:15 PM | Reply

Libertarianism: The Bad Idea that Won't Completely Die!

Try looking for models that actually work. Show me a libertarian health care system. And aren't libertarians still insisting we put Social Security into the stock market? There are models of how America can rebuild herself. Some examples come from our past, as Chomsky points out with unionism. I grew up in a heavily unionized neighborhood where almost every family owned their own home, had health care, only one parent worked, and there was something along the lines of job security. We gave that up under Reagan and for what, exactly? So that America’s richest could become a lot richer. This isn’t an opinion, it’s an undisputed fact.

Another model, especially for health care, is just about every other industrialized nation. If you take the Cato Institute as the word for libertarians, their ideas are completely laughable (and not just on health care but on just about everything—they are global warming deniers with over 100 scientists to back them up!). Libertarians remind me of that old Japanese soldier on an island who doesn’t know that his side lost.

Gary replied to leftbanker | April 2, 2009 8:20 AM | Reply

You're right. Never implemented = cannot work. I concede that both libertarian health care and meaningful worldwide carbon reductions are impossibilities.

I believe Social Security funds are currently invested in the stock market.

In the days when only one parent "worked", do you suppose that combined work (household + office/factory) between the two was less than it is for the typical family today?

Gary replied to leftbanker | April 2, 2009 7:53 PM | Reply

You're right. Never implemented = cannot work. I concede that both libertarian health care and meaningful worldwide carbon reductions are impossibilities.

I believe Social Security funds are currently invested in the stock market.

In the days when only one parent "worked", do you suppose that combined work (household + office/factory) between the two was less than it is for the typical family today?

RedSeven replied to Gary | April 3, 2009 9:36 AM | Reply

When do you think this era was outside of about 10 years in the 1950's?

Zaphod for President replied to leftbanker | April 3, 2009 10:55 AM | Reply

Leftbanker:

As my old Russian boss used to say: who gonna pay?

Socialist ideology aside, the current plan is to bring the national debt up to $20T in the next decade.

Some things, like fire departments and schools are already socialized, and will likely stay socialized. We will likely be adding health care to that mix soon.

However, unless you think a nation can run at a deficit forever, we MUST implement a libertarian ideology at some point. The question is not IF, but WHEN.

And, on this issue, libertarians and socialists tend to agree: public enemy #1 is the global military empire at a cost of $1T / year. It HAS to go. Again, the question is not IF, but WHEN.

Next on the agenda: the war on drugs, and other failed vestiges of the Nanny State. Again, it has nothing to do with ideology, and everything to do with going broke.

But I maintain every confidence that once the dust settles, many facets of society will remain socialized.

I do not advocate Pinochet's libertarianism any more than you advocate Stalin's socialism. And to pretend that the entire libertarian movement is laughable is not only disingenuous, it will be mocked as senility by 2020.

Let's be clear: YOUR generation fucked this up, and MY generation (largest libertarian population in history) is going to fix this. Its bad enough cleaning your mess, please don't spit on me as I do it.

jillbryant2003 replied to Zaphod for President | April 3, 2009 11:55 PM | Reply

I thought you were close to 30, Zaphod?

Zaphod for President replied to jillbryant2003 | April 4, 2009 8:09 AM | Reply

Shhhh!

If the kids find out, they will kick me out of the anarchist club.

I've only got 14 months left!

Kevin | April 2, 2009 12:30 AM | Reply

Professor Chomsky is arguing for social democracy and pointing out that what we have for a political system isn't really very democratic; we're "far from it".

He's also a realist and offers a few small steps that our nation can take to become a little more democratic and egalitarian.

As for single payer health care, I can't wait for it any longer so I'm emigrating to country that has it. The hard part is narrowing down the list and choosing one. I'd have to go to a "third world country" or failed state to find a system as screwed up as ours.