>>Any initial impression what the hidden assumptions are which favour
>>capitalism?
>>
>>Chris Burford
>>
>>London
>
>Hi Chris,
>
>The model replicates how mainstream thought sees capitalism- in the model we
>can tinker at the edges by altering various fiscal policies but it does not
>even begin to allow any experiments that might be dubbed socialist, let
>alone genuinely revolutionary.
>This in turn might raise other interesting questions that a piece of
>software might emulate- eg the what if Britain went it alone after a
>revolution- just what timescale could it survive for, or could a major
>imperialist power survive longer as without an international revolution to
>support its moves towards communism? Are state socialist policies a genuine
>alternative...etc etc
Yes it is a step if economic models can now be shared for democratic
tinkering. This will build up pressure for a paradigm shift.
My view is that some limited degree of economic independence can be bought
at a price by reducing the national debt as much as possible and having a
currency board. But it is at a price.
More important we need a computer model using a marxist theory of political
economy based on exchange value.
This would need to relate the total GDP to total social exchange value. The
latter would be finite as between profits and price of labour power - a
zero sum game.
However total social exchange value could be increased if
1) the work force increased
2) the economy imported relative exchange value from another economy with
less advanced means of production either in the form of products of labour
or labour power itself.
3) the proportion of the capitalist cycle bumping along the bottom was
reduced relative to the time operating near full capacity.
4) if a number of social activities not previously part of commodity
exchange became products of capitalist labour.
The ratio between the money value of the GDP and the total social exchange
value would have to rise with increased productivity, each unit of currency
becoming devalued proportionately to the total social exchange value, which
would remain fixed, apart from the possibilities noted above.
>NB Recently read an essay (refs in may car) where the author argued that via
>the net and the increased power of computing we now have the technical means
>to achieve both a democratic and planned economy. I'm usually wary of these
>techo solutions but the essay escaped the usual reductionist traps.
Rightly this is one of the recurrent themes of marxism space. I think the
evidence in favour of this has built up over the last 5 years.
Paul Cockshott and Allin Cottrell have presented arguments in Towards
Socialism (1993) and elsewhere, arguing that computer power is not
sufficient.
The snag in their argument IMO was not the size of the computer power but
the assumption of a hierarchical centrally-controlled economy.
I think since then we have seen further developments in computing power and
possibilities of feedback regulation by what is in effect a network. It is
not necessary for one computer to be in charge.
Thus even though the euro has not been as strong, relative to the dollar,
as predicted at its launch, it was a feat of computing ability how 11
currencies converged relatively smoothly towards the start date.
Then again, according to Giddens, 95% of the trillion dollars circulation
around the world daily on the foreign exchange computer terminals are
composed of speculation and arbitrages. It is a matter of time before those
slaves toiling away at the computer terminals have their jobs simplified by
even clever computers. (Remember ultimately capital becomes completely
abstract and impersonal.)
Clearly enormous computing power will be going into discounting shifts in
relative exchange rates of the dollar, the euro, and the yen. While this
may exacerbate fluctuations in the short term, the data in turn are subject
to human overview. Capitalism will put continued pressure for the rational
and smooth management of "world money", to use Marx's term.
So I suspect we are perhaps only 20 years away, give or take a decade, from
something that starts to look like world market socialism.
Just to be controversial!
Chris Burford
London
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