******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
sorry, I hit Send accidentally; here's the finished paragraph from the middle of my post: The answer is simple: IT is not used to rationalize, simplify, and make more efficient the economy. It's designed to sell more goods, both consumer and IT business systems. (It IS used to speed up the supply chain, but that affects only distribution, not production; which however, as I explained re Walmart, is nothing to sneeze at re potential future rationalization and therefore minimization of needed computer code in the economy-wide sphere of distribution.) On Thu, Jul 16, 2015 at 9:24 AM, Andrew Pollack <acpolla...@gmail.com> wrote: > Yes, the upcoming battles are key, and it's no mystery where they will > come. For instance see quote from linked article below. > But Louis's logic STILL argues against a revolution anywhere, anytime. As > the country with the most, and most complex, IT systems, a socialist > revolution in the US would by his logic be forever impossible. > This brings us to the "productivity paradox," i.e. the decades-old > conundrum of why computerization hasn't transformed the economy the way > railroads and then auto did. > The answer is simple: IT is not used to rationalize, simplify, and make > more efficient the economy. It's designed to sell more goods, both consumer > and IT business systems. (It > That's why, for instance, nurse unions point out that successively more > complex healthcare IT systems - which DO capture more and more patient data > - DON'T mean higher quality or safety in healthcare (whereas higher nurse > staffing WOULD). Yet hospitals (including my own) are always competing with > each other to get the newest, biggest systems - and when the conversion is > made it requires countless (wasted) person-hours. > > "One could read on a banner deployed before the Parliament: “No to > privatizations, let us save the ports, DEI (national electricity company), > the hospitals”." > http://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article4130 > > > On Thu, Jul 16, 2015 at 8:41 AM, Louis Proyect via Marxism < > marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > >> ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** >> #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. >> #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. >> #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. >> ***************************************************************** >> >> On 7/16/15 8:20 AM, Marv Gandall via Marxism wrote: >> >>> Is the suggestion here that all of the peoples in the eurozone are >>> trapped in it because the technical problems of converting to a >>> sovereign currency are intractable, or is there something special >>> about the technological structure of Greek capitalism? >>> >> >> Absolutely not. But all this talk about Tsipras should have come up with >> a "plan B" while he was in these intense negotiations with the eurozone >> bigs is nuts. As I have repeatedly tried to explain, converting to a new >> currency requires a full project life-cycle implementation just as it did >> moving from a drachma to the euro. I have been involved with 5 such massive >> projects during my career so I can guarantee you that it would take Greece >> or any other euro-based nations a full 3 years to effect a change. As Doug >> pointed out, such a declared intention would have consequences of capital >> drain. >> >> In any case, the challenge is more political than technical at this >> point. We have a left developing in Greece today out of the disaffected >> Syriza members, Antarsya and the KKE (not that these people are capable of >> working in a united front). As I urged a FB friend yesterday, the focus >> should be on what's next and not on what just happened. >> >> _________________________________________________________ >> Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm >> Set your options at: >> http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/acpollack2%40gmail.com >> > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
