Mick writes
-----------
Let us, even so, agree that eight years of Reaganite lectures,
howver
processed, did not eliminate slums or poverty, did not wipe out drugs or
prostitution, did not bring bourgeois comforts to the putatively
oppressed. Schwartz's recommendation is "spending . . . money on
infrastructure." Did that work?
Paul
----
Yes. Mick reiterates the old upper class prejudices against the
undesrving poor that were a staple of ruling class opinion here
half a century ago. The experience of the mixed economy here -
a mixture of communism, state capitalism and private capitalism
that was introduced by the great working class parliament of
1945 indicates that slums, pauperism, and prostitution could be
substantially reduced. The black market in drugs was also
eliminated by the provision of heroin on prescription to addicts.
For the first time since capitalism started, the working classes
started to enjoy formerly bourgeois comforts, with unprecedented
increases in real wages.
The key factor was that the state ensured a sufficiently high rate
of capital accumulation to bring about full employment - more
job vacancies than unemployed people. Unemployment levels were
down around 1%.
