Just to check, are you arguing for pure socialism or a blended system?
I’m arguing for literally anything that moves beyond capitalism. Whether it’s a Chinese-style mixed economy where haute capitalists are allowed but regulated, a NEP-style mixed economy where only small businesses are privately owned, a full-blown planned economy where no capitalists are allowed, a federation of co-ops…
Not that capitalism doesn’t have its share of this problem, but this is a massive centralization of authority and management. How can that be safeguarded against inevitable corruption?
Through democratic mechanisms, mostly. I won’t claim that democracy worked very well in USSR or China but it sure as hell is/was better for people living there than the capitalist “democracies” of the west.
I won’t claim that democracy worked very well in USSR or China but it sure as hell is/was better for people living there than the capitalist “democracies” of the west.
Are you saying just the application of democracy was/is better or the overall living under those systems?
I’d say that democracy was/is applied better in those countries. I wouldn’t say the overall standard of living was higher in USSR than in the US, but there also definitely were many advantages in workers rights and human rights in general. Nowadays I’d say for a working-class person China provides a better overall standard of living than the US.
I’m arguing for literally anything that moves beyond capitalism. Whether it’s a Chinese-style mixed economy where haute capitalists are allowed but regulated, a NEP-style mixed economy where only small businesses are privately owned, a full-blown planned economy where no capitalists are allowed, a federation of co-ops…
Through democratic mechanisms, mostly. I won’t claim that democracy worked very well in USSR or China but it sure as hell is/was better for people living there than the capitalist “democracies” of the west.
Are you saying just the application of democracy was/is better or the overall living under those systems?
I’d say that democracy was/is applied better in those countries. I wouldn’t say the overall standard of living was higher in USSR than in the US, but there also definitely were many advantages in workers rights and human rights in general. Nowadays I’d say for a working-class person China provides a better overall standard of living than the US.