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This is an interesting read, but I would frame the question differently. The question, after all, is what's wrong now and how to fix it. I would say that major problem is excessive extraction of economic rents — land rent, natural resource rent, monopoly and monopsony rent, and financial rent. The trend is toward debt servitude for much of the population. Only the very top and the immiserated bottom Rent extraction depends on the political power to influence institutional arrangements. The extreme liberal solution (Libertarianism) is to get rid of government through maximum privatization, while the extreme collectivist solution (Communism) is to mandate social, political and economic equality. Neither is practical in my view. The way to proceed is by tacking economic rent. The
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This is an interesting read, but I would frame the question differently. The question, after all, is what's wrong now and how to fix it. I would say that major problem is excessive extraction of economic rents — land rent, natural resource rent, monopoly and monopsony rent, and financial rent. The trend is toward debt servitude for much of the population. Only the very top and the immiserated bottom Rent extraction depends on the political power to influence institutional arrangements. The extreme liberal solution (Libertarianism) is to get rid of government through maximum privatization, while the extreme collectivist solution (Communism) is to mandate social, political and economic equality. Neither is practical in my view. The way to proceed is by tacking economic rent. The
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Mike Norman considers the following as important:
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This is an interesting read, but I would frame the question differently. The question, after all, is what's wrong now and how to fix it. I would say that major problem is excessive extraction of economic rents — land rent, natural resource rent, monopoly and monopsony rent, and financial rent. The trend is toward debt servitude for much of the population. Only the very top and the immiserated bottom
Rent extraction depends on the political power to influence institutional arrangements. The extreme liberal solution (Libertarianism) is to get rid of government through maximum privatization, while the extreme collectivist solution (Communism) is to mandate social, political and economic equality. Neither is practical in my view. The way to proceed is by tacking economic rent.
The question, really, is how to get from here to there. Here is relatively simple to describe in terms of existing statistics. Inequality of wealth, incomes, and class power are off the charts.
Getting "there" necessitates articulating "there." This requires visualizing and actualizing. There is no shared vision at present and therefore no plan for actualizing it. In fact, division of opinion based on conflicting world views runs deep in the US now.
This is going to take a while.
If a chiefly capitalist economic system is desired, then to make it efficient, economic rent must be eliminated by either ex ante, or clawing it away ex post. Preempting it ex ante would be preferable from the systems point of view. Perfect competition in perfect markets would eliminate almost all economic rent ex ante and the rest could be addressed ex post (some unearned gain might result from economies of scale).
This analysis is economic and avoids other issues regarding governance that are social and political. But without addressing economic rent, a good solution cannot be implemented.
I view social democracy as a compromise between capitalism and socialism as economic infrastructure of society. It might be the best we can hope for to resolve the current impasse, but the bipartisan political elite is opposed to it. This is off the table in the coming general election.
Interfluidity
Social democracy and freedom
Steve Randy Waldman