From what I can tell, many socialists feel that the federal reserve is part of the capitalist system. It may have been set up by capitalists, but that does not make it a capitalist institution. Besides, what is a central bank but a mechanism for controlling markets, that is markets in money. Now (this may not be entirely new and maybe someone already clearly stated this) I believe that the financial crisis in 2008 really stemmed from the failure of socialist economic calculation. Part of my hypothesis is that it was not greed at all. It was ignorance, in a way. There was so much credit and money around that no one knew what to do with it, and probably there was nothing to do with it. In other words, the markets were so distorted and signals from the market could not even be read that the central bank, federal reserve, completely and utterly failed. It failed for reasons that apparently Mises pointed out decades ago. I don't know the really technical aspects of the calculation debate, but it seems to me that the crux of it is that a centrally planned economy will, eventually, fail no matter what because it cannot take into account all of the variables. I think that this probably represents a good historical experiment for economics. Maybe some of that history has already been written I'm not sure. What do people think and are there any books concerning this topic specifically that anyone has read?
I never thought I would see the day.
C'mon... I've always said I approach things honestly . It's a good view to take. I in no way think it justifies denying the existence of collectives, but it is true that any group cannot be divorced from the individual motives involved.
Woah there. Just because someone says they are an ancap as they run for President and launch wars and propose regulation, doesn't mean any of that is actually ancap. We have to separate what people claim they are for, and what they actually do. If you're against welfare but you take welfare, something is rotten in Denmark.
I completely agree. That's what I want to say every time someone says "american capitlaism is socialism" or some such nonsense. I'll take the USSR as a disastrous failed attempt at working class control. But not American Capitalism, which I think is far more progressive.
In States a fresh law is looked upon as a remedy for evil. Instead of themselves altering what is bad, people begin by demanding a law to alter it. ... In short, a law everywhere and for everything!
~Peter Kropotkin