8 Comments

It seems to me that you & Richard D. Wolff define "socialism" quite differently.

Expand full comment

Jill Herendeen(sorry about the previous typo!)--Yes, and this is because there are the rote Academic definitions based on textbooks, and then there are heuristic approaches and analysis that requires an outside of box/non-linear intuitive approach. This quote:

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

~Albert Einstein

Expand full comment

Not sure exactly what you're getting at there. Are academic definitions based on textbooks a problem? Wolff argues that that the problem is that the academic definition of socialism has never been ALLOWED to be tried; how then could that non-entity become a problem that Einstein yearned to solve? Unless Einstein was deploring its absence?

Expand full comment

JH-- I'm not sure what Wolfe has stated specifically--I've only heard him speak in interviews, and read a few essays. Of all the so-called 'Economists' I always appreciated Wolfe's POV. What does hold interest for me has to do with divorcing oneself of the gridlock that holds us as prisoners of 'lack consciousness.' Some folks react to terms like "collectivism" or "communalism" as if these terms are leading to socialism/communism. What we are witness to today as a world order construct(not sure that Wolfe wouldn't agree with me)is a form of totalitarian Technocratic Oligarchy. In my purview, this corporate-AI governance model is a death knell for Humanity. ps...please post a link re Wolfe's specific examples re his definitions of 'socialism'--mucho gracias!

Expand full comment

Well, the corporate-AI "governance" model is certainly a death knell for MOST of humanity. (I doubt that the ruling Technocrats are going to harm themselves.) I'm pretty sure that Wolff considers socialism (the way he defines it, as "democracy in the workplace") as the antidote; or at least he did a few years back when he did his Socialism For Dummies youtube videos, parts I and II. However, I'm not certain he's considered a world in which most workers are no longer needed because most of the jobs have become automated.

Expand full comment

That last meme though! Priceless!

Expand full comment

Isn't it though! And also speaks to the un-sanity we are witnessing in these strange times. HNY!

Expand full comment

Absolutely! Happy New Year to you and yours as well!

Expand full comment