Comments on: China: Market Socialism or Capitalism?

By: China: Market Socialism or Capitalism? :: Newstack

China: Market Socialism or Capitalism? :: Newstack — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 05:24:01 +0000

[...] Read more: here [...]

By: David Schweickart follow-up « Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

David Schweickart follow-up « Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 15:26:28 +0000

[...] I also want to say a thing or two about an article that Schweickart wrote defending the idea that China is still socialist. Titled “Whatâ€™s Wrong with China?”, it is an answer to Burkett and Hart-Landsberg’s MR book-length article and was referred to by Carl Davidson in a comment on my original post. [...]

By: Jacob Richter, SolidarityEconomy.net

Jacob Richter, SolidarityEconomy.net — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 00:38:43 +0000

Anders, I left a reply about the bank issue on the “Economic Democracy: a Worthy Socialism” article.

By: Jacob Richter, SolidarityEconomy.net

Jacob Richter, SolidarityEconomy.net — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 00:08:29 +0000

-Wow! That eco-city stuff is pretty amazing. It is testament to the way Chinese policymakers are really thinking long-term about building a sustainable society. While in the US politicians tend to think 2 and 4 years ahead, here you’ve got people thinking GENERATIONS ahead and with the will and power to act.
-To respond to Tucker: I thought Yi Ching’s piece was very good. I really like his critique of the Cultural Revolution: while it attacked bureacrats, it didn’t go after bureaucracy as a structure. I also like the link he draws between socialism and real, political democracy and the reciprocal relationship between the two. I think our watchwords should be “radical democracy in the state, civil society and the economy.”

By: Anders

Anders — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 21:04:46 +0000

This is sort of off-topic, which I apologize for, but I have a general question about the Economic Democracy model for you, David. Could you explain (to an econ-neophyte like myself!) the public bank model more in depth? I know that it’s funded nationally, regionally, and locally through business taxes, and that it gets allocated regionally by a prima facie, per-capita basis. But I have some basic questions about it: How do businesses and entrepreneurs obtain funds from the system – is the money loaned from the banks, or simply given in grants? Do all businesses (including the non-worker-controlled sector) pay the tax? Thanks!

By: Anders

Anders — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 18:39:05 +0000

http://www.arup.com/eastasia/project.cfm?pageid=7047

Innovations like these just might mitigate (or hopefully reverse?) some of China’s problems, if their people are serious enough about responsible development.

By: jtucker

jtucker — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 04:52:42 +0000

I thought this was a great article. So through and so well done. Thank you! I cannot see how this is a response to Yi Ching Wu’s article of yesterday. I found that article very confusing and I was unable to understand the point he was making. And how all that relates to China of today.

By: Anders

Anders — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 21:35:47 +0000

That’s really interesting. From what you’ve written, it would seem that the PRC is really some sort of bastardized, authoritarian version of market socialism. The implication, like you’ve said, is that the laws are already on the books; they just need (equitable and popular) enforcing. In order for true economic democracy – and true socialism – to flourish, the major obstacle in China’s path is the need to realize POLITICAL democracy. In that respect, China is almost the exact inverse of the Western, neoliberal world.