Re: economic systems??

Frederick R. Magdoff (fmagdoff@zoo.uvm.edu)
Sat, 21 Dec 1996 07:45:38 -0500 (EST)

Dan,
Not sure I can add much to what I wrote before. If you want to
live in a society with perpetual inequaltiy with large differences
between rich and poor and want small numbers of people controlling most
of the resources, remove all controls and all government programs and let
"The Market" work its wonders.
However, it was in response to the many problems caused by "the
Market" that that were brought about by the "unregulated" market that
much of the government farm programs and the anti-poverty programs were
developed. That some of the programs did not have the intended results is
certainly true (although some were very successful). However, the forces
which are now calling for removal of the remaining "fetters" on the
system are the most powerful and feel quite strongly that they will benefit.
These social programs have been an attempt to redistribute wealth.And the
growth of inequality of wealth in the US is most likely a direct response
to the decrease in the tax "burden" on the wealthy as well as the decrease in
support for the poor. This growing inequalty, if not reversed, will
become an major economic and social problem for us. The only way to deal
with it is to have programs that counter the worst aspects of what The
Market causes. If some government programs have been lousy, all it means is
that we need better ones. If you have a plumber do some work in your
house and he/she messes things up it doesn't mean you give up on plumbing
or plumbers.

FRED