For a long time I’ve tried to propose the idea that free markets don’t actually drive innovation, rather in the global capital world it starves it.
The consolidation that is hidden from the average persons is predominately giving many “markets” an incremental approach. This has to play into aspects such as medicine and other important markets. Markets where incrementalism is criminal and obscene.
Having these private companies whom the well being of the populations of the world’s health operate like Apple is a travesty. If I may harken back to my point, along side this I’ve often paralleled these actions as inverted, get ready…
Communism! The means of production so monitored globally has taken control and created a framework by which these artificial markets are the board member’s dream! Almost completely predictable! Of course I’m leaving out many factors, and actors but the aforementioned dots laid out by you Wes are more than apparent.
Hey Jason, thanks for the comment! FYI, you might also want to check out the work of Mariana Mazzucato who wrote The Entrepreneurial State, which is about how a lot of innovation that is attributed to private sector actors actually emerges out of state-directed research institutes and universities and strategic military programmes.
Yes. Chile under Pinochet wasn't doing "free markets it was doing cartelization and private sector central planning. In Chile under Pinochet the government was not too infrequently literally mandating production for a lot of SMEs, mandating their sales destinations., other things Central planning.
And the crowd of people in the USA who backed him eventually were able to the scheme over here in the 1970s and then really ramp it up in the 1980s under the Reagan admin. Take the airline industry as an eample, I mentioned to Mike in another post in this reply space, they airline industry. An element within the Reagan admin seems to have been set up, that took formal actions, that in conjunction with private industry (and I suspect Big Finance), took actions in at at least one huge aspect of the airline industry and behaved in a way that was like halfway towards being a Soviet industry control committee when through a variety of actions (some of which could be argued to be in essence illegal as they required twisted interpretations of the Airline Dereg Act) contrived the Airports hub-and-spoke system that we have today. And the airline industry is actually on teh smaller end of what they did in these regards, its simpler to talk about because it was more direct.
There's a good book, its an imperfect and also old so it doesn't capture big recent stuff like post 2008 stuff of things that had formed/further developed in the 90s/2000s, but it a pretty good book if your interested in the subject matter, its by John Munkirs and its titled 'The Transformation of American Capitalism: From Competitive Market Structures to Centralized Private Sector Planning'
A comrade of mine, Loren Goldner, once said that something to the effect of if the working class were to get inside the WalMart computer system, they would have everything they needed to manage world production. It’s not unfeasible or “too complicated.” So, have you seen any interest in rejuvenating CyberSyn?
I think there is always a perpetual interest in ideas of cybernetic socialism. In recent years I've mostly seen it turn up in the blockchain space through the fixation on smart contracts (i.e. digital vending machines or robotic agents that can be linked together into self-regulating networks). The blockchain scene often has a libertarian edge, and a fixation on decentralisation, and yet the vision, or end goal, is often to reach some kind of optimal 'social machine', almost like decentralised-central-planning (or something like that).
But, in terms of the old-school left wing version of cybernetic socialism, which would run on big central systems, that's most only done internal to capitalist corporations ;)
We already have decentralized central planning. That is precisely the competition-regulated invisible hand dividing up the social product, with “ameliorations” planned post-crisis, after the horses have left the barn. Of course I mean taking the knowledge of WalMart and Cargill and Exxon.
The complexity of large corporate structures is breathtaking. I find it hard to believe that any person or discreet group within them has a complete view of the whole with any kind of real understanding of the individual strands. Many commentators refer to the economy as having a life of its own in which nobody is in control and nobody takes responsibility for the negative externalities (although they are quick to assign responsibility when shareholders are upset!). Your description would seem to bear this out.
It is like an organism that is aware of its whole but not its complex internal structure. It hunts and eats and judges its well-being in terms of a tolerable digestion and how many extra fingers or toes it has managed to grow. I'm sure there is mileage in this metaphor but I have already strayed far from 'Lego'!
I also liked the skeletal comparisons with early communist regimes which bear many more similarities than even those you mentioned. I'm sure there is the basis for a great satire here on the lines of the office but perhaps entitled 'The Board'. Might not make prime time though....
Ha ha, thanks for this excellent comment Richard. My recent piece on money as a nervous system goes into some of that metaphor set too.
From a birds-eye view, the entire economy is so vast that nobody truly understands its operations, but you're right that even within these seemingly coherent sub-structures like corporations there's a similar lack of internal awareness. I've always been intrigued about this question of whether there is actually anyone without a corporation that has a full view of it
For a long time I’ve tried to propose the idea that free markets don’t actually drive innovation, rather in the global capital world it starves it.
The consolidation that is hidden from the average persons is predominately giving many “markets” an incremental approach. This has to play into aspects such as medicine and other important markets. Markets where incrementalism is criminal and obscene.
Having these private companies whom the well being of the populations of the world’s health operate like Apple is a travesty. If I may harken back to my point, along side this I’ve often paralleled these actions as inverted, get ready…
Communism! The means of production so monitored globally has taken control and created a framework by which these artificial markets are the board member’s dream! Almost completely predictable! Of course I’m leaving out many factors, and actors but the aforementioned dots laid out by you Wes are more than apparent.
Hey Jason, thanks for the comment! FYI, you might also want to check out the work of Mariana Mazzucato who wrote The Entrepreneurial State, which is about how a lot of innovation that is attributed to private sector actors actually emerges out of state-directed research institutes and universities and strategic military programmes.
Oh for sure, most tech ie communication was all born out of military infrastructure. MA Bell!
Thanks Brett! I will def check it out.
Yes. Chile under Pinochet wasn't doing "free markets it was doing cartelization and private sector central planning. In Chile under Pinochet the government was not too infrequently literally mandating production for a lot of SMEs, mandating their sales destinations., other things Central planning.
And the crowd of people in the USA who backed him eventually were able to the scheme over here in the 1970s and then really ramp it up in the 1980s under the Reagan admin. Take the airline industry as an eample, I mentioned to Mike in another post in this reply space, they airline industry. An element within the Reagan admin seems to have been set up, that took formal actions, that in conjunction with private industry (and I suspect Big Finance), took actions in at at least one huge aspect of the airline industry and behaved in a way that was like halfway towards being a Soviet industry control committee when through a variety of actions (some of which could be argued to be in essence illegal as they required twisted interpretations of the Airline Dereg Act) contrived the Airports hub-and-spoke system that we have today. And the airline industry is actually on teh smaller end of what they did in these regards, its simpler to talk about because it was more direct.
There's a good book, its an imperfect and also old so it doesn't capture big recent stuff like post 2008 stuff of things that had formed/further developed in the 90s/2000s, but it a pretty good book if your interested in the subject matter, its by John Munkirs and its titled 'The Transformation of American Capitalism: From Competitive Market Structures to Centralized Private Sector Planning'
Thanks so much for this info Mike - really interesting. I haven't seen that book, but it sounds like it's perfect for this piece
A comrade of mine, Loren Goldner, once said that something to the effect of if the working class were to get inside the WalMart computer system, they would have everything they needed to manage world production. It’s not unfeasible or “too complicated.” So, have you seen any interest in rejuvenating CyberSyn?
I think there is always a perpetual interest in ideas of cybernetic socialism. In recent years I've mostly seen it turn up in the blockchain space through the fixation on smart contracts (i.e. digital vending machines or robotic agents that can be linked together into self-regulating networks). The blockchain scene often has a libertarian edge, and a fixation on decentralisation, and yet the vision, or end goal, is often to reach some kind of optimal 'social machine', almost like decentralised-central-planning (or something like that).
But, in terms of the old-school left wing version of cybernetic socialism, which would run on big central systems, that's most only done internal to capitalist corporations ;)
We already have decentralized central planning. That is precisely the competition-regulated invisible hand dividing up the social product, with “ameliorations” planned post-crisis, after the horses have left the barn. Of course I mean taking the knowledge of WalMart and Cargill and Exxon.
This is also the central theme of Vulture Capitalism by Grace Blakeley. You might like it. https://www.audible.com/pd/B0CWBB5DVY?source_code=ASSOR150021921000V
Thanks Reinjan. I know Grace, but haven't got to her latest book yet. I look forward to it
The complexity of large corporate structures is breathtaking. I find it hard to believe that any person or discreet group within them has a complete view of the whole with any kind of real understanding of the individual strands. Many commentators refer to the economy as having a life of its own in which nobody is in control and nobody takes responsibility for the negative externalities (although they are quick to assign responsibility when shareholders are upset!). Your description would seem to bear this out.
It is like an organism that is aware of its whole but not its complex internal structure. It hunts and eats and judges its well-being in terms of a tolerable digestion and how many extra fingers or toes it has managed to grow. I'm sure there is mileage in this metaphor but I have already strayed far from 'Lego'!
I also liked the skeletal comparisons with early communist regimes which bear many more similarities than even those you mentioned. I'm sure there is the basis for a great satire here on the lines of the office but perhaps entitled 'The Board'. Might not make prime time though....
Ha ha, thanks for this excellent comment Richard. My recent piece on money as a nervous system goes into some of that metaphor set too.
From a birds-eye view, the entire economy is so vast that nobody truly understands its operations, but you're right that even within these seemingly coherent sub-structures like corporations there's a similar lack of internal awareness. I've always been intrigued about this question of whether there is actually anyone without a corporation that has a full view of it
Great read!
Glad you like it Wes!