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Leftist Lawyer

@Matt5sean3 @chrisisgr8 I've done some reading over the years on the impact the "communist specter" exerted on the capitalist class. Kept them honest. For example, if the "coked up fascists" caused inequality like we have today ... a successful communist state might have looked pretty appealing to a lot of folks. So, there was a ton more public spending in response. I think whenever the throughout history the elite class isn't faced with the possibility of economic ruin due to a competing ideology, the get really cocky and government has little leverage to exert the public spending side of the equation.

Then you wind up with Fukiyama end of history style busllshit and the elite run wild.

The elite need a new legit threat. And it's not China or Russia ... they're just as coked up fascist as we are.

Let's call it the #CokedUpFascistRule.

6 Nov 2023 at 3:18 | Wall-to-wall | Open on kolektiva.social
5 comments
Matt5sean3

@LeftistLawyer @chrisisgr8

I've heard that theory posed before. I'm a little skeptical just based on the fact that the Soviet Union seems to be a credible threat in the popular imagination until 1989 and coked up finance bro is kind of THE meme of the 80s and wages get decoupled from productivity well before 1989.

6 Nov 2023 at 3:38 | Open on rva.party
Leftist Lawyer

@Matt5sean3 @chrisisgr8 Hmmm. I have to counter that it was precisely the economics on steroids the Chicago school was pushing that ultimately turned the tide of the public's imagination. We were just slow to understand what the banksters were up to. I mean, Freidman got his Nobel in 1976. By the early 80's the "big brains" saw the writing on the wall -- that western ideology was winning the battle for hearts and minds. Reagan felt bold enough to break up the Air Traffic controllers in 1981.It seems to track pretty well with that timeline.

Apropos of nothing, I did a bit of web searching and found the following link. I've read other Mirowski writings, such as More Heat Than Light. He's a gem.

degruyter.com/document/doi/10.

@Matt5sean3 @chrisisgr8 Hmmm. I have to counter that it was precisely the economics on steroids the Chicago school was pushing that ultimately turned the tide of the public's imagination. We were just slow to understand what the banksters were up to. I mean, Freidman got his Nobel in 1976. By the early 80's the "big brains" saw the writing on the wall -- that western ideology was winning the battle for hearts and minds. Reagan felt bold enough to break up the Air Traffic controllers in 1981.It seems...

6 Nov 2023 at 3:52 | Open on kolektiva.social
Matt5sean3

@LeftistLawyer @chrisisgr8

That I could potentially see agreement with, but it necessarily says the outward perception of the power of the Soviet Union differs from the power of a spectre of communism, at least as it pertains to the US domestic sphere. That makes some sense too given radical organizations that draw inspiration from the Soviet Union seem to be in relatively bad shape by the early '80s, but I'm not as well informed on that era so I could just be wrong about the facts on that.

6 Nov 2023 at 4:28 | Open on rva.party
Leftist Lawyer

@Matt5sean3 @chrisisgr8 I was born in 70. It's a bit more adjacent to me. Something I feel (felt as a child?) more than know for sure.

6 Nov 2023 at 5:25 | Open on kolektiva.social
Slarlett Blake

@Matt5sean3 @LeftistLawyer @chrisisgr8 the soviet union never ceased to be a credible threat. For those of us who live anywhere east of Berlin, that is.

6 Nov 2023 at 6:54 | Open on mastodon.social
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