Despite looking like it’ll read like a free market libertarian book, Deming actually puts forward a refreshing and interesting take on production modeDespite looking like it’ll read like a free market libertarian book, Deming actually puts forward a refreshing and interesting take on production models, everything should be based on cooperation, not competition. Keep costs low, even if it digs into the profit of one department, to keep quality and enjoyment high, and that will keep business. How everything in management should set up as a win-win relationship, how ranking should be rid of due making a loser in the competitive action. All and all Not bad. I would read again and recommend this to people in management positions who aren’t left-leaning or Marxist in order to dissuade competition in between departments in a company....more
With how short this book is Pao-Yu Ching really lays down a broad umbrella of history of the actions of Communist Party of China in regards to the peaWith how short this book is Pao-Yu Ching really lays down a broad umbrella of history of the actions of Communist Party of China in regards to the peasants and industrial workers after the national revolution in 1911 overthrowing the Qing Dynasty. Although they skip 1911-1949 pretty much. I really enjoyed this work for the fresh perspective that it presented without just trying to point out negative sensationalist headlines and using those isolated incidents to say “China bad, blah blah”. Although some of those headlines do pop up in towards the end of the book they were throughly explained in a concise manner on how those actions were allowed against the workers in the export driven multinational factories that we hear so much of today.
I really enjoyed the explanation of the three-tiered Chinese commune system and the collective sector that was brought around by the Land Reform put into act by Mao Zedong. I thought it was interesting that the workers on all 6-tiers of the political economic structure (adding in 3 tiers of governmental bodies to make up for the state sector) were paid on a work point system which sounds like something close to labor notes that I thought Marx discouraged the usage of in Das Kapital (maybe I got that mixed up with another Marxist writer). And I do like that the logic that guaranteeing employment is a way to eliminate labor as a commodity to be exploited. (Full employment is something I back anyways but it makes way more sense when framed like that)
I appreciated the picking apart of Deng Xiaopings actions during the opening of China when the capitalist roaders came into power. And how those actions affected the workers and peasants that used to be proud of and rely on worker-peasant alliance.
I say this is a good read for anybody interested in the leftist side of the China debate. People who are pro-China can definitely get a lot of this as it’s not all CPC bashing....more
A refreshing dive into modern economics and the people that have supplied the economic ideas that have lead some of the financial crisis’s over the yeA refreshing dive into modern economics and the people that have supplied the economic ideas that have lead some of the financial crisis’s over the years. John Cassidy does a deep dive on not only the Subprime mortgage failure of 2007-2009 but the fringe banking crisis of the 1990s, the shadow banking crisis of 2002 among other crisis like the Great Depression from a “left of center” economic view point. As in against the idea of the free market, Milton Friedman society. Cassidy goes into deep detail how in all these market failures every single one was induced by predatory financial products being sold to people without all the information made to make sure of the widest profit margin as possible, and how every time this has the government has to step in to remake the rules of the game so everything doesn’t collapse. I appreciate the chapter or two that talked and introduced game theory and how it applies to economics, and how mob psychology is also becoming a bigger part of financial leader’s research.
This is a well-written book that really puts into perspective a lot of things that conservatives make light of in their anti-government intervention sloganeering and that I feel like the socialist left doesn’t really explain very well. It’s Worth picking this title up....more
Honestly with how short this book is I’m surprised with how much great information, metaphors related to fantasy and sci-fiction works, and new, freshHonestly with how short this book is I’m surprised with how much great information, metaphors related to fantasy and sci-fiction works, and new, fresh ways to relay economic ideas Yanis Varoufakis gets in this work. Truly an excellent read. The ideas of how debt is how society got pushed toward developing productive forces and how it relates to the tale of Mephistopheles. How agricultural surplus is what got England to invade the aboriginals in Australia. How money will always be political and attempting to decouple politics from money would cause crisis that couldn’t be saved by a governmental body. Oedipus Tyrannus even gets an current day economic policy analysis. The rise of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies even get a small chapter dedicated to them. This book really has it all and I’m looking forward to reading Varoufakis’s other works....more
This book would’ve been better if they focused more on how Co-opportunity was run internally, although I do appreciate the formation history of the grThis book would’ve been better if they focused more on how Co-opportunity was run internally, although I do appreciate the formation history of the grocery store. The Will Simon section was the most interesting part by far....more
I enjoyed how the authors of this book go deep in their dissection of planning in the economy today even though most economists would denounce plannedI enjoyed how the authors of this book go deep in their dissection of planning in the economy today even though most economists would denounce planned/command economies today. I have Alec Nove’s book on the USSR economy that is quoted frequently in the chapter concerning the earlier years of Lenin’s and Stalin’s rule of the Soviet Republics. So I’ll have to give that a read soon. There’s a wide range of opinions of different socialist camps in this work, but most them come from the libertarian socialist and council communist positions. Which is cool for its own merit. I really appreciated the chapter on Allende’s government and especially the Cybersyn program.
All in all interesting read, we have planned economies and they work, just in the interest of profits instead of in the interest of guaranteeing the continuation and prosperity of fellow human beings....more
In this work, Wolff advocates for an economic theory for post-capitalist society based around Worker Self-Determined Enterprises (WSDE). These are difIn this work, Wolff advocates for an economic theory for post-capitalist society based around Worker Self-Determined Enterprises (WSDE). These are different from better known Co-ops and Worker-Owned businesses. The WSDE are interesting in how they are ran by a board of inner-rotating worker-directors that control and democratically reallocate the surplus value their business produces to put it shortly. Wolff then talks about how this would be real socialism if this could be implemented by society. There’s some bits about the pros and cons of the competition between the WSDE and private capitalist enterprises that I enjoyed and there’s some bits about what’s private/unregulated capitalism and what’s state/regulated capitalism that I’m unsure of. Otherwise I don’t regret reading this book, it was mad decent....more
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