
Political Aspects of Full Employment (1943) - pshaw
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/kalecki220510.html
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airstrike
Employment isn't the end goal. What we want is to provide people with the
access to goods and services, and employment is a good proxy that is easier to
optimize for. Also, for what it's worth, we already live in an age of full*
employment in the U.S. and so far we're yet to see that the "maintenance of
full employment [causes] social and political changes which [gives] a new
impetus to the opposition of the business leaders".

This essay also overlooks the problem with the government's ability to
efficiently allocate capital, or to do so more efficiently than the market
itself does, given that the market is ultimately self-correcting, with few
exceptions that we can legislate against.

This essay is largely devoid of academic meaning. It's full of conjectures and
extrapolations and lacking any bona fide empirical basis.

Not to mention it is guilty of the seemingly undying habit of the left to
posit that those in favor of business hold their beliefs solely because it
benefits them, and not because they genuinely want what's best for the whole
of society.

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0db532a0
How can the capitalist, a single man, who knows that no state can efficiently
allocate resources also be as presumptuous as to think that he knows what is
best for society?

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airstrike
The capitalist doesn't believe he singlehandedly knows what is best for
society. In fact, the capitalist believes he alone can only maximize value to
shareholders – but in doing so maximizes value for all since he creates
economic prosperity through growth.

He simply genuinely believes allowing the market to operate as close to freely
as possible is what generates the greatest amount of prosperity for everyone.
The fact that the U.S. is the world's strongest economy by far should be proof
enough, but apparently people still prefer to hate success

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0db532a0
I am not debating the mechanism of capitalism, its ability to allocate goods
and how or whether it creates prosperity. For the record, it seems to me the
most natural way for humans to interact with each other.

My point is that to think that one knows what is best for society is similar
to thinking that one knows how best to allocate goods. It just isn’t possible
to know. Any capitalist will surely agree that value is purely subjective.

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airstrike
But the capitalist doesn't believe he knows how to allocate capital, while the
statist does.

The capitalist believes the exact opposite – that he can never claim to be a
better planner than "nature itself" so we should admit defeat and let things
transpire naturally while we each focus on our individual lives and
businesses, which presumably we know how to live or run better than the state.

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starbeast
One of the best arguments against full employment that I have ever encountered
was made by the German general Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord, who fought in both
of the world wars and died in 1943. His argument was regarding his officers,
but it can be readily applied to the population as a whole.

>"I divide my officers into four groups. There are clever, diligent, stupid,
and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined. Some are clever
and diligent -- their place is the General Staff. The next lot are stupid and
lazy -- they make up 90 percent of every army and are suited to routine
duties. Anyone who is both clever and lazy is qualified for the highest
leadership duties, because he possesses the intellectual clarity and the
composure necessary for difficult decisions. One must beware of anyone who is
stupid and diligent -- he must not be entrusted with any responsibility
because he will always cause only mischief."

Keeping diligent idiots out of the economy by paying them to stay at home
would be far more economically beneficial than a drive to bring about full
employment.

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mc32
I don't think that's a good analogy. Maybe an army can't make use of every
type of person (doubtful, in this context) but doubly doubtful in the economy
at large where employers need many different kinds of people. Moreover, who is
to say the stupid and diligent, to borrow from your quote, wouldn't do worse
harm at home left to their devices?

In any event, Japan, in the 80s, was pretty much near full-employment. I don't
think many economists or government officials would argue that was "bad".
Perhaps industrialists who could not find labor might have thought it was
"bad".

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starbeast
Japan throughout the '80s (and still today, though maybe a little less so) has
been practicing something fairly close to what I am suggesting, by having a
non-job role for the "madogiwa zoku", the window seat tribe.

They may not be paid to stay home, but they are paid to stay the hell out of
the way of anything that could affect the smooth running of the business.

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mc32
The window watchers is an intetesting phenomenon, and you have a point in that
in a way it’s like keeping useless employees out of the way. However, I would
hesitate to say they are actually useless, but rather the labor market in
Japan is such that it’s extremely difficult for a good employable person to
“hop” jobs. Once hired out of University, which is the main avenue for hiring
for the sarariiman, workers have little chance to change jobs. In that
atmosphere and culture, it’s nigh impossible to have your window watchers go
out and find a job where they could actually be productive. Many of them
(most?) are able and productive but the company has moved on to other things,
or refocused, realigned, reorganized and these people get trapped.

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amaccuish
Interestingly, the Soviet Union aimed and likely achieved full employment.
Unemployment was actually a criminal offence.

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fallingfrog
It’s so refreshing to actually see someone dealing honestly with the fact that
the interests of the capitalist class and the working class are opposed,
rather than engaging in ideologies of denial (there is no working class) or
misdirection (we are putting these policies in place for your benefit, not
ours). You’d never see such honesty today.

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kiklop74
Site is not available

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airstrike
Works for me, but here's a mirror just in case:
[https://outline.com/eCLpSE](https://outline.com/eCLpSE)

