Barry Lee Wendell, Morgantown
Noah Smith’s column (DP-May 13) suggests that Marx was wrong on many fronts and that his ideas have not worked out in practice.
I can agree with him about most of that. He paraphrases (University Of California) Berkeley economic historian Brad DeLong, who stated in 2013, “… he (Marx) underrated the power and usefulness of the signals and incentives created by the price system in a capitalist economy.”
Smith does cite socialist successes, mainly in Europe and Canada. “These countries,” he states, “have plenty of private business, but also fairly high taxes, universal health care … and a variety of tools that keep capitalism from resulting in runaway inequality.” He suggests that, “ … in the U.S., the social safety net is a lot stronger than people give it credit for …”
The Trump administration is trying to break the social safety net in as many ways as possible by cutting SNAP (food stamps) benefits, trying to repeal The Affordable Care Act, not fully funding public education and threatening to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, all while giving massive tax cuts to corporations and the very wealthy. These actions can lead people to think that Marx was right.
Smith also doesn’t mention how horrible the anti-Marxists were in the last century. Let’s not forget Germany, where the industrialists wanted to “Make Germany Great Again” and found their leader, who ultimately destroyed their country.
We have seen some tactics of that regime recently, like our president saying “some immigrants are animals” or inviting to the new American Embassy in Jerusalem speakers who have denounced Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Mormons and LGBT people. Perhaps we need to look at who benefits from cutting health care for the poor, who benefits from demonizing immigrants and LGBT folk, and who is turning back the clock on the social benefits that Noah Smith says keep capitalism in check.
Who finances the current regime in Washington, and how can we move them back to the more benign course Smith advocates?
We are at a dangerous place in our history. Let’s hope Smith’s optimism about reining in the worst excesses of capitalism is not misplaced.
