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Unlike its failed predecessor, this new, greener socialism seeks not to weaken, but rather to preserve, the emerging class structure. Brown and his acolytes have slowed upward mobility by environment restrictions that have cramped home production of all kinds, particularly the building of moderate-cost single-family homes on the periphery. All of this, at a time when millennials nationwide, contrary to the assertion of Browns smart growth allies, are beginning to buy cars, homes and move to the suburbs.

In contrast, many in Sacramento appear to have disdain for expanding the California dream of property ownership. The states planners are creating policies that will ultimately lead to the effective socialization of the regulated housing market, as more people are unable to afford housing without subsidies. Increasingly, these efforts are being imposed with little or no public input by increasingly opaque regional agencies.

To these burdens, there are now growing calls for a single-payer health care system which, in principle, is not a terrible idea, but it will include the undocumented, essentially inviting the poor to bring their sick relatives here. The state Senate passed the bill without identifying a funding source to pay the estimated $400 billion annual cost, leading even former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to describe it as snake oil. It may be more like hemlock for Californias middle-income earners, who, even with the cost of private health care removed, would have to fork over an estimated $50 billion to $100 billion a year in new taxes to pay for it.

In the end, we are witnessing the continuation of an evolving class war, pitting the oligarchs and their political allies against the states diminished middle and working classes.

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California's descent to socialism - Hot Air

Can pro wrestling, a medium with a history of bare-faced antagonism towards leftist politics, exist under socialism?

I think its contingent on the degree to which wrestlers and others in the business identify with the working class.

Its a spectrum. On one end, you have Zack Sabre Jr, who speaks out against neoliberalism and recently raised money for the ACLU. On the other, you have Matt Striker, who was, as I was writing this, using Twitter to mock the reporter assaulted by Greg Gianforte, a Montana Republican who was subsequently elected to Congress, and speak against a living wage for fast food workers.

Where there isnt wrestling, people will create their own. Ive seen enough lips busted on trampoline frames to know this. Whether or not we can develop a class consciousness within this industry will determine whether we have to start from scratch or if that knowledge, training and character that we identify with pro wrestling now will be preserved in this new iteration.

This isnt to downplay the irrevocable influences on wrestling that socialism would have. They are substantial, perhaps even drastic. Still, I think theyre necessary to ensure that the compassionate, sustainable future we advocate for is extended to wrestling (a thing many leftists love, often despite ourselves).

Longer Careers, Shorter Title Reigns

Whatever shape the political apparatus of a socialist America takes, its safe to say that industries and business will be run as worker co-ops, directed and managed democratically by the workers. Theres no reason wrestling would be the exception.

With the abolition of rent and wage labor, the incentive to grind your knees down on multiple house shows a week will be low. And everyone will be involved in local committee projects anyway; theyll need those knees to build houses and plant arugula.

How would you book yourself if you were focused on longevity? More tag matches, triple threats, battle royals. More chances to do spots and wow crowds while getting a few breathers in the corner.

Those add up to a longer, if less illustrious, career. Legacies like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Kazuchika Okada are the result of a singular vision focused on capital. Titles, if they exist, could become a means of collective recognition of labor and talent.

In theory, at least. If you, say, had a habit of defecating in your co-workers gym bags in the previous regime, youre probably gonna be voted to lose. A lot.

The Tag Title Will Become The Top Title

The structures of wrestling reflect our values. The great man babyface perceives that being himself, by himself, reflects American ideals of individualism, distrust of teamwork, and frustration at the weak-willed, ineffectual governing apparatus that exists only to fetter their attempts to win custody of their adopted son.

A collectivist wrestling company living in a collectivist society will reflect that in its booking. An example of this would be CHIKARAs Campeonatas de Parajas, a tag title that preceded its equivalent of a world title by 5 years; I see a correlation in the increasing prestige of a top singles title with the CHIKARA brands transition from that of a local, community-supported indie fed to a destination for indie talent from all over the world.

Its possible this will extend beyond tag teams, and that wrestling promotions will break out into rival factions of varying alignments, like NJPW has right now. For one, it accurately reflects political discourse in a multi-tendency, big tent organization like the DSA.

On that note, it never fails to crack me up to see Bullet Club, a faction formed to antagonize a homogenous, xenophobic society with multiculturalism, in the Twitter avatars of white nationalists.

A Return To Rasslin

Wrestling has long run on a particular cycle of acquisition. The big companies see a trend in the smaller that they want to appropriate, and then buy up all the wrestlers they can who fit that trend, incorporating it into the mainstream style and forcing the remaining indies to find something new. CCK subtly references to this occurring to the new British style in their recent promo for PROGRESS.

Without this engine of imposition, the need for a rapidly developed diversity of hyper-specialized wrestling styles will be low. And some wrestlers, a demographic that leans hard to the right, will just quit the sport entirely. Less knowledge to be passed on to wrestlers who work less matches and travel less.

That will facilitate a return to basics. More rasslin, more catch-as-catch-can, more literal amateur hour.

I think this can be good. Part of what makes Lucha Underground, Hoodslam and Party World Rasslin beautiful is their ability to reach people who dont necessarily identify as wrestling fans by focusing on crafting their own narratives and culture instead of maintaining a certain fluency in current wrestling trends. Another part: they make Jim Cornette mad.

The Revolution At Ringside

What does it mean to distribute wealth? A capitalist might say Its whenever I have $2 and you have $0, you take $1 from me to make it even. Which isnt inaccurate.

A more fleshed out realization of it (in the simplest terms) would be if, whenever you have $2 and I have $0, I take that $1 while we work to abolish the things that require money (rent, lack of food access, etc) and then the money, now evenly distributed, is worthless.

So, in an economy that is in the process of, or has even completed the destruction of currency, who gets the best seats in the house? Maybe its the workers. Maybe its the syndicate or commune that collectively own the stadium.

I like to think that, if we use the Marxist axiom of from each according to their ability to each according to their need, we could start giving those ringside seats to the people who need them mostkids, seniors, disabled people.

Whatever we decide, it means some tall asshole in an nWo shirt who refuses to sit down cant block your view and ruin the show. We call that improving material conditions.

In Soviet America, Ref Bumps You

Pro wrestling referees are the definition of failing upward. Theyre prized for their incompetence, cowardice and impotent biases.They largely exist to prevent the face from achieving their goals or enact justice on heels.

This is what people like Vince McMahon and your neighbor who watches too much Fox News thinks about institutions who want to hold people to playing by the rules: weak-willed, easily circumvented, and unable to do whats necessary to bring the ill-willed to heel.

The process by which we achieve socialism in America would fundamentally change this systemic perception of justice. A bloodless grassroots revolution could lead to referees being heroic mediators who desperately try to keep carnage from all sides from boiling over.

An authoritarian vanguard could mean referees who impose order through force. A multi-tendency revolution could lead to sectarian refs endlessly feuding over slight variations of ideology.

Not all of these outcomes would necessarily make the product compelling. Thats the bad news.

The good news is the abolition of wages means thered be no one to sell contraband t-shirts to, so Earl Hebner can have his job back.

In a capitalist system, projects and institutions exist according to their capacity to generate (and/or extract) capital. If socialism is enacted in the United States, it will fundamentally change the social contract and conditions by which industries and institutions function. Anything you want to preserve amidst such a sea change needs a plan of adaptation.

If the thought of adjusting pro wrestling to accommodate a socialist society fills you with disgust or rage, I think its worth interrogating whether your attachment is actually to wrestling or to the society it reflects (before you answer: remember, we are revolting against that society).

Whatcha gonna do, comrade, when the proletariat dismantles the systems of exploitation running wild on you?

Jetta Rae is a writer and organizer based in Oakland. She runs the leftist food blog FRY HAVOC and can be found on Twitter.

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What Pro Wrestling Would Look Like Under Socialism - Paste Magazine

John Stossel 10:00 a.m. ET June 9, 2017

20/20 - JOHN STOSSEL(Photo: STEVE FENN, ABC)

Lovers of socialism didnt like my column last week. I wrote that Venezuelas collapse shows the cluelessness of celebrities like Michael Moore, Oliver Stone and Noam Chomsky, whod praised Venezuelas leader.

Chomsky called me an utter coward for mocking him and said he expected an abject apology.

He wont get one. As Venezuelan-born filmmaker Thor Halvorssen puts it, Chomsky provided cover for a regime where 11,500 infants died from lack of medical care.

But assigning blame matters less than what should be done now. After the regime collapses, what comes next?

How about trying capitalism?

Thats what Erick Brimen suggests. Brimen grew up in Venezuela, then moved to America, where he started NeWAY Capital, a firm dedicated to creating what he calls prosperity cities, small places that create the environment for success.

Venezuela desperately needs that. Last week I helped my mother escape, Brimen writes. The violence is getting too intense, and, in one of the most agriculturally rich countries in the world, it is increasingly difficult to find food.

Capitalists like Brimen arent just motivated by greed. They want to rescue others from the tragedy of centrally planned economies.

Living in Venezuela made me realize the traditional approach to politics is too often ineffective, explains Brimen. If successful countries, like Venezuela and Greece, can be turned into basket cases by demagogues promising things they cant deliver, we have a systemic problem. (W)e must find a new approach.

His plan: Because its usually impossible to convince central planners to give up power, just get them to give up a little bit of power, in one small location at a time, as an experiment.

Similar ideas have been pushed with different names free trade zones, empowerment zones, charter cities but I like Brimens term: prosperity cities.

These are small places where government leaves people mostly free to pursue their own interests. Government keeps the peace, protects peoples bodies and property, but doesnt impose high taxes or burdensome rules.

Hong Kong is a prosperity city. It was once little more than a rock in the sea near China, but because the island was ruled by the British when Communists took over the rest of China, Hong Kong became a haven for freedom-seeking people.

The British enforced rule of law they punished people who stole or killed. But then they did something unusual, something wonderful, something politicians rarely do: They left people alone.

By doing that, the British allowed Chinese entrepreneurs to try new things. Free people created astounding wealth. By the end of the 20th century, Hong Kong had a higher per capita income than Great Britain itself.

So we know what works: rule of law, plus economic freedom. Yet billions remain in poverty because politicians wont allow them that freedom.

In poor countries, bureaucrats micromanage almost everything. Writes Brimen, Resolving a dispute in Sub-Saharan Africa takes 655 days. It is no surprise Sub-Saharan Africa has remained mired in poverty.

Today Dubai could be called a prosperity city. Dubai is not free in all the ways I would like, but because the Dubai International Financial Centre is mostly free, it became rich in a decade.

Even the Communist Chinese experiment with free zones. Shenzhen, for example, grew from a small fishing village to a metropolitan area with 16 million people largely because of the creation of a special economic zone.

Now Brimen wants to replicate that. We target uninhabited areas near major population centers and infrastructure and collaborate with the host government to enact the necessary reforms for economic growth. Instead of riots, there would be festivals. Instead of empty supermarkets, there would be feasts.

Puerto Rico could host a prosperity city. Instead of wallowing in debt and begging the mainland for handouts, the people of Puerto Rico would teach the rest of us lessons.

Likewise, the United States could turn Guantanamo Bay into a prosperity city, showing the Cuban people the power of freedom.

If freedom and markets worked well for Hong Kong, and a poor country once called colonial America, then why not liberate the whole world?

You can contact John Stossel at info@creators.com.

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Chip away at socialism with prosperity cities - Press & Sun-Bulletin

By Fernando Ravsberg

Photo: Raquel Perez Diaz

HAVANA TIMES The Cuban Parliament has finally approved the groundwork for the reforms process put forward by President Raul Castro and his government. However, it has done so with some reserves, the most sensitive subject seems to revolve around private businesses and a consequent accumulation of wealth.

Legalizing private property over modes of production has raised clear suspicions among some legislators. They fear that wealth will start becoming concentrated and that this will lead the country to experience a social inequality similar to that in the rest of Latin America.

However, economists ensure them that without the accumulation of capital, private businesses wont be able to develop to such an extent. Business people need to reinvest, they need funds to put up with losses, they need tax breaks from the start and personal financial incentives.

So then we reach a point where social differences will inevitably deepen. The national economy can no longer be regulated by the socialist laws of From each according to his ability, to each according to his contribution, not even in theory.

Although, its only the shreds of this economic principle that remain in reality and its been like this for a long time. Ever since salaries lost their real value in the 90s, the prevailing axiom in the economy seems to be From each according to his/her astuteness, to each according to their cunning.

2. The self-employed will never be able to become businesspeople while they are banned from accumulating capital. Photo: Raquel Perez Diaz

Meritocracy has also lost popular support, according to which those who piled up revolutionary duties could live better than the rest of Cubans. The problem here is that it became hereditary and today their children are enjoying these privileges, even though they have no track record of contribution of their own.

Inequality isnt the result of updating the system, it has been growing since the 90s because of many different factors such as family remittances, dollarization, opening the national economy to foreign investment, tourism or children of the elite reaching adulthood.

The reforms seek to legalize the country that currently exists, in some way or another. Self-employment, the underground small and medium sized business person or those alleged Cuban managers of foreign companies who are in actual fact the real company owners.

With these changes, the national economy will start to integrate this underground world, which has been operating on the side for many years. This grounding in reality will allow a better distribution of wealth because the government will be able to charge taxes to those people who have never paid them.

There is a lot of suspicion in Parliament, in the PCC and in society on the whole with the approval of private property over modes of production.

Of course, now there are new dilemmas, like what always happens whenever you leave stagnation behind and begin to move forward. Some economists claim that if you dont allow the self-employed to accumulate a bit of wealth, they will never be able to become business people.

Without accumulation of capital, the only people who can become owners of small and medium-sized companies are those who receive money from abroad or those who managed to accumulate it during socialism, a significant part of whom are corrupt and/or criminals.

In one way or another, this concentration of wealth will lead to deepening social differences between Cubans and in a poor country this can even lead to a few people taking the largest slices of cake for themselves, leaving others without even a taste.

However, the truth is that there is still a lot to establish: How many employees can a medium-sized company employ? What are the limits on the accumulation of capital? What government mechanisms will redistribute wealth? How will the government ensure that there are equal opportunities for all Cubans in this kind of society?

The terms private enterprise or wealth accumulation can scare a few people a lot and encourage others too much, but until details are revealed, we are only dealing with abstractions. And it will be these details that then define the countrys future socio-economic model.

See the rest here:
Cuba: Socialism, Private Property and Wealth - Havana Times

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Socialism with trolly characteristics | FT Alphaville FT Alphaville (registration) You could say you owned that watch, or that refrigerator, or that house, or those shares in that mutual fund, but you wouldn't actually have a claim to any of it. and more »

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Socialism with trolly characteristics | FT Alphaville - FT Alphaville (registration)