Dan Gardner worries about a lack of inspiring material in the federal NDP's economic vision as expressed through at least one interview with Jack Layton. And he's not without a point when it comes to the message put forward by Layton in that interaction.
But I don't entirely buy the argument that there aren't any ideas the NDP can put forward which will reframe economic issues in a way that plays to its strengths. I'll be suggesting a few in the next little while, and of course will be interested to hear any other suggestions that readers may have to offer.
To start off with, let's consider the concept of economic diversity as a possible theme for the NDP and other progressive voices.
At the moment, the operating assumption for most centre-to-right parties looks to be that corporate production is the primary (if not only) valid form of economic activity. In some cases, that's taken as reason to have the public sector do nothing whatsoever based on the idea that the market shall provide; in others, it's taken as reason to limit the scope of government activity to contracting with business to provide services for profit. But the overall assumption is that the vast majority of economic activity should be organized around profit through private-sector corporations.
And that looks to be an assumption that's ripe for a serious challenge.
In theory, it's not hard to envision different types of economic activity which may have profit as only one of many motives - whether through direct public-sector activity, through not-for-profit or community associations, or through worker ownership. Indeed, all of those exist to some extent now - if in forms which are generally losing ground due to the corporate takeover of public policy development.
And intuitively, it would make sense that greater balance between those types of activities and private for-profit business would both provide a means to meet ends which are desirable but not profitable, and serve to smooth out the cycle of bubbles and crashes that can't be seen as anything other than an inevitable consequence of the for-profit mindset going unchallenged within a society.
Needless to say, now would seem to be exactly the time to ask whether the extreme forces that managed to topple economies around the world over the past couple of years might be far better reined in if they don't dominate the economic picture to the extent that they do. And a compelling case that capitalism itself can turn into a self-serving monopoly if it faces no competition may well bring nationalism and wealth redistribution back into the picture - along with many other policy ideas - as a means of reaching the broader goal of economic diversity.
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