From: "Max More" <max@maxmore.com>
To: <extropians@extropy.org>
Cc: <max@maxmore.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2001 12:07 PM
Subject: Re: True Abundance
> At 06:48 PM 2/19/01, Emlyn wrote:
> >I've got a reference to a study somewhere (80's I think), which showed
that
> >people were far more socially mobile under Ruski-style socialism than
under
> >US capitalism. The study showed that it was viable for people to move
from
> >peasant to high ranking party official in their own lifetime, for
instance,
> >whereas the norm by far under capitalism is to move very little from the
> >social position in which you are born.
>
> It's true! Under Soviet socialism, but not US capitalism, you could very
> quickly move from a comfortable existence as a Kulak to sudden death. You
> could move quickly from privileged member of the Communist Party to
> Siberia, if you said the wrong thing, knew the wrong people, or if Stalin
> had a bad day.
>
Yes, I think mobility might have been in both directions :-)
> >Another relatively random point; did anyone notice the recent article on
> >NYT, which talked about the fact that over the last decade (?), the major
> >trend in employees has been in moving back to large organisations, and
out
> >of risky smaller ventures and self employment, contrary to popular
opinion?
>
> Funny, again my understanding is the opposite. The figures I've seen quite
> recently showed that a declining number of people are employed by large
> companies, more people are consultants or self-employed or work for
smaller
> companies, *even though* the share of economic output attributed to large
> companies has increased.
I'll see if I can find a link to the article (don't hold your breath,
though)
Emlyn
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