M-TH: Credit

[boddhisatva]

		Doug,


	Of course you know that "Marxist writing" does not include only
those things written by Marx.  I am aware of Mr. Marx's view of credit
overcoming the internal barriers of capitalism.  I am trying to emphasize
that credit can be used to overcome internal barriers within socialism as
well. 


	To re-iterate the point which confounded you:


	Interest rates assign a definite present value against which the
potential of an investment can be judged, whereas stock purchases or
assignments of resources within a command economy do not.  The need for
growing the money supply is, of course, much written on by the monetarists
who, while not great Marxist thinkers, certainly, are at least good
economic thinkers. Interest debt puts a use-value derived price on
production plans - a feedback system to the consumer goods market - which
is definite and rational.  This is needed to balance the greater public
spending which is inevitable in any form of socialism.  In fact, I would
argue that public spending under socialism has to be largely in
interest-bearing loans, rationalized with an autonomous credit market, if
that influx of liquidity is to be well tolerated in the economy.


	Overall, the point is that our present credit institutions, which
seem to many Marxists mere bloodsuckers, will have to find an analog
within a socialist system to avoid instability and deformity of the
economy.  



	peace





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