Irish Marxism

A fundamental precept of communist thought is that the means of production should be commonly owned.  It is the private ownership of the means of productions that results in the exploitation of the working class.  In the early days, means of production meant land, since societies were mostly agrarian.

It would seem that Ireland is taking advantage of its current ownership of property to embarked on some central planning reminiscent of the early Marxists.  The Irish Independent reports that the Irish government, is planning to use its zoning and other powers to bring about social benefits in the disposition of its newly acquired property holdings that has come about through its backing of bad real estate loans.  The agency formed to back these loans is the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA).

The government seems to recognize the risk involved.  To wit:

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said that while NAMA had a commercial mandate and its function was to maximise return to the taxpayer, he was “not ruling out the possibility that useful social opportunities may emerge”. But he quickly added that he was not out to “rig the system”.

It will be interesting to see whether this approach leads to positive social changed, combined with a good return on investment, the proverbial “win-win.”  Or whether it goes the way of previous attempts of a “planned economy.”

However it turns out, it is more evidence of the 21st century trend of deeper involvement by governments into the private economy.

Stay tuned.