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Debating the merits of nationalization
Two old friends argue about the best response to the COVID-19 mega-recession — and almost come to an agreement
by James Kaelan
“I’m trying to read that post again,” Spencer wrote to me. “And I can’t even begin.”
We’ve been best friends since we were four. He majored in business. I majored in English. He works for an international company whose 2019 Q4 profits were nearly $6 Billion. I write shows about CEOs getting disillusioned with capitalism. He shares things-are-actually-getting-better Steven Pinker essays with me. I recommend him books describing how automation will accelerate inequality.
When I’d sent him the first dialogue from this series — “What if we nationalized Amazon?” —I warned that it would probably make him angry. “But you’ll also find it funny,” I said. “And maybe you’ll agree with some of the key points?”
“Nationalizing just to nationalize!” he texted me Saturday morning as he hate-read the article. “Zero plan for distribution. What’s the endgame? What’s the logic? Just Bezos is the richest? Billionaires are evil. So give ‘us’ his stuff.”
“Lol,” I wrote, and sent him a link to a story about homeless families in my neighborhood reclaiming vacant houses. “The…
