The Debate over the Private Versus the Public Sector in the Economy Continues

The discussion between Geary Johansen and me continues. He has run businesses in the past and is more of an economic liberal than I am with all of the prejudices that come with that mindset. I’m more of a socialist but not completely.

There’s a role for a private market. I just want the state over the market and using the market as a tool for the development of the productive forces as opposes to the market being above the state as it is here in the ridiculous US.

Geary Johansen: One question - what metric are you using to define public sector share?

I tend to use a combination of public commissioning of employment (including private companies commissioned by the state), as well as tax revenue as a percentage of GDP.

The 45% versus 7% just seemed odd to me is all. I wondered whether you used run by the public sector?

The Swedes are quite smart on this one. About a third of their workforce is employed by the public sector, but not all of this is directly - a lot of it is indirect - it's…