Professor Richard Wolff is the greatest American Marxist economist of all time. He’s 80 or so now, but unlike our President, still has all his wits. I think you’ll also agree he does not look his age. When I say I’m a Wolffian socialist, I mean I support the kind of American socialism calling for democracy in the workplace that is advocated by Richard Wolff. It’s socialism, but a truly democratic socialism very similar to what Marx originally envisioned. Again, in my opinion.
I haven't watched this video yet but I wish to comment a bit anyway.
I feel that capitalism as an economic model comes with an inherent cancer stemming from its acceptance of greed as a primary incentive.
Using a mega scale to illustrate my point:
There are only so many resources, (capital) to be had on our planet.
Capitalism encourages folks to find methods to gain more of these resources than their neighbors.
This inequality leads to those who would normally need those resources to come up short while those who dip excessively into extra of these resources to have more than needed.
If you consider this notion well beyond all likelihood, one person could in theory hoarde and control ALL of the resources on our planet while everyone else starves.
That is the cancer I see inherent in capitalism. I see no method for the bulk of the citizenry living under capitalism to avoid where they become controlled by those few with the most resources.
To sum up using my version of something Star Trek's Mr. Spock once said; "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few...or the one."
Capitalism calls it "incentive" but IMO the notion of "incentive capitalism" has what Mr. Spock said absoltely backwards.
At one time I thought capitalism could be reformed,but I don’t anymore.The system will never accept permanent Scandinavian style social democracy,which seems to be the only firm of government that works.
I haven’t read enough of Wolff to endorse your rather huge assertion, but I agree that he makes eloquent and excellent points… and this is from someone who has actually read Capital in full - all three volumes, esp. 3, the definitive explication of worker alienation - and a decent number of other writings by Marx. I will be reading more from Dr. Wolff.
I think the whole subject can benefit from some degree of sociological/psychological analysis as well, i.e., what compels some of us to pursue a dog-eat-dog, competitive-at-any-cost worldview.
In other words, is there an entrepreneurial mindset - perhaps sociopathic - that exists independent of capitalist propaganda or not? A mindset that discourages people from thinking about the impact of their choices on others, focusing simply on personal advantage?
Maybe Marx, and maybe even Wolff, might not have had the time and intellectual energy to address those questions, but I do think they are important. Yet it does involve a different discipline than economics.
"One capitalist always kills many. Hand in hand with this centralisation, or this expropriation of many capitalists by few, develop, on an ever-extending scale, the cooperative form of the labour process, the conscious technical application of science, the methodical cultivation of the soil, the transformation of the instruments of labour into instruments of labour only usable in common, the economising of all means of production by their use as means of production of combined, socialised labour, the entanglement of all peoples in the net of the world market, and with this, the international character of the capitalistic regime."
The "socialised labor" and "instruments of labor only usable in common" described by Marx perfectly describe the internet/world wide web, which is the latest and highest expression of this process.
He observes:
"Centralisation of the means of production and socialisation of labour at last reach a point where they become incompatible with their capitalist integument. This integument is burst asunder. The knell of capitalist private property sounds. The expropriators are expropriated."
So what has been happening with the capitalist meltdowns of 2001, 2008, and now is that this integument is bursting asunder. The captains of international finance capital have known since at least 1867 that such things happen on a regular basis. They know that these crises are getting worse because of the advanced nature of socialized labor. What they fear is that they as the expropriators will be expropriated. That's why they are literally eliminating workers and enslaving those remaining. They have done their best to hide themselves and their reasons, but things are becoming increasingly clear to people.
Marx didn't think they were Satanists or aliens. They are people just like we are. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and that is what happens to them.
I haven't watched this video yet but I wish to comment a bit anyway.
I feel that capitalism as an economic model comes with an inherent cancer stemming from its acceptance of greed as a primary incentive.
Using a mega scale to illustrate my point:
There are only so many resources, (capital) to be had on our planet.
Capitalism encourages folks to find methods to gain more of these resources than their neighbors.
This inequality leads to those who would normally need those resources to come up short while those who dip excessively into extra of these resources to have more than needed.
If you consider this notion well beyond all likelihood, one person could in theory hoarde and control ALL of the resources on our planet while everyone else starves.
That is the cancer I see inherent in capitalism. I see no method for the bulk of the citizenry living under capitalism to avoid where they become controlled by those few with the most resources.
To sum up using my version of something Star Trek's Mr. Spock once said; "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few...or the one."
Capitalism calls it "incentive" but IMO the notion of "incentive capitalism" has what Mr. Spock said absoltely backwards.
Thanks for reading
At one time I thought capitalism could be reformed,but I don’t anymore.The system will never accept permanent Scandinavian style social democracy,which seems to be the only firm of government that works.
I haven’t read enough of Wolff to endorse your rather huge assertion, but I agree that he makes eloquent and excellent points… and this is from someone who has actually read Capital in full - all three volumes, esp. 3, the definitive explication of worker alienation - and a decent number of other writings by Marx. I will be reading more from Dr. Wolff.
I think the whole subject can benefit from some degree of sociological/psychological analysis as well, i.e., what compels some of us to pursue a dog-eat-dog, competitive-at-any-cost worldview.
In other words, is there an entrepreneurial mindset - perhaps sociopathic - that exists independent of capitalist propaganda or not? A mindset that discourages people from thinking about the impact of their choices on others, focusing simply on personal advantage?
Maybe Marx, and maybe even Wolff, might not have had the time and intellectual energy to address those questions, but I do think they are important. Yet it does involve a different discipline than economics.
Anyway, hugs OB.
As Marx describes:
"One capitalist always kills many. Hand in hand with this centralisation, or this expropriation of many capitalists by few, develop, on an ever-extending scale, the cooperative form of the labour process, the conscious technical application of science, the methodical cultivation of the soil, the transformation of the instruments of labour into instruments of labour only usable in common, the economising of all means of production by their use as means of production of combined, socialised labour, the entanglement of all peoples in the net of the world market, and with this, the international character of the capitalistic regime."
The "socialised labor" and "instruments of labor only usable in common" described by Marx perfectly describe the internet/world wide web, which is the latest and highest expression of this process.
He observes:
"Centralisation of the means of production and socialisation of labour at last reach a point where they become incompatible with their capitalist integument. This integument is burst asunder. The knell of capitalist private property sounds. The expropriators are expropriated."
So what has been happening with the capitalist meltdowns of 2001, 2008, and now is that this integument is bursting asunder. The captains of international finance capital have known since at least 1867 that such things happen on a regular basis. They know that these crises are getting worse because of the advanced nature of socialized labor. What they fear is that they as the expropriators will be expropriated. That's why they are literally eliminating workers and enslaving those remaining. They have done their best to hide themselves and their reasons, but things are becoming increasingly clear to people.
Marx didn't think they were Satanists or aliens. They are people just like we are. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and that is what happens to them.