Capitalism has a logic, but it isn't a sane one
"Accumulate, accumulate! That is Moses and the prophets!" --Karl Marx
In this pithy quote Marx, whose 199th birthday was yesterday, encapsulates the insane logic of the capitalist system. Its precise lettering is mentioned in the same paragraph, below:
If to classical economy, the proletarian is but a machine for the production of surplus-value; on the other hand, the capitalist is in its eyes only a machine for the conversion of this surplus-value into additional capital.
Capitalism is like a machine, then, for the appropriation and capitalization of the world. Its general logic is one of universal greed, for one can never have enough in a dog-eat-dog world. There is, however, one essential difference between capitalism and a machine. A machine is made of metal, at least in its essential parts, whereas capitalism is ultimately a construct of human beings, human beings who are being compelled by the logic of the system to behave like machines. This is the insanity of which I speak.
In the 1844 manuscripts Marx writes of "alienation." Later in his writings Marx stops using this term, but "alienation" carries the moral weight that "abstract labor," Marx's later term, doesn't quite have. "Alienation," in the sense used by the 26-year-old Marx, means that your power over your labor isn't yours -- it belongs to your boss or your customers or "the market" in general. Any sanity you might exercise in the use of your labor-power, in your ability to reshape the world as a worker, belongs to a higher power, and that power is the power of money. Money is the grease that keeps the capitalist system whirring.
In the chapter of these manuscripts titled The Power of Money Marx says:
If money is the bond binding me to human life, binding society to me, connecting me with nature and man, is not money the bond of all bonds? Can it not dissolve and bind all ties? Is it not, therefore, also the universal agent of separation? It is the coin that really separates as well as the real binding agent – the [...] [One word in the manuscript cannot be deciphered. – Ed.] chemical power of society.
Shakespeare stresses especially two properties of money:
1. It is the visible divinity – the transformation of all human and natural properties into their contraries, the universal confounding and distorting of things: impossibilities are soldered together by it.
2. It is the common whore, the common procurer of people and nations.
The distorting and confounding of all human and natural qualities, the fraternisation of impossibilities – the divine power of money – lies in its character as men’s estranged, alienating and self-disposing species-nature. Money is the alienated ability of mankind.
In this early version of his philosophy Marx stumbled upon the insanity of the capitalist system. Under capitalism people are driven by this "visible divinity" to confound and distort their own abilities to do things, and thus if carried far enough the pursuit of money will overcome the pursuit of survival, the fundamental human end. As we die, we will compare who died with the most toys, and that will be the end of it. This is the insane logic of capitalism.
*****
The big political discussion now impending on Facebook and elsewhere is about the Republican rewriting of the ACA. Obamacare will probably be replaced in some form or another with Trumpcare, and it will be another failure except insofar as it will channel more money into the accounts of the already-rich, which Obamacare does just fine. The nice advocates of more Obamacare tell us that "Trumpcare will kill people." The actual calculation of how many people will die, however, is unclear, and the nice advocates for Obamacare aren't making it any clearer.
The bigger problem standing in the way of those nice advocates is that Obamacare is merely a streamlining of a system designed to extract money from people first, and to treat their illnesses second. Perhaps "people will die" because Medicaid will disappear -- yet the logic of the system will replace Medicaid with some form of hospital-based charity, unless the medical profession decides at some point to repudiate the Hippocratic Oath and refuses to admit people to emergency rooms without prior proof of ability to pay. If that happens, it, too, will be a consequence of the general insanity spread by capitalism.
*****
Once upon a time there was a discussion within the halls of government about climate change. Climate change continues to transform the Earth in unpleasant ways as a consequence of capitalist industry, and its adding 2.3 parts per million per year of carbon dioxide to Earth's atmospheric carbon dioxide endowment. Eventually all of this abrupt increase in Earth's atmospheric carbon dioxide endowment will spell disaster for the world, and thus for us. Much of the conversation about climate change was begun by Al Gore when he was Vice President. However, Al Gore is also a profound advocate of capitalism, and so we can see how this plays out in his writings. From his (2013) book The Future, Gore tells us:
The inherent advantages of capitalism over any other system for organizing economic activity are well understood. It is far more efficient in allocating resources and matching supply to demand; it is far more effective at creating wealth; and it is far more congruent with higher levels of freedom. Most fundamentally, capitalism unlocks a larger fraction of the human potential with ubiquitous organic incentives that reward effort and innovation. The world’s experimentation with other systems – including the disastrous experiences with communism and fascism in the twentieth century – lead to a nearly unanimous consensus at the beginning of the twenty-first century that democratic capitalism was the ideology of choice throughout the world. (from page 33)
Let's for a moment put aside the irrelevance of this propagandistic statement to Gore's goal of mitigating climate change. There are a number of distortions in this statement, and let's go over them one by one:
1) Capitalism "allocates resources" upward -- toward the wealthy, and away from the working class. Some other force has in all periods of capitalist history been needed as a corrective to capital accumulation -- government welfare, loans, grants, or charity perhaps. Something must always be done about the masses of people who work their butts off and yet don't have much of anything to show for it. What is done about these masses will depend, in any particular era, upon capital's need for well-educated, nutritionally-satisfied workers, which capital still does not want to pay for.
2) Capitalism only matches supply to effective demand -- demand backed by money. For instance, if I demand the ownership of a nice house, that doesn't mean in any sense that I'm going to get one unless I can afford the payments, and on a $26K/ year income that's not really likely, is it? The progress of society is continually hindered by people's inability to pay for things, all the way down to, for instance, the problem of world hunger, which has been solved with tedious slowness marked by periodic setbacks.
3) The capitalist system might be regarded as effective at creating wealth, if you disregard the endless struggle of the majority of people to obtain a tiny share of that wealth.
4) The capitalist system does not offer "organic incentives." Rather, capitalist innovation is largely motivated by money, and therefore follows a path directed by money. Climate change will only be mitigated under capitalism if someone can be paid to do it. It also might be important to add that nearly all of the important innovations comprising today's technological society occurred in the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. We no longer live in that era of capitalism, so perhaps we ought to have a philosophy of "organic incentives" to fit our era, and not that one. And we are not going to come up with a robot that will be able to separate out molecules of CO2 from the atmosphere and dump them into a trashcan capable of holding gases indefinitely.
5) Only in Gore's playbook are "communism and fascism" other systems than capitalism. State capitalism of the Soviet or Nazi variety does not count as innovation in political economy, and this fact points to a greater truth, that the world really hasn't experimented with other systems of political economy.
6) Capitalism is really only "democratic" insofar as the capitalists who make all of the real policy decisions allow the people to "choose" a cast of figureheads now and then. The elites are perfectly happy pitting a money-hungry candidate with half the owning class at her disposal (Clinton) against one who wants to make government into a billionaire's club (Trump). Rather, capitalist dictatorship is the real ideology of choice for the oligarchy at the top, and "democracy" is the compromise formation.
In sum, Gore is wrong about capitalism, and in the end this greatly limits the measures he's willing to propose in order to mitigate climate change. Gore suggests a few ineffective economic incentives which will barely disturb our current society's elite-made choice, which is to go with fossil fuels all the way up to the point when civilization itself disintegrates and what is left is a few disillusioned stragglers on a planet that will look like an overheated desert. Climate change mitigation would benefit from a renunciation of Gore's pledge of allegiance to more capitalism.
*****
We really do need to get off of the capitalist path, away from the society of money and toward some other social form. It is a consequence of our profound alienation that we are at present not capable of thinking of a transition away from capitalism and toward a better, non-capitalist society.
Comments
The ideology of a cancer cell, that is capitalism.
Growth for the sake of growth, taking what it wants and destroying everything else around it in the process.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
In the end cancer is self-defeating
@Alligator Ed Exactly. They know
The thing is- and they obviously aren't seeing and calculating the very long term picture (of course they aren't, or else they wouldn't be shorting the world for short term profits)- they can't survive for very long. Their elaborate "escape" plans only provide for short term survival. Climate change will come for them, too.
I only wish I could be here to see it.
But capitalist ideology says “creative destruction” (Schumpeter)
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22creative+destruction%22&t=ffsb&ia=web
They may cloak themselves in progressive identity-politics diversity bullshit, but ideologically, aren’t the billionaires of Silicon Valley and similar a lot like Galt’s Gulch?
Obama is vacationing and reaping his payoff in Galt’s Gulch right now, with Richard Branson and your favorite Hollywood stars in a world of private islands, private jets, and private yachts . . .
Advertising was already a mind cancer and Google subsumed and consolidated it into one big tumor. Amazon: a further tumor that ate retail and publishing. Facebook: the latest tumor, feeding off humans’ need for friendship . . .
There is one part of your analysis which is gross mis-statement
Individual physicians do not ever decide to deny admission to hospitals. This, at least in CA is illegal. Hospitals occasionally do refuse to admit patients to hospitals but the law requires them to at least evaluate the patients, usually in the Emergency Department, before dispatching them to their fate.
You owe conscientious physicians an apology. I, for one, NEVER turned anyone away.
I don't owe anyone an apology
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
In Kearney Nebraska
None of my physicians have "hospital privileges" at CHI Health Good Samaritan Hospital. They all went rogue and started their own hospital on the other side of town.
If your intent was speculative, then no harm
Covalent Bonds of Money -- Ionized Money or Money Ionization...
Too bad we got no science language and messaging happening.
The images of money bonding to or filling empty spaces, and money WANTING to get stable, were mighty powerful in this piece.
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
Info & coms tech + nanotechnology + The Singularity (optional) =
internet-age industrialists’ fever dream of creating the equivalent of Maxwell’s demon to solve various problems.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22maxwell%27s+demon%22&t=ffsb&ia=web
That’s what such a robot would be, a Maxwell’s demon that sorts molecules by chemical composition rather than kinetic energy.
JackPine Radicals: “Is politics dead?”
https://jackpineradicals.com/boards/topic/is-politics-dead/
Is there a civilized capitalism? - Varoufakis thinks there might
Yanis Varoufakis: Basic Income Will Be a Major Part of Any Attempt to Civilize Capitalism (Video) - Posted on May 4, 2017
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22eQ9iLBfY4]
Sigh. Hard to listen to him, tell me about it. But one should make the effort to listen.
https://www.euronews.com/live
"Civilizing capitalism"
Jason W. Moore calls "cheap nature."
means having some kind of external agency to clean up after the insanity produced by the system. Varoufakis wants to focus upon financial capitalism as constitutive of the existing system -- but financial capitalism merely piggybacks upon industrial capitalism, which hasn't gone away and which still isn't playing nice, while capitalists of all stripes still continue to accumulate the rest of the world, both human and non-human, as whatNB: Varoufakis' notion of "collective labor" was more simply explained by the theory of surplus value, also in the Marx opus. Google etc. are not merely made possible through government, but also by working people in the periphery, who continue to work in hazardous conditions in factories, cobalt mines, e-waste recycling dumps in China and Africa, etc. so that the raw materials for our devices can be appropriated and so that our computers can be manufactured. They toil daily so that we can communicate here, now.
As for Varoufakis' proposal of basic income, I'm not saying it's not a good idea to clean up after capitalism, but its production of unappropriated humanity (the "people who we would not want to be our children") is only one aspect of the problem with capitalism. Sure, it's a big problem, and any tour of the slums of Manila or Mumbai or Sao Paulo will bear this out. The capitalists, of course, do not want to pay for unappropriated humanity, preferring instead to appropriate the money your government would otherwise give them, and besides they are too busy tearing apart the surface and atmosphere of the planet for profit. This is the wonderful thing about capitalism -- it gives us all something better to do than to care about the collective future.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
Perhaps during the Red Scare...
capitalism was equated with democracy. The messaging continues, for example...
“I would urge close cooperation with our friends in the hemisphere, particularly Venezuela’s neighbors Brazil and Colombia, as well as multilateral bodies such as the OAS, to seek a negotiated transition to democratic rule in Venezuela.” said Tillerson.
As though Maduro wasn't elected? The reason he thinks Venezuela isn't a democracy is because they nationalized Exxon's holdings. And here he is calling for others to help him with his regime change. Now that's a symptom of capitalism. Replacing politicians that serve their country with those that serve corporations.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Talking in superlatives is useless, better to do analysis
As an example:
Communism is the best system ever invented. It guarantees social fairness. It creates an environment where people work together for the maximum good of all of the people. It provides a government structure where the government can achieve very large goals for the good of the people. It prevents theft of labor. It has brought more people out of poverty in the 20th century than any other system, reference China. It provides for economic stability. It provides jobs for all. It provides education for all. It provides healthcare for all. It is able to do long term planning for the continued health of the economy and the environment. It can achieve big goals. It can provide an efficient environment for manufacturing, reference China again. It can create a far more democratic society, since wealth always becomes power.
Americans talking about "Democracy" and Capitalism" is now way beyond its expiration date. It has become nothing but pandering for political gain. "America is so great, and because of that you should vote for me." I want to see objective analysis and I want to see results.
So the question is - which system works better and why. It appears that China's brand of unique Communism is the winner. It's a centrally planned single party Communist system from the top down and free market from the bottom up. It has produced significant, continuous amazing growth over many decades and a people who rate China as the number one nation in the world in heading in the right direction.
Again, lets see the analysis and show me the results. Otherwise it's just another form of faith based religion.
Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.
I don't think I want to go to China.
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31478-china-s-communist-capitalist-ec...
Rather than writing a straight polemic against the propagandists of capitalism, here, I was hoping to issue a general call to the human imagination. If we are to have great protests once again under the slogan "there is an alternative," we need to get busy imagining that alternative.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
I'm certainly not suggesting that you move there
From your article on China:
China has a horrendous pollution problem, but so have all of the developed nations as they went through the early stages of development. China will deal with this. The article makes the assumption that their pollution problem is catastrophic to national health. THis doesn't seem to be the case as life expectancy has risen dramatically and is at 76 years at birth on the average across the country. The fact is that urban areas have much better health care and outcomes with life expectancies better than the US.
I only point this out as a counterpoint to the US absolutism that we are the best. We aren't and if we survive it will be with a political/economic system that is uniquely American combining socialism with the free market and personal freedoms.
Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.
very useful essay. thx.
Can Gore believe what he is saying?
That quote shows what we are dealing with in the dem leadership. Pelosi & Schumer would read the same speech.
Sanders' protestations are now an insulting joke. We know he doesn't mean it- he should shut up now.
Some here think that MFA is the issue that will allow us to take back some power.
There was a neat video of a row dominos going over.
Look forward to your input as the discussion becomes more focused.
Hope it leads to concrete action of some kind.
We are all going to die anyway. It is how you go out that matters, in my opinion.
Gore suggests a few ineffective economic incentives
My grandson's PhD is how and what is needed to get nations to fund global climate change so it can be mitigated/stopped.
Capitalism is like entering a pasture that is home to a raging bull. You always need to know where it is and assure it is under control.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Well --
https://www.addletonacademicpublishers.com/search-in-kc/2975-climate-cha...
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
Capitalists depend on power inequality.
You can't keep making shitty deals without enforcement of some kind.
This is the reason they can pay shit wages, and charge outrageous prices. Because they know that the highest priority of the American police force is the theft of wealth from those that have it.
When the Rich rob each other, it goes to the lawyers, who ritualistically blood each other, and are paid well for the privilege. It becomes a rather farcical entertainment, that is rather expensive, but well within the realms of fun challenges. The loser might lose some status and wealth, but they sure as hell won't starve or have to get their hands dirty.
On the other hand, that legal realm is not open to a poor person accused of stealing from the wealthy. Right off the bat, they are assumed guilty, the police doing everything they can to gain a confession, with the understanding that if the poor person resists, they must be punished that much more harshly, to ensure future compliance.
A poor person will see the inside of a jail on the day they are accused. A rich man will not see a jail cell at all, and if they DO, they will be sequestered away from the population, and given protection from the plebs. However, it is much more likely that a rich person will get a suspended sentence or a simple warning. Unless of course they stole from a MUCH wealthier person, in which case, see how the poor and rich interact.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B1IQYD4Uew]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
But I have to say, again and again,
as long as our governments are corrupt a movement for basic income will be perverted. If the basic income is less than enough to live on - and if corrupt politicians have their way it will - then it will only serve to subsidize capitalism. "Here's a few thousand dollars to spend, now you can survive on the new minimum wage." Never "Here's enough to live on, from now on if the boss wants you to sweep his floors he'll have to make it worth your while."
On to Biden since 1973