what stage of capitalism do you think were at?

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bentech
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what stage of capitalism do you think were at?

Post by bentech »

I transcribed this from a talk the Democratic Marxist economist Richard wolfe gave months ago it los angeles,

https://www.rdwolff.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

if you want to hear a lot more of the excerpts that are up right now go to kpfk.org and click on their archives then play the 9:00 am sunday the 20th of may program they just loaded. forward to about minute 16 to get a good introduction to why their playing him and then he launches in. ive merely transcribed the opening I felt was pertinent...

another world is possible, theres no doubt about it
many of you know that i advocate for worker controlled co-ops
as an alternative way to organize an economy
im gonna say a few more things about that
but this evening the central theme i want to develop
is one that also talks about another world possible
but lays out for you i hope
a persuasive argument that might be just a touch scarier
that its not just that another world is possible
but that the one weve grown up with is disintegrating
and cannot survive
and that we are in a completely new situation
in which the basic question for all of you as individuals
is whether or not you might be living in a system that is disintegrating
and whether or not your prepared to let it take you down with it
let me try to make the case that capitalism is in a new phase

and the way i like to do it is historically
by reminding everyone that every economic system in the history of the world
can be described as having been born
having evolved and changed over time
and then having died and disappeared
ancient village economies
ancient communal systems
slaveries, feudalisms
they all conformed to that pattern
why in the world should anyone believe that capitalism
unlike any of those other systems
was born, evolved over time and will never die at all?
and if you can see that this makes no sense to make this assumption
you have to ask yourself a question
where are we in the history of capitalism?
at the beginning
in the middle
or dot dot dot...
every system when it was riding high had people in it who believed
that it was the best system the world had ever had and would last forever
and was the chosen way that god himself choose
and capitalism is full of people who think that this system is the best system since sliced bread
that it will last forever
that it is superior to anything and everything else that might exist
why should we take it seriously that the economics of our society
which i [richard wolfe] have spent my life as an economics professor
a profession which is 99% composed of people who have never for an instance
taken seriously the proposition that our economic system could or would
or should be organized in a non-capitalist way?
its extrodinary if you think about it
and nowhere is this more true than in the united states
where this notion of the perfection and perpetual nature of capitalism
has been axiomatic
for the last half century
[note! economic history is NOT taught in the study of economics...quote-manfred max neef, re 'barefoot' economics]
its extrodinary
"we must strive to become good ancestors" nader
https://www.myplanetganja.com/viewforum.php?f=48
FUCK jimmydorecomedy.com

bentech
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what stage of capitalism do you think were at?

Post by bentech »

where are we in the history of capitalism?
"we must strive to become good ancestors" nader
https://www.myplanetganja.com/viewforum.php?f=48
FUCK jimmydorecomedy.com

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