Comments

Episode-2433- Understanding Systemic vs. Natural Capitalism — 8 Comments

  1. What (I think) you are attempting to describe is Jeffersonian Capitalism, which sadly no longer exists after the formation of the Federal Reserve. The Fed is essentially a state bank. After the second Fed bank was dissolved by President Jackson the country ran fairly well on the Jeffersonian model with minor modifications here and there.

    What it did not do is insulate local and state banks from idiotic greedy adventures, since the dollar was backed in gold and silver. When there was a run on the bank and when said bank had handed out too many loans (greed), then the bank failed. These days when that happens (think 2008), then the Fed bails them out and the damage is spent on the general tax paying population.

    This system was invented by the British to finance the French and Indian war, which was a war on the global scale. The Bank of England basically financed the war with resultant deficit spending and corresponding inflation afterwards. Old story.

    The Jeffersonian model, which I support, fell victim to government insiders in league with the bankers of the time and some well-healed investors. It worked and still works for an elite minority. Old story. Both models of economics you mentioned above depend on LOCAL sentiment and small groups to succeed and are based on ancient trading practices.

    The question arises at this point ….how do we practice Jeffersonian Capitalism in the modern nation state? This model worked in agrarian societies and still does, but it falls short in industrialized techno societies where funds need to be transferred instantly without the heavy burden of moving physical gold and silver. All politics are local and so are economics.

    • Gee how the hell could people easily transfer value to each other in the modern day and do so with no third party interference?

      Are we really asking that question in the age of cryptocurrency?

  2. Looking forward to listening to this podcast on my next day off work.

    A few thought in advance,

    (1) Western Europe, USA, Canada etc has a Kleptocracy-Facist  system of state control over workers existence.

    (2) Workers are now looked upon as mere units of labor by corporations and government , workers will soon to have as little rights as plow horses and carriage horses once had.

    (3) Workers of the future will eventually have less rights and a more miserable existence than factory farmed pigs.

    (4) Most people who use any of the words  , ‘leftist’, ‘Marxist’, ‘Feminist’.’Communist’, ‘Socialist’, etc have never read Karl Marx’s writings.

    The Corporate owned/controlled media has a vested interest in suppressing the writings of Karl Marx from the public and they do this by falsely associating associating Marx’s name with , Feminism, Russian & Chinese Communism and the development  of some very stupid ‘politically correct’ speech’

    This is often done in a very clever way, for example the writings and videos from Jordan Peterson who although he has a brilliant understanding of human nature, still undermines the writings of Karl Marx by trying to falsely associate Marx with the development of some  ‘modern stupid politically correct speech being imposed by media, government, corporations and universities.’

     

     

  3. Not completely related to the episode, but worth knowing, is how much attention you should be paying to ‘the government’:

    https://www.upworthy.com/20-years-of-data-reveals-that-congress-doesnt-care-what-you-think

    (the graph is all you need)

    Yup, this is the way it works, regardless of the form of your government.

    What are the non-elites always arguing about? Who’s getting the most crumbs.

     

    Also ran into something rather amusing:

    “According to OpenSecrets.org, the average net worth of a congressman, Democrat or Republican, is about $10 million. Remove the Senate Democrats from the calculation and the average falls to about $7 million.”

    Why this is funny (to me). First, this means your average congressman is ‘an economic elite’ with a 1% average net worth. Second, that the Democrats (supposedly socialist) have a higher average net worth than the Republicans (supposedly free market).

    Should you give two shits? Nope. But really, you shouldn’t even give one shit. Not even a quarter shit. One second spent on this is a waste of your time. UNLESS you’ve spent your time and energy creating YOUR empire. From that position of strength, you CAN effect change.

     

    @michael – I’ve read all of Marx. Yes he makes some excellent, and accurate observations about the nature of capitalism. No, he doesn’t have any ‘solutions’ that have been proven to work. And no, it’s not because countries that have tried his solutions haven’t ‘done it right’.

    It’s easy to daydream about utopias. But all of them, to date, haven’t had what it takes to pass the ‘human nature’ test. Nor have any (to my knowledge) suggested a way to transition from the current reality TO the utopian state without the use of massive, bloody, violent force.

     

  4. Great Episode.  Bases loaded grand slam.  Haven’t heard an episode like this in a while.  This should be common curriculum for nearly everyone these days, and not just young people.

  5. You said that the elite’s always wish for more control and then said the state always expands. You also said that the elites co-opt any form of government. So I think you need to replace the word state with the word elites.

     

    The “mo roads” is frankly straw man and a distraction when discussing the technological status of a society. Based on history some form of social regulatory system is needed for anything more advanced than a small tribe / village under 100 to 150 people to work. That social regulatory system also seems to be a co-requirement for the development and maintenance of technical and economic  development past early Iron Age levels.

     

    The best two words for that social regulatory system are a state or a government. I will agree with your assumption that the elite will try to co-opt it. Maybe we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water and discuss how to deal with the elites. Maybe as a follow up episode to this one.