Here’s a letter that I sent this morning to the Gray Lady:
Slavoj Zizek rightly complains – if with understatement bordering on the vulgar – of being “deceived” by communism (“20 Years of Collapse,” Nov. 9). But like many other pundits who feign wisdom by steering clear of what they mistakenly interpret to be an extreme position, he complains also of being “disillusioned” by capitalism.
Capitalism is indeed poles apart from communism, but not in a way that renders society best served by some compromise between the two. Unlike communism and milder forms of collectivism, capitalism is not imposed; it is simply what arises when adults are free to engage in consensual commercial acts in cultures that respect private property rights and largely reject both status and superstition as guides to decision-making. Also unlike communism, capitalism conscripts no one to serve other persons’ ends; individuals can opt out of capitalist societies.
Perhaps most importantly, unlike communism, capitalism promises neither to produce heaven on earth nor to engineer any New and Better Man – and so capitalism gives rise to none of the murderous zealotry endemic to communism.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
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What you might have noted, and came very close to noting, is that feeling “disillusioned” by capitalism is fully equivalent to being disillusioned with the reality of human nature and life — which, of course, most everybody is sometime in their early 20s.
Most of us get over it, however, and go on to find the silver lining in the cloud of Man's enormously fallible nature. People are very often wretches, and generally unreliable, but individual persons that we meet can be spectacularly worthwhile, sterling.
Perhaps the problem with Mr. Zizek is that his 20 years under Communism's reign of magical thinking — the right system can turn men into angels! — allowed him to skip over the twentysomething putting away of adolescent black 'n' white visions of reality.
He might as well be a 40-year-old virgin, discovering sadly and very belatedly indeed that sex is not actually equivalent to love.
Unfortunately, I think that a disillusionment with capitalism is a problem which will never go away. At its core, capitalism is about dealing with & depending on strangers, cooperating with people you will never meet & would never give a second thought, otherwise. It's morally superior in this way, but human nature is plainly uncomfortable with it. Something about it leaves us cold, and whether most people realize it or not, there is a part of us that prefers to live in a nepotistic bunker of a world, where we stand together against the outsiders and are protected against the challenges of intellectual & economic dislocations.
People in former communist countries are beginning to realize that being robbed by democratic majority is no different than being robbed by communist minority.
They are starting to realize that the problem is legalized robbery itself, not the quantity and the religion of the robbers.
Thus, they are not disillusioned with capitalism, but with democracy.
At the core, that something is envy.
Of course envy was also alive and well in communist lands.
“capitalism is not imposed”
There's just so much evidence contrary to this claim. Let me guess… your car runs on fossil fuels not because that's what you want but because you have basically no other choice. You and I pay taxes and suffer physical harm on externalities not included in the market cost of the product.
Then there's always the descriptions of capitalism in the good ol days;
http://ablankspotonthemap.blogspot.com/2009/02/...
Er…yeah. Of course. Just like disappointment that the tooth fairy doesn't really put the quarter under your pillow, Mom 'n' Pop can't bring the puppy back to life, and the inevitability of death, taxes, and disappointment in love are all going to be with us forever.
It's a testament for the capacity of humans to believe wildly self-inconsistent concepts that we can imagine a system in which we do not each have to decide whether to trust a given stranger because we have constructed a perfect automatic decision-making algorithm (a.k.a. “the state”) which pre-computes whether strangers are trustworthy or not.
Imagine that! We believe such an algorithm exists, and can be consciously set up by voting and debate — but we don't believe we could each, our individual selves, know it and use the very same algorithm effectively.
It's as if we all agreed none of us knew how to play “Calvinball” — but we also believed we could vote in wise leaders who could define the rules perfectly well and perfectly clearly for us. Apparently, if you add together a sufficient amount of ignorance it turns into wisdom, like flies spontaneously generating in refuse, I suppose, or the alchemist convinced that enough eye of newt and lark's blood and other trash added to his lead will turn it into gold.
Balls. You have every choice in the world. You can go out and design and build any kind of car you want, running on any fuel your fertile imagination can invent.
Build a solar-powered car, if you like, if you can. Or one powered by magic pixies who run on a pinch of water and exhale only pine-scented air. Whatever you like. Who's stopping you? I assure you you'll be able to buy whatever raw materials you need, at a price equal to what it costs to produce, refine, mine, or transport them, plus a small pinch on top that pays the rent and food of the people whose labor you thus require.
But that's not the problem, is it? You don't know how to build a car, not even a grubby old internal combustion car., do you? If it were up to you your own self, you'd have to walk or ride a horse everywhere.
So what you really find annoying is that somebody else, someone far smarter and more inventive than you, hasn't already done the hard work of inventing your preferred mode of transportation, and figured out how to make it available to you for a cost you're willing to pay.
Ho there peasant! Thou hast not yet harvested the grain I am too lazy to plant or harvest myself, nor baked the bread I do not know how to bake, in the oven the workings of which are a mystery to me, nor yet delivered same loaf to me all warm and toasty for my royal dinner. I hunger, you cretin!
Get off your miserable sidewalk-supervisor parasite fanny and create the world you want. Or stop complaining like some spoiled princess.
Most cars run on fossil fuels not because of imposition but because that type of fuel happens to be the cheapest, safest, and most convienent way to provide motion to the powertrain of a 2-7 passenger vehicle. And that combination is what leads to people demanding internal combustion engines instead of other types. And, businesses are just meeting demand.
Where's the other evidence? There's just so much of it to share, right? I ask because I'd sure enjoy dispelling your other ideas of imposed goods and services in today's marketplace.
muirgeo is confusing rational freedom with anarchic freedom. When you try to observe what is imposed on you, you have to take reality into account, not your whims and dreams.
You're building quite a resume, my little teacup Chihuahua. It is a good thing I began keeping the list of the highlights of your stupidity or else no one would believe it.
Or #46
11/10/09 muirgeo 3 hours ago
“”capitalism is not imposed”
There's just so much evidence contrary to this claim. Let me guess… your car runs on fossil fuels not because that's what you want but because you have basically no other choice. You and I pay taxes and suffer physical harm on externalities not included in the market cost of the product.”
A reminder to the good folks of the Cafe, muirpidities are stands-alone stupidity by Dr. George aka muirduck, muirpid, muiridiot, Teacup Chihuahua, they need no context to be seen for the stupdity they are.
“I think that a disillusionment with capitalism is a problem which will never go away.”
It does in most people once they get out in the real world. Not all though as our resident Quixotes will constantly remind us.
To paraphrase Churchill; “Any man who is under 30, and is not a socialist, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a capitalist, has no brains.”
“your car runs on fossil fuels not because that's what you want but because you have basically no other choice.”
Dude, ride a bike or go get a Prius. You have a choice.
So I guess you like paying taxes for wars for oil. Nice defense of your corporate overlords… what a shill.
“Where's the other evidence?”
Shell oil nigeria…google it read… educate yourself. There's so much more bot like invasion of the body snatchers… you've long since been snatched.
Your problem is with the laws of physics, not the economic system.
Were the USA actually practicing “capitalism” perhaps the verb”, all the pro and con nonsense and theory might be worth considering. “Capitalism” the noun, in USA is a farce at best, a cloak for “greedisum” and “incompetentisum”. Were the financial wizards of WS-Banks-DC-Fed-Etc “we did not read or understand Derivatives-ARM's etc on the deals” to NOT buy congress, these incompetents would have world and USA in even worse shape. Amusing how they plead “less government” but have no qualms about having their Congress/DC pass more then a few welfare bills for them.
So rant and rave about the “Capitalism of USA” etc.. but economic facts are, China practices more of “Pure Capitalism”, build-sell-reinvest profits to both investors, workers lives-careers and the manufacturing worlds, then run the same cycle and grow the nation, again and again.. then WS-Bankers-Fed and Harvard MBA program would ever admit. There is no room in China for our “Robber Barons” type “capitalism' as when they find it China tends to jail or shoot the incompetents and corrupted. While “China remains communist” it has the loyalty and full support of both the people and business, whether by choice or “Other” is a matter of perspective as not exactly a rush of folks out of China and even with a short time dabling in the “world economy” they are still growing at 8% or so, a number the USA has not seen lately. They were smart enough to see that if Recession on the way” (note China did not take the direct big hits USA/EU “Capitalists” did, and knew they could shift from world markets to internal, a bit slower but not “Debt damaged goods” like EU/USA.
So the facts seem to indicate the one real export we need from China is REAL Capitalism, where our nation works for its own best interests, as does the WS/Banks and Feds. Doubt USA is in terribly corrupted captialisum mode… we are ONLY industrial NATION with a messed up HC, we are failing world class education, raw resources shipped out along wiht jobs/factories…and nearly side slapping funny the DC/talking heads howl about “Dollar worth less due to debt” as it seems most forgot “Currency is valued by infrastrute, education, factories etc etc, and every item that determines currency value, in this USA is in immediate need of critical repairs. Yet same crowd that howls about “Debt” is perfectly willing to reward the incompetents that directed USA into the mess, as long as the “Debt” is that of the USA citizens and the “Fed they hate” so much, is the one holding interest rates to 1% or less while they run a credit card and loans scams at 20-30% and none gouge for “Fees”.
So all you theorists and experts, apply the theory of 100 years or last week and “discuss capitalisum” as if it really exists. Reality is until you factor in the purchase of government by the 2000's robber barons, the systemic destruction of the middle class, the increased real wealth gaps. “Factor out” the sharply increased destruction of what were future retirement incomes accounts run into ground by those now planning on “record bonus year” AKA a near rerun of previous practices!
Keep up the “capitalisum in USA” myth.. as the reality is now increasingly a very select few are profiting enormously from the “other 97%”, both the financial/government is joined at wallet, and no longer even hide their umbilical cord of corruption and revolving doors.
Discuss “USA Capitalism”…. well the reality there is much like discussing the stitching on the Emperors new cloths.. which I am sure some USA front Corp will say, with the full backing of WS-Bankers+Harvard Business School fellows, Fed Bank and both R/D's party that approved the import Bill about “Emperor's clothing”, imported from China.. as “this way the Emperor paid less and the taxpaying consumers benefited”
“There's just so much evidence contrary to this claim. Let me guess… your car runs on fossil fuels not because that's what you want but because you have basically no other choice. “
Who has no choice? My car will run on sunflower oil. I choose fossil fuels because it is much, much (much) cheaper.
You use plenty of oil, hypocrite George “W” Muir!
WTF are you getting at? Spell it out because I did the Google search and did not see where or how this tied into capitalism being imposed.
Capitalism is not the problem, corpratism is the problem.
If we take this car analogy… there are things that would make a car run more efficiently and cheaper than fossil fuels.
But our government stands in the way on behalf of those who are willing to pay to keep us running on fossil fuels.
Why do you think you see government sponsored commercials about energy? Or lobbiest trying to get you to help them to lobby for different types of energies.
Energy is none of governments business. So….. those who think capitalism is bad are mistaken in my opinion, but those who think our current system is capitalism are also wrong.
So the obvious solution? Get government out of the equation. Overall it sounds like some real smart puppies frequent this board, it was nice to read most of the comments.
Way to dodge Carl's points.
He asked you a question, and it was a serious, legitimate question: What's stopping you from inventing the superior-to-ICE engine your little socialist heart so desires?
Carl didn't defend anyone in that post. He belittled you by pointing out that you're a lazy socialist (redundancy alert!) waiting for others to invent the products you desire.
If it were up to you your own self, you'd have to walk or ride a horse everywhere.
Carl, I loved your post, but, just because it's another chance to belittle Yasafi, I have to point out that someone domesticated animals, and it sure wasn't a thumb-sucking little socialist.
Had the ICE not been perfected, and brought to market, Yasafi would be bitching about the pollution caused from horseshit, and crying that there would be a better way to get around if only those eeeeeeevil Free Marketeers weren't so heavily invested in Big Alfalfa.
Had someone not domesticated horses, Yasafi would be bitching that there must be some better way, other than shank's mare, to get around, and that there would be a better way if only those eeeeeeeevil Free Marketeers weren't so heavily invested in Big Shoe-Leather.
Not a bad post, John.
But, I'd argue that there is no cheaper way than oil to power personal transportation right now.
I agree that corporatism is a problem (and Yasafi is a corporatist), but they're only going after government dollars because it's cheap to buy politicians and government regulators.
I believe that the oil companies would love it if ethanol could be produced more cheaply (factoring all costs) than oil. If something comes along that can displace oil, the oil companies will still profit, because they have the delivery networks in place, and they won't have to deal with Islamo-fascists or other petty socialist asswipes.
I was one of those guys who put an h20 (water for gas) converter in my Honda Mini Van. Factory equiped it would get from 18-23 mpg. After we put the converter in I got 30-38 mpg.
I contacted the guy who sent me the plans to see about marketing it. He said he was not allowed, by the government to market it as a gas saving device. Now the question is… why?
Another question, if I can put one of these gizmos into my vehicle and virtually double my gas mileage, why wouldn't the government (if they were so concerned… remember Obama saying we can get 2 more mpg by inflating our tires)…. allow us to market this, or at least help in spreading the word.
I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but the reason is… that if they can't regulate it, and the powers that be can't meter it.
It is not going to happen. For the same reason I can't get a permit to put an electric windmill on top of my house.
I do believe in capitalism, more than anything, but if the government constantly dictates what we can and can not do… it is not true capitalism.
It is corpratism.
Here is a fun video on a new electric car with more torque than a corvette…
But again, electric is fine, because it can be metered, hydrogen on demand though a possibility will never be allowed to rear it's head.
http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/segments/view/1686
I was one of those guys who put an h20 (water for gas) converter in my Honda Mini Van. Factory equiped it would get from 18-23 mpg. After we put the converter in I got 30-38 mpg.
I contacted the guy who sent me the plans to see about marketing it. He said he was not allowed, by the government to market it as a gas saving device. Now the question is… why?
Another question, if I can put one of these gizmos into my vehicle and virtually double my gas mileage, why wouldn't the government (if they were so concerned… remember Obama saying we can get 2 more mpg by inflating our tires)…. allow us to market this, or at least help in spreading the word.
I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but the reason is… that if they can't regulate it, and the powers that be can't meter it.
It is not going to happen. For the same reason I can't get a permit to put an electric windmill on top of my house.
I do believe in capitalism, more than anything, but if the government constantly dictates what we can and can not do… it is not true capitalism.
It is corpratism.
Here is a fun video on a new electric car with more torque than a corvette…
But again, electric is fine, because it can be metered, hydrogen on demand though a possibility will never be allowed to rear it's head.
http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/segments/view/1686
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