-- Karl Marx
Showing posts with label capital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label capital. Show all posts
Monday, September 5, 2011
Quote Of The Day 3 - Labor Day Edition
Sept. 5th, 2011
"Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks."
-- Karl Marx
-- Karl Marx
Monday, August 22, 2011
Repulslican Economics
Aug 22nd, 2011
Proving, for the umpteenth time, that contemporary elected Republicans simply don't understand the college freshman concept of aggregate demand comes this little excerpt from the HuffPo today:
"...many of the same Republicans who are fiercely protective of tax cuts for the wealthy have already said they oppose Obama's plan to extend the payroll tax cut for low income Americans.
"It's always a net positive to let taxpayers keep more of what they earn," Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) told the AP, "but not all tax relief is created equal for the purposes of helping to get the economy moving again."
Amazing. I am compelled to give a lesson. For all the "rich" people and their mouthpieces that call the President a "socialist" but fail to grasp even the most childlike fundamentals of consumer society (psst, that's called Capitalism, by the way), here's a primer:
Proving, for the umpteenth time, that contemporary elected Republicans simply don't understand the college freshman concept of aggregate demand comes this little excerpt from the HuffPo today:
"It's always a net positive to let taxpayers keep more of what they earn," Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) told the AP, "but not all tax relief is created equal for the purposes of helping to get the economy moving again."
Amazing. I am compelled to give a lesson. For all the "rich" people and their mouthpieces that call the President a "socialist" but fail to grasp even the most childlike fundamentals of consumer society (psst, that's called Capitalism, by the way), here's a primer:
Monday, August 15, 2011
Quote Of The Day
Aug 15th, 2011
"Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate."
-- Bertrand Russell
-- Bertrand Russell
Roubini Raises The Alarm Level
Aug 15th, 2011
Many people find Nouriel Roubini's work dry and dispassionate. You generally don't see him on television. After all, his style is more academic than political. He is certainly no hyper-partisan of the Krugman or Stiglitz mode. All that said, Roubini got a lot more attention last week than usual. In an interview with the WSJ's Simon Constable, he told it like it is in the same measured tones that have made him a less than household name.
You don't cut taxes when you go to war. The stimulus was too small. The deficit is "Bush's fault." You don't "front load" austerity in a crisis. Rather, you apply that pressure when an exit from recession is secure. Rising income inequality naturally leads to civil unrest.
However, this observation at the 5min 10sec mark sent out a shock wave:
"Karl Marx had it right. At some point, Capitalism can destroy itself. You cannot keep on shifting income from labor to Capital without having an excess capacity and a lack of aggregate demand. That's what has happened. We thought that markets worked. They're not working. The individual can be rational. The firm, to survive and thrive, can push labor costs more and more down, but labor costs are someone else's income and consumption. That's why it's a self-destructive process."
God help us. He is usually right. No one more accurately predicted the collapse of 2008.
The fact that we now have an ascendant movement in American politics which greets proven centralized monetary policy with charges of "Communism" only makes the disaster more likely.
It's all common sense... unless you are a devoted Fox viewer.
Many people find Nouriel Roubini's work dry and dispassionate. You generally don't see him on television. After all, his style is more academic than political. He is certainly no hyper-partisan of the Krugman or Stiglitz mode. All that said, Roubini got a lot more attention last week than usual. In an interview with the WSJ's Simon Constable, he told it like it is in the same measured tones that have made him a less than household name.
You don't cut taxes when you go to war. The stimulus was too small. The deficit is "Bush's fault." You don't "front load" austerity in a crisis. Rather, you apply that pressure when an exit from recession is secure. Rising income inequality naturally leads to civil unrest.
However, this observation at the 5min 10sec mark sent out a shock wave:
"Karl Marx had it right. At some point, Capitalism can destroy itself. You cannot keep on shifting income from labor to Capital without having an excess capacity and a lack of aggregate demand. That's what has happened. We thought that markets worked. They're not working. The individual can be rational. The firm, to survive and thrive, can push labor costs more and more down, but labor costs are someone else's income and consumption. That's why it's a self-destructive process."
God help us. He is usually right. No one more accurately predicted the collapse of 2008.
The fact that we now have an ascendant movement in American politics which greets proven centralized monetary policy with charges of "Communism" only makes the disaster more likely.
It's all common sense... unless you are a devoted Fox viewer.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Friday, December 3, 2010
Quote Of The Day
Dec 3rd, 2010
"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." -- Abraham Lincolm
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