41–50 of 243 posts
Other than the author having the ability to use large words I'm not sure what I was supposed to have come away with from this piece at all, it's just word salad.
"...the distribution of wealth and popular acquiescence in the vicissitudes of the market—the hoi polloi might vote themselves welfare states or even socialism."
Word salad is understatement of the day.
Other than the author having the ability to use large words I'm not sure what I was supposed to have come away with from this piece at all, it's just word salad.
This particular author also has a wider thesis that thinking about all of life and the laws of the universe in terms of market interactions has come to replace mystical and religious thinking.
Other than the author having the ability to use large words I'm not sure what I was supposed to have come away with from this piece at all, it's just word salad.
Oh my god I'm glad it's not just me. I gave up at: "...the distribution of wealth and popular acquiescence in the vicissitudes of the market—the hoi polloi might vote themselves welfare states or even socialism." Word salad is understatement of the day.
Begging is a useful activity. It allows the giver of money to feel good about themselves. I would far prefer someone begs for their living, which takes effort, than sitting on the couch and have a check come to them automatically.
We organize our world around people providing useful labor. You can pick whatever labor it is you want that is useful (someone pays for it) but you have to pick something. Money is just a tool for compensating services.
Obviously the world is super complex and edge cases exist all over. But the moral principle is that I don’t want to give healthy, able-bodied people the right to do nothing except what interests them. I don’t want them to write poetry and paint all day unless someone else is willing to pay them for their output. That’s providing a useful service. Otherwise it’s just masturbation.
I love how professors live on charity and lecture us on money.
2. So what if they live on charity? I don't see how that would invalidate anything being said.
For many, you're a slave to religion and then you die. People have used religion to control society way before capitalism became popular. To this day, it continues to control thoughts and behaviors of billions of people. Those who have acquired power in religious institutions abuse their power to influence all sorts of antisocial behavior. Society hasn't only an issue with capitalism but also religion. There's a strong argument that religion remains the greater threat.
Other than the author having the ability to use large words I'm not sure what I was supposed to have come away with from this piece at all, it's just word salad.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not really. It's not like you are workibg all your life to "earn" oxygen and water. Fortunately(for most of us) we are living in an utopia as far as oxygen and water is concerned. You get them for "free"/with minimal effort.
First time I’ve read that providing clean water on demand to everyone at a sufficient pressure is “minimal effort”. To me, the infrastructure and experimentation and science that leads to all homes having reliable, potable water is miraculous. There’s very large swaths of the planet where you are supposed to drink only bottled water, from a bottle unsealed in front of you.
Is that the "natural" order of things? Certainly it isn't, at least no more than markets or money represent a "natural order." In fact, we can make a convincing case that the tainting of fresh water is the direct consequence of this kind of market-oriented thought.