Toadcast #66 – The Greedcast
Today I am angry at Capitalism. Partly, funnily enough, I am angry at Capitalism because in many ways I myself am a Capitalist. The problem I have with Capitalism is not really the theory, but the practise. So many people and companies who chant the free market mantra simply are not free marketeers. They want isolationism and protectionism as much as the most paranoid Marxist when it will protect their interests, but they won’t for a second entertain the economic theory behind that sort of behaviour – gosh no!
So there is plenty of paranoid ranting in this week’s podcast, railing against people who talk all Capitalist whilst not actually being Capitalist, people who are moral and honorable in their personal lives but who turn into voracious whores as soon as they put on a suit and, erm, well generally there’s lots of pish to be talked, sorry.
Still, at least it’s marginally better than last week.
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01. Pet Shop Boys – Opportunities (03.27)
02. Billy Bragg – NPWA (16.27)
03. Eric Bachmann – Liars & Thieves (21.30)
04. The Zincs – Moguls’ Wives (28.04)
05. Tom Lehrer – Selling Out (34.24)
06. Depeche Mode – Everything Counts (39.16)
07. The Clash – Bankrobber (45.07)
08. Tom Waits – God’s Away on Business (54.07)
09. Billy Bragg – To Have and to Have Not (65.56)
Oi! There’s nothing wrong with last week’s ‘cast that the delete button couldn’t fix.
This one’s not great either. You can tell I’m pished, not by the slurring, but by the fact that I have no ability whatsoever to hold onto a train of thought for more than a second.
I shall listen once trhis week’s edition of The Waiting Room, on http://www.WOXY.com (1pm – 3pm) is finished.
(did I get away with that?)
I had a fairly similar experience with my bank, The Co-operative. I was paying in a cheque for the grand total of £7 and some pence and in return the woman handed me a card with £3750 written on and was told this was the amount of money they could lend me that day, this seemed to be happening to everyone. WHAT? I haven’t been consistently out of my overdraft in years. In what skewed world do they live where I am a good person to lend thousands of pounds?
TED.com is ace.
Awww, you have loads of time for little ole me? Well, that’s good cause this capitalism rant is one subject where we go round and round and one of the first areas of discussion that drew me out of my troll-ish hole and into the light of the blogosphere, hahaha
Now, Matthew dear, you say you believe in Capitalism (capital C) but not the practice of it. Pfffft!!! That’s just utter horseshit and you know it. What exactly does Capitalism teach? It teaches us that a market of competition will result in the cream rising to the top (yes, I’m putting it in your own terms and not mine, you can guess how I interpret that differently). Ok, so this cream rises and what sinks to the bottom? Those who are stupid, maladjusted, inferior, handicapped by whatever means, and lazy, eh? Or those who simply have an inferior product, plan, or financing. And what do Capitalists surmise the solution to the clump of those losers be? (Because you know that sludge at the bottom of the Capitalist pond will produce some gawd-awful mess, otherwise known as crime, immorality, social unrest and political strife, not to mention a horde of free-loaders who need financial assistance.)How to keep social order and allow that market place it’s freedom and natural order? How to allow the most competition and entry of the largest number of entities into that sacred marketplace?
That’s where private charity, private good work, private benevolence comes to play. In the history, of both the UK and the US and other industrialized countries, the forces that fought to keep the market open also fought to keep the sludge contained and manageable by propping up the PRIVATE sphere of benevolence and good will. This is where the whole thing falls apart, this is why (for the most neo-liberal among you) the Capitalism of Carnegie, and Rockefeller and Smith even is doomed to fail. (Completely aside from the more rational arguments I might put forth from a Marxist perspective but which would fall on deaf ears because they are built on a premise that neo-liberals simply refuse to accept — that Capitalism is wage-slavery and the rape of the working class, etc, etc, etc…)
So, we are left with an economic theory with real social expectations that cannot be fulfilled (because the public sphere [government, industry, lawmakers, education, for example] cannot prop up this private sphere enough [individuals, families, private volunteerism, private charity, religious benevolence]) and the two are dependent on one another and guess what? It’s not working.
And the more global its reach the less it works because imports of goods from newly industrializing countries to prop up US and European markets (and others like Japan, of course) only creates that problem of sludge in those cheap labor countries and no one is held accountable for that. And no one is held accountable for the risk, and no one is held accountable for accurately ascertaining the risk of social unrest which determines market conditions worldwide, and that is at the root of the theory of Capitalism.
Now, that is clearly not the only answer, but it is part of it. And therefore to argue that you believe in the theory of Capitalism you must believe that one can accurately assess that risk and make rational market decisions based on it. And no, you can’t argue for Capitalism in some sort of isolationist form, the horse is already out of the barn.
Do Socialists have the answer to global market exchanges and international working conditions? I’m not sure of that either. But I am certain that we are not isolationists by any stretch of the imagination. This is no longer a national issue, if it ever was one, but an issue of human rights on a theoretical and practical level and yes, we all have to be held accountable. Let workers share in the profits of their labor, fairly and in cooperation with the workers of countries with which they trade. Let all of us have a say in who we trade with and when. I know it’s more complicated than that but I wonder if it need be.
anyway, my 14 cents worth today… thanks for having time, darlin’ xxx
Let me rephrase that, Tart. I believe that the concept of Capitalism is entirely relevant and useful as a way of allowing certain markets to function very well. I just don’t really see it as a practical or workable system for governing whole countries, for a lot of the reasons you mention above.
Well yeah, we always end up agreeing in the end lately… you’ve become an hugely unsatisfying sparring partner of late :–p
But, more importantly, the major argument against the theory of Capitalism is that it’s based on that silly “invisible hand” idea — that somehow a lack of regulation is a good thing or that it somehow isn’t regulated in its purest form. We all know that every market is regulated (hello Allan Greenspan?) and further, that every market obviously needs regulation. (I just didn’t want to end this and come off like some goofy do-gooder/human rights/save the fucking whales extremist!) ‘Nuff said, xoxox
Education and a free press.
The greatest thing that protectionists ever did was undercut education and buy the press.
i think i’ve fallen in love…..
i love twitter…
I love twitter too, … but probably not for the reason DC is saying that!
What the fuck is twitter??? Honestly, what the fuck is this thing and what does is do? And why were Senators doing it during Obama’s address? What the hell?
Ben – http://tinyurl.com/ajadg8
Fucking commies.
Ben, I believe Twitter has something to do with telephones and narcissism.
I’ve even bored myself…. going back to twitter, apologies darlings
Shut up, C&B, you fascist.
Twitter really is crap.
Tart, not boring at all.
But being stuck at the bottom doesn’t seem to have caused all that much social unrest. Anyone fancy a pint because I suddenly feel sad