tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2502695489360674806.post8576889409729490430..comments2023-10-31T09:14:26.930-05:00Comments on Manifesto Joe's Texas Blues: Paul Samuelson, 1915-2009: A Loss In A Time Of Economic IlliteracyManifesto Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06521151220297061304noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2502695489360674806.post-29038494508217790502009-12-16T21:56:12.476-06:002009-12-16T21:56:12.476-06:00Thanks for another in a long line of outstanding p...Thanks for another in a long line of outstanding posts, Manifesto Joe. Samuelson was indeed extraordinary and I will miss him.Jack Jodellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02165430903903838990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2502695489360674806.post-67513107581681987662009-12-15T16:52:10.712-06:002009-12-15T16:52:10.712-06:00Hi, Marc and SJ:
I confess that in my high school...Hi, Marc and SJ:<br /><br />I confess that in my high school days I was -- gasp -- a libertarian conservative. A couple of economics courses in college got me moving the other direction, and by the time I was 20 or 21 I was reading Marx with an open mind. I didn't have the patience to wade through all of "Kapital" but was shocked by how much history I didn't know, simply because it is rarely taught in classrooms. One thing that Marx discussed in his magnum opus was The Enclosure Movement in England and Scotland, in which wide stretches of land that had been regarded as the commons were taken and fenced for sheep grazing. This screwed countless yeoman farmers out of their sources of game, firewood and gathering in the commons. Soon many had to give up the land and go with their families to the already crowded early industrial cities, where they were a swelling pool of cheap labor. All very convenient for the ownership class, both rural and urban.<br /><br />In six years I spent getting B.A. and M.A. degrees at two Texas universities, I never heard one professor discuss The Enclosure Movement, not even in World History II. I read it in Marx! So, I've certainly got to hand it to him. He "deconstructed" old-style capitalism better than anyone else.Manifesto Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06521151220297061304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2502695489360674806.post-6018547787113003352009-12-15T15:43:16.008-06:002009-12-15T15:43:16.008-06:00@Manifesto Joe,
-great post and summation of Samue...@Manifesto Joe,<br />-great post and summation of Samuelson, who my friends referred to as the "iceberg" in college (as in Paul Samuelson pretty much wrecked supply-side economics and most "Randian" wishful thinking about free markets.)<br />I may have to respond again piece-meal as there's a lot in what you wrote and particularly in your exchange with Marc McDonald about Marx: all good points.<br />Samuelson was definitely one of the giants, I'm sorry that he lived to see the Great Depression and now this latest global calamity but at least we have his work and perspectives as tools against the foolhardy and their policies. Somebody will listen.<br />-SJSJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17181694732531476160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2502695489360674806.post-63103802166766417102009-12-15T00:09:43.952-06:002009-12-15T00:09:43.952-06:00Marc, you lead me to the big criticism I have of M...Marc, you lead me to the big criticism I have of Marx: He was a great diagnostician, but a lousy pharmacist.<br /><br />I can't claim to have read "Kapital" entirely, but from what I've seen it is the most definitive criticism, to date, of the capitalist system.<br /><br />But, he had nothing to replace it with.<br /><br />An argument that emerged later:<br /><br />Keynes and his followers DID.Manifesto Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06521151220297061304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2502695489360674806.post-28353224174531957702009-12-14T20:25:33.504-06:002009-12-14T20:25:33.504-06:00Good piece, but I'd like to make one point:
r...Good piece, but I'd like to make one point:<br /><br />re:<br />>>Keynes regarded Karl Marx's Das<br />>>Kapital (1867) as an obsolete<br />>>text, and far from an adequate<br />>>prescription to end modern<br />>>capitalism's shortcomings.<br /><br />Das Kapital was not a prescription to end capitalism's shortcomings. It was a critique of capitalism, but offered no specifics on how to fix it, or remedy it.<br /><br />Marx simply explained, criticized and noted the flaws in capitalism and predicted its eventual demise. (And before anyone claims Marx was wrong on this count should note that history ain't over yet).<br /><br />Marx's criticisms of capitalism remain valid to this day. He remains one of history's great thinkers. But, sadly, he gets blamed for every bad thing that ever happened in the name of "Marxism."<br /><br />The fact that the mere mention of Marx still sends shivers down the spines of wealthy elites worldwide show the man must have been on to something when he explained how workers were getting screwed.Marc McDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17105754072842852126noreply@blogger.com