dlaw

Could Socialism Make You a Better Capitalist?

Sorry to comment on my own post, here, but Carey - that's incredible. What you said is completely true, but that has to be the first time I have ever read somebody who knows Marx's (early) view of capitalism and the importance it had to the development of his theories.

Marx himself got very irritable, a lot more political and a lot less theoretical (and a lot less intellectually useful) in later life but he was definitely an early appreciator of capitalism. And you also note the very important fact of how much of the capitalist revolution Karl Marx missed altogether because it took place after his death. So many people forget that Marx missed the entire period between really the late 1870s (history traveled slowly back then) and the Russian Revolution and speak as though Marx was rejecting capitalism *after* that period. Most actual Marxists forget that Karl Marx was really looking at the very earliest stages of capitalism and so could not possibly appreciate how much it would change.

Wow, I'm so shocked to read anyone who knows anything about Marx on a blog like this. I'm sure a lot of people here know about Marxism and have some very negative experiences of it, but that makes me all the more surprised. 20th century Marxism did so much to dilute and wash away everything useful than can be taken from Karl Marx it's a wonder anyone knows anything about him any more.

Muddling: Yes. Agree totally. It's deflation. But deflation is just so hard for most people to understand because it destroys so many of the normal assumptions of capitalism.

Could Socialism Make You a Better Capitalist?

Thanks for the comments.

Smarty, 122 times out of 123 huge swings in any market are, as you say, just the unwinding of positions. Then there's the 123rd time.

I may be looking for a large economic trend because that's what I like to do, but when you have such a massive upswing versus such a massive government credit supply intervention, you have to come to the conclusion that something is going on.

Moon, the answer is definitely "no." I sure didn't leave all the Marxism behind. Lucky thing the European leaders didn't either or we would not have been able to save the capitalist financial system.

We have a fiat currency system with a central bank that requires (per Diamond and Dybvig) government deposit insurance. So the system pretty much rests on a "socialist" foundation - if you want to call it that. You want to go back to the private, gold-based system of the 1500? Get in line behind Osama Bin Laden.