"Most interestingly, [Adam Smith] is disarmingly honest concerning the political effects of capitalism, noting that 'wherever there is property there is great inequality', such that 'the acquisition of valuable and extensive property.... necessarily requires the establishment of civil government.' A civil government that, 'in so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defence of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.'
Austerity - The History of a Dangerous Idea by Mark Blyth, p112
4 comments:
As I am this morning contemplating my "reading plan" for 2021, your thoughts gave me some guidelines. Very thought provoking ones. Of course, said plan will probably fly away in the winds of one book leading me to another. Still I like to start a year with some semblance of a direction. I am currently reading The Age of Faith by Will Durant at the breakneck pace of 5 pages a day-:) It concerns the Middle Ages, mostly in Europe, and I find myself wanting to find fiction set in that period. If and when I do, I will need a category for that!
Where there is LIFE, there is inequality. There is no such thing as a property-less society; whenever armed maniacs attempt to create one, they invariably create hellholes where inequality is simply created by other circumstances. Those who try to make a more equal state by enabling the state to take others' things only create a state that takes -- and gives to the politically "in".
Sounds correct to me.
@ Judy(1): Glad to have provoked some thoughts! I look forward to their emergence into the real world. I Have MANY plans going forward - there will be a post on them soon(ish). But they do tend to scatter like butterflies once released!
@ Stephen (I'm presuming its you!): I found it interesting that ADAM SMITH of all people had criticised Capitalism in this way and had pointed out some very negative political consequences of (what he saw as inevitable) great inequality between the rich and the poor. As he was writing in the 18th century I'd guess that by 'property' he meant ownership of houses and land rather than the clothes you wear and the contents of your pockets.
@ Judy(2): I've only dabbled a tiny bit into the works of Smith but have heard that he's not as 'Capitalist' as some writers like to portray these days. Apparently he gave a great deal of thought to the consequences of unrestrained Capitalism. I'll need to dig further to discover more. The book I'm quoting him from is very good though.
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