3 ms·
There's a pretty stark difference between 'golden age' capitalism and whatever this is now we're moving towards. The author is right to point out that the old s
by Barrin92 5y ago
There's a pretty stark difference between 'golden age' capitalism and whatever this is now we're moving towards. The author is right to point out that the old social contract, which consisted of mass employment and labour as the primary input is largely being replaced by more and more bizarre ownership and asset speculation schemes.
Natural wine is one example, a more topical one is the entire 'crypto-industry'. Which isn't really an industry because nothing industrial is going on. There's not really any employment, productive work or goods produced as much as it is one big desperate attempt to get your foot into ownership schemes of various sorts.
'Economic activity' in that realm primarily consists of shoveling symbolic value from one purse into the other without producing or consuming anything of actual use value.
- whichfawkes 5y agoSo, you're saying the crypto-industry is just like the banking industry?
- Barrin92 5y agoYes-ish. Increasing financialization (going hand-in-hand with deindustrialization) seems like a precursor for this. With the difference I suppose that there is a core to banking of lending to the productive industry and allocating resources that is absent in the crypto world entirely. So more accurately maybe it's high finance on steroids
- whichfawkes 5y agoUltimately, the existing banking system will either eat crypto, or crypto will become the basis for the new banking system. It's not really any better or worse. People are excited about it now because the power structures aren't so entrenched yet. It looks like a chance to re-write the same history, but with yourself and your friends on the New Wall Street by dint of your cleverness and honest (ok, maybe not honest, but ) work... two things which no longer get you anywhere in the traditional finance sector. I can't in good-faith argue very strongly _for_ crypto, but I can't argue against it either.
- germinalphrase 5y agoDoes anyone open a restaurant or build a bridge with Bitcoin?
- legitster 5y ago> The author is right to point out that the old social contract, which consisted of mass employment and labour as the primary input is largely being replaced by more and more bizarre ownership and asset speculation schemes. If you believe Piketty, this was true for most of human history, and the high value of labor was just a temporary blip from industrialization.