Karl Marx Was Right About So Many Things

[Sistine Chapel]

He's one of the historical figures I admire in many respects and it's time we looked at him again.

"From iPhone's to corporate globalization, modern life is full of evidence of Marx's foresight"


Here are five facts of life that Marx's analysis of capitalism correctly predicted more than a century ago:

1. The Great Recession (Capitalism's Chaotic Nature)

The inherently chaotic, crisis-prone nature of capitalism was a key part of Marx's writings. He argued that the relentless drive for profits would lead companies to mechanize their workplaces, producing more and more goods while squeezing workers' wages until they could no longer purchase the products they created. Sure enough, modern historical events from the Great Depression to the dot-com bubble can be traced back to what Marx termed "fictitious capital" – financial instruments like stocks and credit-default swaps. We produce and produce until there is simply no one left to purchase our goods, no new markets, no new debts. The cycle is still playing out before our eyes: Broadly speaking, it's what made the housing market crash in 2008. Decades of deepening inequality reduced incomes, which led more and more Americans to take on debt. When there were no subprime borrows left to scheme, the whole façade fell apart, just as Marx knew it would.

2. The iPhone (Imaginary Appetites)

Marx warned that capitalism's tendency to concentrate high value on essentially arbitrary products would, over time, lead to what he called "a contriving and ever-calculating subservience to inhuman, sophisticated, unnatural and imaginary appetites." It's a harsh but accurate way of describing contemporary America, where we enjoy incredible luxury and yet are driven by a constant need for more and more stuff to buy.

3. The IMF (The Globalization of Capitalism)

Marx's ideas about overproduction led him to predict what is now called globalization – the spread of capitalism across the planet in search of new markets. "The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the entire surface of the globe," he wrote. "It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere." While this may seem like an obvious point now, Marx wrote those words in 1848, when globalization was over a century away. And he wasn't just right about what ended up happening in the late 20th century – he was right about why it happened: The relentless search for new markets and cheap labor, as well as the incessant demand for more natural resources, are beasts that demand constant feeding.

4. Walmart (Monopoly)

The classical theory of economics assumed that competition was natural and therefore self-sustaining. Marx, however, argued that market power would actually be centralized in large monopoly firms as businesses increasingly preyed upon each other.

5. Low Wages, Big Profits (The Reserve Army of Industrial Labor)

Marx believed that wages would be held down by a "reserve army of labor," which he explained simply using classical economic techniques: Capitalists wish to pay as little as possible for labor, and this is easiest to do when there are too many workers floating around. Thus, after a recession, using a Marxist analysis, we would predict that high unemployment would keep wages stagnant as profits soared, because workers are too scared of unemployment to quit their terrible, exploitative jobs.

In Conclusion:

Marx was wrong about many things. Most of his writing focuses on a critique of capitalism rather than a proposal of what to replace it with – which left it open to misinterpretation by madmen like Stalin in the 20th century. But his work still shapes our world in a positive way as well. When he argued for a progressive income tax in the Communist Manifesto, no country had one. Now, there is scarcely a country without a progressive income tax, and it's one small way that the U.S. tries to fight income inequality. Marx's moral critique of capitalism and his keen insights into its inner workings and historical context are still worth paying attention to. As Robert L. Heilbroner writes, "We turn to Marx, therefore, not because he is infallible, but because he is inescapable." Today, in a world of both unheard-of wealth and abject poverty, where the richest 85 people have more wealth than the poorest 3 billion, the famous cry, "Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains," has yet to lose its potency.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...-2014-20140130

[I B Hankering]

Engels and Marx advocated the extermination of the "undesirable races" who they determined had no right to exist, Sissy Chap -- nearly one hundred years before the Holocaust. No wonder you worship your Sanger adoring, hildebeest: you share her adoration for advocates of genocide.

[bambino]

Originally Posted by I B Hankering

Engels and Marx advocated the extermination of the "undesirable races" who they determined had no right to exist, Sissy Chap -- nearly one hundred years before the Holocaust. No wonder you worship your Sanger adoring, hildebeest: you share her adoration for advocates of genocide.

Yeah, if Marx and Sanger had their way, Sissy Sap Sucker would have never been born. I guess Marx had a point.

[IIFFOFRDB]

Mandle Switcher is a Collectavist/Globalist 0zombie...

[DSK]

Originally Posted by Sistine Chapel

He's one of the historical figures I admire in many respects and it's time we looked at him again.

"From iPhone's to corporate globalization, modern life is full of evidence of Marx's foresight"


Here are five facts of life that Marx's analysis of capitalism correctly predicted more than a century ago:




http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...-2014-20140130

Did Marx predict the collapse of every communist society?

[I B Hankering]

Originally Posted by DSK

Did Marx predict the collapse of every communist society?

Hell, Marx didn't even correctly predict which countries would go communist: Russia, China, Vietnam, etc., weren't on his list.

Originally Posted by bambino

Yeah, if Marx and Sanger had their way, Sissy Sap Sucker would have never been born. I guess Marx had a point.

+1

[TheDaliLama]

Was he the one with the big mustache and cigar?

[pyramider]

That was Groucho.

[Revenant]

Originally Posted by Sistine Chapel

He's one of the historical figures I admire in many respects and it's time we looked at him again.

"From iPhone's to corporate globalization, modern life is full of evidence of Marx's foresight"

Here are five facts of life that Marx's analysis of capitalism correctly predicted more than a century ago:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...-2014-20140130

Thank you for confirming, yet again, what a putz you are.

Part of me thinks you made this dopey post about Marx just to get a rise out of people. That you don't really believe it, but you just want to piss other off.

NOT ONE of the five paragraphs you posted is actually a solution to a problem. It's all just (alleged) problem spotting. Some of them aren't even problems because they turned out to be false. And NONE of them are original ideas. So much for his foresight

All that nonsense about mechanization leading to no jobs - and therefore no one to buy goods - hasn't really worked out has it? Marx wrote that bullshit over 160 years ago and history since then has been almost entirely about the rise of the middle class and lifting nearly all of humanity out of wretched poverty.

Do you really think the worker was better off in the 1840s and 1850s when he was engaged in back-breaking labor?

The rise of mass production might have meant less workers - and less skills - were needed, but it also meant an abundance of cheap goods that made new jobs - and a better and longer life - possible. Marx missed all that. And yet putzes like you keep repeating it as if it will come true ANY DAY NOW.

And contrary to what you posted, Marx DID offer "solutions" - all bad ones. Seizing the means of production and imposing a dictatorship of the proletariat ended up making the revolutionary socialist nations the poorest of the developed nations.

[dilbert firestorm]

Originally Posted by Sistine Chapel

He's one of the historical figures I admire in many respects and it's time we looked at him again.

"From iPhone's to corporate globalization, modern life is full of evidence of Marx's foresight"


Here are five facts of life that Marx's analysis of capitalism correctly predicted more than a century ago:

Quote:
4. Walmart (Monopoly)

The classical theory of economics assumed that competition was natural and therefore self-sustaining. Marx, however, argued that market power would actually be centralized in large monopoly firms as businesses increasingly preyed upon each other.

lack of competition leads to monopolism

Quote:
5. Low Wages, Big Profits (The Reserve Army of Industrial Labor)

Marx believed that wages would be held down by a "reserve army of labor," which he explained simply using classical economic techniques: Capitalists wish to pay as little as possible for labor, and this is easiest to do when there are too many workers floating around. Thus, after a recession, using a Marxist analysis, we would predict that high unemployment would keep wages stagnant as profits soared, because workers are too scared of unemployment to quit their terrible, exploitative jobs.

minimum wage laws leads to labor exploitation & mechanization.

Quote:
In Conclusion:

Marx was wrong about many things. Most of his writing focuses on a critique of capitalism rather than a proposal of what to replace it with – which left it open to misinterpretation by madmen like Stalin in the 20th century. But his work still shapes our world in a positive way as well. When he argued for a progressive income tax in the Communist Manifesto, no country had one. Now, there is scarcely a country without a progressive income tax, and it's one small way that the U.S. tries to fight income inequality. Marx's moral critique of capitalism and his keen insights into its inner workings and historical context are still worth paying attention to. As Robert L. Heilbroner writes, "We turn to Marx, therefore, not because he is infallible, but because he is inescapable." Today, in a world of both unheard-of wealth and abject poverty, where the richest 85 people have more wealth than the poorest 3 billion, the famous cry, "Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains," has yet to lose its potency.

meh... commie shill!

does the writer & sissy chap realize how many people died in their insane pursuit of the fantasy communist ideals.

[Jackie S]

Where Marx got it wrong was he failed to factor in the most prevailing factor that overshadows all other considerations.

Human Nature.

Why is is that all "Communist" Countries eventually turn into "Thugocracies", where the final solution in compelling the population to bend to the authoritarian rule is salt mines in Siberia or simply putting them against the wall.

Someone always has to be in charge. Human nature tends to bring out that visceral need to rule, not govern. To rule, not lead. To rule, at any cost.

We only have to look at the men who have "been in charge" in just about every Communist Country. Most go down as the most reprehensible examples of Human Existence.

[dilbert firestorm]

Originally Posted by Jackie S

Where Marx got it wrong was he failed to factor in the most prevailing factor that overshadows all other considerations.

Human Nature.

Why is is that all "Communist" Countries eventually turn into "Thugocracies", where the final solution in compelling the population to bend to the authoritarian rule is salt mines in Siberia or simply putting them against the wall.

Someone always has to be in charge. Human nature tends to bring out that visceral need to rule, not govern. To rule, not lead. To rule, at any cost.

We only have to look at the men who have "been in charge" in just about every Communist Country. Most go down as the most reprehensible examples of Human Existence.

thats one part of human nature commies don't get.

the other part of human nature is the reward factor.

when you look at communist countries, there is not a lot of reward factor involved and many are miserable hell holes.

[bambino]

Where'd the sap sucker go? The thread isn't turning out as he suspected. Dumb ass.

[dilbert firestorm]

Originally Posted by bambino

Where'd the sap sucker go? The thread isn't turning out as he suspected. Dumb ass.

[lustylad]

Originally Posted by Revenant

Thank you for confirming, yet again, what a putz you are.

Part of me thinks you made this dopey post about Marx just to get a rise out of people. That you don't really believe it, but you just want to piss others off.

Like most libtards, Sissy Chap becomes very uncomfortable when he is challenged. He starts a thread and then either pulls a houdini, or has a spastic meltdown attempting to "respond" to any counter-arguments.

Don't forget - Sissy Chap is the putz who believes all wages paid to all workers are "predetermined" by "corporate masters" lol. He studied Marxism by reading Rolling Stone magazine.

Marx was an interesting sociologist, a flawed historian, a clueless prognosticator and a terrible economist.