"The people filled with the spirit of capitalism today tend to be indifferent, if not hostile, to the Church. The thought of the pious boredom of paradise has little attraction for their active natures; religion appears to them as a means of drawing people away from labour in this world.
If you ask them what is the meaning of their restless activity, why they are never satisfied with what they have, they would perhaps give an answer, if they know any at all: 'to provide for my children and grandchildren.' But more often and, since that motive is not peculiar to them, but was just as effective for the traditionalist, more correctly, simply: that business with its continuous work has become a necessary part of their lives. That is in fact the only possible motivation, but it at the same time expresses what is, seen from the view-point of personal happiness, so irrational about this sort of life, where a man exists for the sake of his business, instead of the reverse."
- Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
This is going to be a good semester.
We had another CSN meeting today. The goal gets closer every day.
Peace,
Sam
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
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Another problem with capitalism that I've been thinking about a lot recently:
It is often argued that capitalism, although cutthroat in nature, ultimately creates the most wealth and the highest standard of living for the most people. So even the poorest people are ultimately better off.
There is certainly a grain of truth in that arguement. However, I would argue that capitalism creates an overall social attitude that is highly destructive. It tells people that they are morally obligated to pursue their own self-interest so as to maintain order and benefit society. This works to an extent, and many of the symptoms of economic injustice are hidden by wealth that trickles down to the masses in high and upper-middle income countries.
But it does nothing for the 2.8 billion people living on less than $2 a day. It simply has no reason to. In the late 40's the US was giving away over 2.7% of our gross national product to foreign aid. Despite exponential (about 3% per year, compounding annually) economic growth, that figure had declined to 0.14% by 2003. And much of that "aid" went towards forgiving debts that developing countries owed us and could not repay.
It's been two years since I took economics, but from what I recall, there are only two things people can do with their money in capitalist economic theory: spend money or save it. If people spend too much we have inflation; if they save too much we have a recession. In reality though, there are at least three things people can do with their money: spend it, save it, or give it away. But charity plays such a small part of our economic lifestyle that we don't even consider it an option. From the very smallest scale (the nuclear family) to the largest scale (the world community) America is so focused on individual achievement that there is no precident for cooperation, charity, or simply a helping hand.
Sorry to write such a long comment on what is theoretically your blog. I'm just starving for conversation. We should chat in real life sometime about solutions to capitalist problems that don't involve overthrowing the government.
Charlie
ps. congradulations on destroying your facebook self.
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