Mindful Economics: Understanding American Capitalism, Its Consequences and Alternatives |
by Joel C. Magnuson |
Link to the Progressive Living Book Review
Some Representative Quotations
Mission Statement
"It would not be surprising to learn that criticisms of capitalism are met with much resistance in the economics profession. Libraries and bookstores are well-stocked with books and articles about problems associated with capitalism's core institutions: market instability, excessive market power of companies like Wal-Mart, deceptive accounting practices of companies like Enron and the list goes on. In the economics profession, however, it is acceptable to treat such problems as only "bad apples" or anomalies, but it is generally not acceptable to suggest that these problems might be systemic, or related to the capitalist system itself. To question the capitalist system is to commit heresy before the pantheon of modern economics.
"Questioning capitalism also goes against the grain of American culture in general. A belief in the curative powers of markets and private enterprise — real or imagined — runs deep in the American psyche. Most Americans live out their entire lives without ever considering that there might be long-term, systemic problems associated with their capitalist economy. Naturally, therefore, most Americans tend to be skeptical of any such suggestions.
". . .Despite such academic and cultural resistance, we aim to introduce a fresh, critical perspective on capitalism. The state socialist economies of the former Soviet Republics collapsed over sixteen years ago, and so did the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. We seek to educate people about the nature of American capitalism, and to present a critical perspective that is not filtered through a black and white, Cold-War-era, lens."
"One of our goals in this book is to get a complete understanding of capitalism in America and its key institutions. Much of what follows are a detailed description of the U.S. capitalist system, and a critical assessment of its consequences; for the consequences are severe and growing in severity. We look critically at workings of the capitalist system in its entirety as well as its overall purpose, and we question whether this is the best system for people, their lives and our planet.
"In our view we see capitalism as a system that is non-democratic and whose primary purpose is financial wealth accumulation for a relatively small percentage of the population. Moreover, it would take a tremendous leap of the imagination to make the claim that the widespread separation of ownership and work — a salient feature of capitalism — is somehow democratic."
Samples
"We introduce a set of core values and principles on which all economic institutions are to be established. The core values of a mindful economy environmental sustainability, social justice, and stability. . . . Institutions can be re-invented in such a way as to eliminate the long-standing inequalities, antagonisms, and instabilities associated with capitalism. . . . We emphasize that sustainability and capitalism are not compatible. The primary reason for this is that a sustainable system is, by definition a steady-state system, and capitalism cannot survive in a steady state — it must grow."
"The path toward a mindful economy is not an easy one. Institutional change is extraordinarily difficult. Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that institutions are bound to specified ideologies or world views. This means that not only do we need to change our institutions but we also need to change our way of seeing the world."
"The overall purpose of capitalism is to make and accumulate profits for an investor class who own and control the property of private businesses, i.e., capital. hence the name "capitalism", for it is a system that endows the owners of capital with sovereign control over economic production. . . . In order for the capitalist system to accumulate money for investors in this way and thus be a truly capitalist system, it must include the following essential characteristics:
- Private property rights and the private ownership of business enterprise.
- The market system.
- The social separation of ownership and work.
- The profit motive.
- The growth imperative."
". . .the capitalist system revolves around money. This reinforces the power and control of those in society that have money — namely the wealthy investor class. People without money are essentially powerless in a market system. Capitalism thus created a class separation based on monetary wealth. . . . By definition the owners of capital, the investor class, do not make money by their own work in production. Their income derives from owning capital, and from buying and selling in the marketplace. Capitalists are people whose primary source of income is derived from owning business property. They may or may not perform actual work in production, but such work is not necessary for them to make profits. Profits are paid to owners not to workers. Conversely, workers do not earn their income from owning but from performing actual work. They may or may not earn some income from a share of ownership of business property, but their primary source of income comes from their labor as they work for a wage or salary. Although most small businesses and partnerships are privately owned they are typically not what we would call "capitalist". In these small enterprises there is little or no real separation of ownership and work."
"It should be added that a capitalist investor class must also be a relatively small percentage of the population. If we had an economic system that fully integrated private ownership and work, and the income it generated from ownership was widely shared among the population . . . it would not be capitalist. In fact, we do not have a definition for such a system because it has never existed."
"Since profit-maximization is the ultimate goal of capitalism, businesses can use their size and wherewithal to create an advantageous buyer's market in labor markets and a seller's market in goods and and services markets. Unlike individual workers or consumers who have little or no leverage to influence either labor markets or goods and services markets, large corporations on the other hand wield enormous power and influence, and so the playing field in the cash nexus is not balanced — the scales are tipped in favor of big business."
". . .data also shows that workers earning $15 to $16 on the hour are also producing about $129 worth of goods per hour. This disproportionality between what workers get paid and the value of what they produce stems directly from the goal of capitalism — to maximize profits for investors; maximizing household earnings is not a goal of capitalism."
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