Billy wrote:
....
We don't need to show supporting authority? Great! I claim vindication,
and suggest that we move on to more important things, like why is the
Earth flat, and resting on the back of a turtle?
ummm..., okey...
Did a little landscaping today, as well as planting some sunflowers and
cucumbers. I also had to replace a Stupice tomato that got ran over by
something. Three of 26 peppers also need to be replaced. It's supposed
to rain tomorrow, but be back in the 80s by the weekend.
we also are due for rain tomorrow. good,
it's much better than well water.
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Capitalism
The socio-economic system where social relations are based on
commodities for exchange, in particular private ownership of the means
of production and on the exploitation of wage labour.
Capital is in the first place an accumulation of money and cannot make
its appearance in history until the circulation of commodities has given
rise to the money relation. As we like to say, "it takes money to make
money".
Secondly, the distinction between money which is capital, and money
which is money only, arises from the difference in their form of
circulation. Money which is acquired in order to buy something is just
money, facilitating the exchange of commodities. [Commodity - Money -
Commodity.] On the other hand, capital is money which is used to buy
something only in order to sell it again. [M - C - M.] This means that
capital exists only within the process of buying and selling, as money
advanced only in order to get it back again.
Thirdly, money is only capital if it buys a good whose consumption
brings about an increase in the value of the commodity, realised in
selling it for a Profit [or M - C - M'].
========
If Capitalism follows the above pattern, it will soon be dead, if it
isn't already.
i guess i must be using some archaic meaning of
capitalism because it doesn't say anything about these
kinds of distinctions. capital can be all sorts of
things. it varies as much as the meaning of wealth
or money can vary (social conventions, whims, fads)
apart from the actual supply and demand curve.
i don't see commodities or wealth disappearing
any more than i see a lack of new fads. the
recent one to gain steam is gluten free. on top
of the Greek yogurt. whey silly.
http://www.greens.org/s-r/47/47-03.html
From an ecological point of view there is something crazy about
capitalism. An ecological worldview emphasizes harmony, sustainability,
moderation - rather like that of the ancient Greeks,
ROFL! holy crap, that is so blazingly funny and
not at all close to what history shows. the Greeks
destroyed their topsoil and killed/plundered about as
much as any civilization before them.
And we have done better?
not in the whole, but in parts yes. at
least we know things are made of more complex
bits than air, water earth and fire.
The game is lost when the plow hits the soil.
just depends upon how it's done. like
many things, it varies. forms of no till
use of an area can deplete it just as much
as tilling. overgraze a pasture and it will
fail in time. return to more appropriate
grazing and it will recover (faster using
some methods than others).
However, the Greeks did realize that letting a field go fallow for a
year was a good practice. So, yes, the Greeks lost their topsoil, but it
was in a more enlightened system than used by others.
the Hebrews also had their fallow seasons.
it didn't prevent the wide scale destruction of
their topsoils either.
in other parts of Europe there have been
farms and gardens for hundreds or thousands
of years. those are what we should be paying
attention to... likely they are organic as
much as possible and also likely to be
manured in some manner. crop rotations, etc.
all likely.
======
Prominent interpretation, as well as criticism, of Smith's views on the
societal merits of unregulated labor management by the ruling class is
expressed by Noam Chomsky as follows: "He's pre-capitalist, a figure of
the Enlightenment. What we would call capitalism he despised. People
read snippets of Adam Smith, the few phrases they teach in school.
Everybody reads the first paragraph of The Wealth of Nations where he
talks about how wonderful the division of labor is. But not many people
get to the point hundreds of pages later, where he says that division of
labor will destroy human beings and turn people into creatures as stupid
and ignorant as it is possible for a human being to be. And therefore in
any civilized society the government is going to have to take some
measures to prevent division of labor from proceeding to its limits."
heehee, ain't that the truth. thank goodness very
few people actually work those kinds of jobs. some
people actually do quite well with a limited task.
they pretty much go on auto-pilot for hours at a time
and they can think about other things or just play
songs in their heads. sometimes when i'm weeding
i can go on quite a while without noticing what i'm
doing in specific because i'm listening to the birds
or thinking about some philosophical point or what
i've recently read or been arguing about on usenet.
=====
Time is up for me. I'll return as soon as possible. Don't be a stranger
;O)
dude! i got a few more peas and onions planted.
increasing the variety of plants in the auxiliary
strawberry patch. we'll see what happens. got
plenty more to do. needed to take a break before
round 2. that is going to be weeding and sitting
and listening to the birdies and windchimes out in
the green manure patch. i've not spent much time
there this season and some grasses could use a
bit of trimming back or digging up. probably pick
a few bugs off the rhubarb. those are some wild
looking critters. plugs with a sharp snout and
not much else.
songbird