Tom Paine 1949
Diamond Member
- Mar 15, 2020
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The rise of modern European capitalism was intimately a part of creating modern European nation states out of inheredited feudal kingdoms. It broke beyond the nation state geographical limits with slave economies / colonies in the Americas (and India, Africa, even East Asia) producing commodities for the “mother country” and eventually international markets (even international credit markets). The first two World Wars were inter-imperialist struggles to control world resources, markets, struggles between alliances of nation states run (mostly) by different forms of capitalism.
All of these historical phenomenon were examples of “unfettered capitalism” or, if you will, capitalism using the power of nation states and peoples in its own interests. People and parties and nations were mostly not independent actors controlling capitalism, but agents — sometimes practically robotic slaves — of capitalism.
After WWII and the collapse of the USSR the U.S. emerged as the leading country of “liberal capitalism” on the world stage, and its Wall Street and the international rules it set up ran the world economy. The capitalist system was never wed to any single country, however, and as much as the U.S. thought itself exceptional and was exceptionally blessed and triumphant, world capitalism led under U.S. guidance and in opposition to the planned USSR economy, to European capitalist rebirth. Japan and Asian tigers also grew up as part of the U.S. imperialist capitalism chain, standing guard against newly “socialist” but devastated and poor China.
Russia and China are of course today two very different sorts of state capitalism, and the increasingly indebted, state crony capitalist imperialist mother country of the U.S. is destroying international “free trade” institutions that it once itself built up, like the WTO. Today “unfettered capitalism” makes of us all, of virtually every country, mere playthings.
Whether we seek to return to a time of great power nationalism and war or seek better international organization, whether we are Democrats or Republicans, libertarians or international social democrats, whether we are localists or globalists, have stocks or just work day to day for basic sustenance, we may change dramatically our own survival prospects, but “unfettered capitalism” is twisting and turning and trying to escape human control, trying to turn humans into either commodities or into its direct agents, working its nasty magic.
All of these historical phenomenon were examples of “unfettered capitalism” or, if you will, capitalism using the power of nation states and peoples in its own interests. People and parties and nations were mostly not independent actors controlling capitalism, but agents — sometimes practically robotic slaves — of capitalism.
After WWII and the collapse of the USSR the U.S. emerged as the leading country of “liberal capitalism” on the world stage, and its Wall Street and the international rules it set up ran the world economy. The capitalist system was never wed to any single country, however, and as much as the U.S. thought itself exceptional and was exceptionally blessed and triumphant, world capitalism led under U.S. guidance and in opposition to the planned USSR economy, to European capitalist rebirth. Japan and Asian tigers also grew up as part of the U.S. imperialist capitalism chain, standing guard against newly “socialist” but devastated and poor China.
Russia and China are of course today two very different sorts of state capitalism, and the increasingly indebted, state crony capitalist imperialist mother country of the U.S. is destroying international “free trade” institutions that it once itself built up, like the WTO. Today “unfettered capitalism” makes of us all, of virtually every country, mere playthings.
Whether we seek to return to a time of great power nationalism and war or seek better international organization, whether we are Democrats or Republicans, libertarians or international social democrats, whether we are localists or globalists, have stocks or just work day to day for basic sustenance, we may change dramatically our own survival prospects, but “unfettered capitalism” is twisting and turning and trying to escape human control, trying to turn humans into either commodities or into its direct agents, working its nasty magic.
