Michael Perelman Primitive Accumulation, Capitalism Invented

[Whitehall_Bin_Men]

The originators of classical political economy - Adam Smith, David Ricardo, James Steuart, and others - created a discourse that explained the logic, the origin, and, in many respects, the essential rightness of capitalism. But, in the great texts of that discourse, these writers downplayed a crucial requirement for capitalism's creation: for it to succeed, peasants would have to abandon their self-sufficient lifestyle and go to work for wages in a factory. Why would they willingly do this? Clearly, they did not go willingly. As Michael Perelman shows, they were forced into the factories with the active support of the same economists who were making theoretical claims for capitalism as a self-correcting mechanism that thrived without needing government intervention.Directly contradicting the laissez-faire principles they claimed to espouse, these men advocated government policies that deprived the peasantry of the means for self-provision in order to coerce these small farmers into wage labour. To show how Adam Smith and the other classical economists appear to have deliberately obscured the nature of the control of labour and how policies attacking the economic independence of the rural peasantry were essentially conceived to foster primitive accumulation, Perelman examines diaries, letters, and the more practical writings of the classical economists.He argues that these private and practical writings reveal the real intentions and goals of classical political economy - to separate a rural peasantry from their access to land. This rereading of the history of classical political economy sheds important light on the rise of capitalism to its present state of world dominance. Historians of political economy and Marxist thought will find that this book broadens their understanding of how capitalism took hold in the industrial age.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invention-Capitalism-Classical-Political-Accu mulation/dp/0822324911
The Invention of Capitalism: Classical Political Economy and the Secret History of Primitive Accumulation Paperback – 3 May 2000
by Michael Perelman (Author)

The Invention of Capitalism: Classical Political Economy and the Secret History of Primitive Accumulation Paperback – by Michael Perelman
Michael Perelman - Primitive Accumulation: From Adam Smith to Angela Merkel

Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3N3uPviEYc

[TonyGosling]

Michael Perelman - Primitive Accumulation: From Adam Smith to Angela Merkel
Michael Perelman: The Invention of Capitalism, Secret History
The originators of classical political economy - Adam Smith, David Ricardo, James Steuart, and others - created a discourse that explained the logic, the origin, and, in many respects, the essential rightness of capitalism. But, in the great texts of that discourse, these writers downplayed a crucial requirement for capitalism's creation: for it to succeed, peasants would have to abandon their self-sufficient lifestyle and go to work for wages in a factory. Why would they willingly do this? Clearly, they did not go willingly. As Michael Perelman shows, they were forced into the factories with the active support of the same economists who were making theoretical claims for capitalism as a self-correcting mechanism that thrived without needing government intervention.Directly contradicting the laissez-faire principles they claimed to espouse, these men advocated government policies that deprived the peasantry of the means for self-provision in order to coerce these small farmers into wage labour. To show how Adam Smith and the other classical economists appear to have deliberately obscured the nature of the control of labour and how policies attacking the economic independence of the rural peasantry were essentially conceived to foster primitive accumulation, Perelman examines diaries, letters, and the more practical writings of the classical economists.He argues that these private and practical writings reveal the real intentions and goals of classical political economy - to separate a rural peasantry from their access to land. This rereading of the history of classical political economy sheds important light on the rise of capitalism to its present state of world dominance. Historians of political economy and Marxist thought will find that this book broadens their understanding of how capitalism took hold in the industrial age.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invention-Capitalism-Classical-Political-Accu mulation/dp/0822324911
The Invention of Capitalism: Classical Political Economy and the Secret History of Primitive Accumulation Paperback – 3 May 2000 by Michael Perelman (Author)

Capitalism Is Dead. Now What Do We Do?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-g-brant/capitalism-is-dead-now-wh _b_127016.html
17 Oct 2008 Steven G. Brant - Social systems scientist/World Peace advocate
Capitalism is dead.
And I’m not surprised.
I’ll explain why in a minute, but first here’s Capitalism’s obituary. It’s the New York Times’ lead story on the bailout of A.I.G....

WASHINGTON ­ Fearing a financial crisis worldwide, the Federal Reserve reversed course on Tuesday and agreed to an $85 billion bailout that would give the government control of the troubled insurance giant American International Group.
The decision, only two weeks after the Treasury took over the federally chartered mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is the most radical intervention in private business in the central bank’s history.
With time running out after A.I.G. failed to get a bank loan to avoid bankruptcy, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and the Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, convened a meeting with House and Senate leaders on Capitol Hill about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to explain the rescue plan. They emerged just after 7:30 p.m. with Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke looking grim, but with top lawmakers initially expressing support for the plan. But the bailout is likely to prove controversial, because it effectively puts taxpayer money at risk while protecting bad investments made by A.I.G. and other institutions it does business with.

Hmm... “...the bailout is likely to prove controversial, because it effectively puts taxpayer money at risk while protecting bad investments made by A.I.G. and other institutions it does business with.”
Controversial? No. Not to me. Confirmational. That’s what it is.
It confirms that our nation is not willing to let Capitalism be Capitalism, except for us little guys of course. But here’s the thing. If Capitalism isn’t Capitalism for the Big Guys, then it isn’t Capitalism for the little guys either.
Just like there’s no such thing as being a little bit pregnant, there’s no such thing as having a little Capitalism over here and a little Socialism over there. You can’t have two economic systems operating in one country at the same time, at least not if “all men are created equal” is written in that country’s founding documents.
Sorry, my friends. You either have Capitalism or you don’t.
And here in the USA, we no longer have it. It’s dead.
Think about this. Our government has just decided ­ without asking any of us, including our Congressional representatives ­ that $85 billion more of our money should be used to cover the actions of (and pardon the unsophisticated language here) stupid, greedy, criminal people. Stupid, because they didn’t have a clue that what they were doing would have such negative consequences. Greedy, because all they could see were short term dollar signs in front of their eyes.Criminal, because they just robbed you and me of $85 billion dollars by holding a “we’re too big to fail” gun to the head of the US government.
They should have let A.I.G. fail, because ­ if that had brought about the collapse of the global economic system ­ that would have just sped up our journey to a point of systemic collapse we are destined to reach anyway................

[TonyGosling]

More on Primitive Accumulation
This time from Silvia Federici

Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2KjabftIvE