When was the labor of individuals not bought and sold.
It seems to me this was always the case in Europe. So to blame capitalism merely shifts focus from the real problem. It wasn't true when there was plenty of free land available in North America. But that didn't last long and soon there was no alternative but to work for what one could get - which as Ricardo shrewdly noted moved downward toward subsistence.
This is the case now. It is hidden now by all kinds of welfare distributions. The social and political sciences spend their energies on how much welfare will not be too much, but no-one seems to be investigating why welfare is necessary.
But, it's not capitalism that is the issue. This is just the latest manifestation of the same old problem that has kept the peoples of all countries in penury for centuries.
Harry
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Selma wrote:
Ray, I have been convinced, for many decades now, that Marx and some that followed him were correct when they argued that, in a capitalistic system, where the labor of individuals is bought and sold, those individuals thereby become commodities that are bought and sold. In such a society the general consciousness becomes one of people being commodities and therefore, the kind of connection you are talking about and the spirituality I have been talking about are not possible.I am thinking, in particular, of Erich Fromm's arguments in *To Have or To Be*. Selma
****************************** Harry Pollard Henry George School of LA Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: (818) 352-4141 Fax: (818) 353-2242 *******************************
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