Hoarding is a non-capitalist use of wealth. Carrol
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of raghu Sent: Tuesday, December 31, 2013 12:41 PM To: Progressive Economics Subject: Re: [Pen-l] Presbyterian frugality On Tue, Dec 31, 2013 at 10:45 AM, Carrol Cox <[email protected]> wrote: "What does Jack MacDonald's remarkable story say about the USA, its capitalism and associated value systems in 2013?" Nothing whatever. The story doesn't even exhibit the _existence_ of capitalism, let alone the nature of capitalism. You don't think the hoarding impulse and a value system that celebrates such an impulse, are central to capitalism? This story could appear in a variety of non-capitalist societies. On the contrary: I don't think this story could appear in any place except the US. And in the US, this is not a unique story either. There have been other very rich people who lived frugal lives keeping their fortunes secret and then leaving behind a spectacular bequest. I should have provided the link to Felix Salmon's very perceptive commentary on the MacDonald story. Be sure to read the comments at the end of Salmon's post. I think it is very enlightening. http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2013/12/02/philanthropy-stock-picking- and-presbyterian-frugality/ -raghu. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
