7. Progressively fewer persons are self-subsistent, outside the capitalist
economy. To do so, they need to possess their own means of production and
consume a minimum of commodities that are purchased from others. They are neither
wageworkers nor employers. Small numbers of people live by begging. Their
numbers are exceeded by institutionalized individuals, those who live in jails and
prisons. About one in fifty American adults are prisoners. A lesser number are
in the armed forces, and in a real sense, can be regarded as workers rather
than as self-sustaining. Persons who are too ill or young or who care for other
members of their families may receive support from governmental bodies. Their
number is falling drastically as such programs are severely reduced. Around
one-fifth of all children live in poverty; many do not have health or dental
insurance. Growing numbers lack regular shelter or access to meals or schooling.
More than a century ago, when American Indians were suffering the loss of
their lands, they received reservations as a consolation. Today's poverty-stricken
children, owning no lands or other assets that today's elites can acquire,
lack reservations and dwell unconsoled.
Taken from Chapter 12 - Conclusion of A Short History of American
Capitalism by Meyer Weinberg, the above paragraph gives a good example of how the
author presents his material in an easy to read format any politically astute
worker in America could read without serious obstacle. Each chapter of this book
closes with a summary allowing the reader to dart back and forth between
chapters and still form a basic concept of the growth of the American economy and
the political culture of its institutions as shaped by the owning class, and/ or
those whose means allow them to be regarded as capitalist.
I read this text in one sitting and skipped over chapter 2: Indian America,
3: Colonial Economy, 6 Standard of Living under capitalism 1790 - 1865 and
chapter 11: Human Cost of American Capitalism 1945-2000, deciding to swing back
and read them after writing this quick review and before filing it away.
Having steered clear of reading such books concerning American Capitalism
History - for perhaps 12-15 years, a broad smile arose within, while reading
the Introduction. The author establishes his theory framework and leaves little
to chance or needless pondering by defining capitalism, the timeframe of its
fundamental consolidation in American society and uses by 1900, as the index.
For one whose economic reading of American history views the emergence of
Wall Street Imperialism in the aftermath and as the result of the Civil War, the
defeat of Reconstruction and consolidation of its economic and political
hegemony during the 1890s, I knew this was going to be a rough ride. Although no
one pinpoints the exact date a distinct social phenomenon arises, the general
date attached to the fact of the emergence of Wall Street imperialism is linked
to 1895 and Booker T. Washington's famous Atlanta speech. This is so because
Washington's speech and reality crystallized a new configuration of class and
economic forces in American history.
Nevertheless, Chapter Four TWO WORKING CLASSES, 1790-1865 is very
impressive in outlining the growth and evolution of products created at the hands of
private individuals - in the main owning their own tools, mentioning the role of
the merchant as trader and owner of the money form of wealth, the slow growth
of product exchange, i.e. evolution of the power of the commodity form and
the scope to which enslaved labor was deployed.
Enough data is presented to form a solid opinion and characterize American
society amongst those who take serious the wealth of material Marx and Engels
wrote concerning the character of slavery in America and America role in the
evolution of the world market. The author's personal point of view - established
in the Introduction and contained in his definition of capitalism, does not
present any obstacle for anyone with a desire to understand the economic centers
of gravity North and South. This chapter opens on the basis of the economic
development transforming America and in five paragraphs carries one to the
fountain of truth and this made it a good read.
Cotton exports were of critical national importance during the years
1815-1843. Foreign exchange poured into the United States and financed the import of
machinery and other manufactured goods. In the years after 1843, American
exports of manufactured goods and grains lessened the relative importance of
cotton exports. Meanwhile, however, cotton production continued to stimulate
various industries in the United States. Referring to the northern center of shoe
manufacture in Lynn, Massachusetts, Paul Faler observes many a fortune was made
in the Southern trade during the years before the Civil War.14 The flow of
cotton northwards and then overseas stimulated the development of financial and
shipping services that could
