I wrote:
Ford goes out of his way to emphasize his capitalist bona fides. He briefly discusses Marx, assures the reader he is no communist, and says something like: "even though Marx was wrong we must admit he got X and Y right . . ."
I forgot I have an Acrobat copy as well as the Kindle one . . . Here is the quote from Ford. You can see him hemming and hawing, afraid to admit that he is endorsing Marx. Americans are so provincial!
"The central thesis of this book is that, as technology accelerates, machine automation may ultimately penetrate the economy to the extent that wages no longer provide the bulk of consumers with adequate discretionary income and confidence in the future. If this issue is not addressed, the result will be a downward economic spiral.
It must be acknowledged that this idea is quite similar to the predictions that were made by Karl Marx in the mid to late 1800s. Marx predicted that capitalism would suffer from a relentless "accumulation of capital," resulting in massive unemployment and wages that would be driven down below subsistence level. This in turn would result in diminished consumer demand, falling profits and ultimately economic crisis or even collapse.
If the arguments in this book prove correct, then we may be in the somewhat uncomfortable position of conceding that Marx was, at least in some ways, perceptive about the challenges the capitalist system would eventually encounter. That, of course, does not mean that we should consider adopting Marx’s solution. He advocated the abolition of private property, a centrally planned economy, and perhaps most chillingly, the overthrow of governments and a "dictatorship of the proletariat." In the wake of the collapse of communism, these ideas have been shown unequivocally to be non-starters. They deserve to be swept into the dustbin of history.
The answer to the problem is clearly to adapt our system. The free market economy is not a natural phenomenon. It is really a machine that we have built and refined over centuries: it is an engine that is fundamentally driven by incentives. Marx wanted to take a sledgehammer to that engine. Our job is to tune it, and even re-engineer it if necessary, so that it will continue to power prosperity indefinitely. . ."
The last paragraph is well said. We should not treat institutions as if they are Perfect Gifts from the Gods that we are not allowed to alter.
Actually, I think Marx did not advocate these solutions so much as predict them. As he later said of himself, "I am not a Marxist." Also I quibble with the assertion that communism has collapsed, given the increasing economic, political and military might of China. You might argue that China is not communist. There is something to that, but it smacks of being a "no true Scotsman" fallacy. It is like saying the U.S. is not capitalist because we have welfare and the government rescued the banks with TARP funds.
- Jed
