Regarding economics, "How an economy grows and why it crashes" by Peter D Schiff is a good read. Short, humourous, easy to read, takes a day at most but explains economic concepts in an intuitive way.
The reason why Marxist ideas continue to sing their siren song is because capitalism in its purest form is not being practised. Fair competition between businesses, no unfair advantage to big corporations, and people then investing long term in businesses they find profitable, not speculating wildly in the stock market for short term gain. This way, wealth is actually built. The last time this must have been practiced would have been in the 18th century. Marx would not have come up with his ideas if capitalism had not devolved into the exploitation of the working class he saw in his day. Maybe this analysis is simplistic, but I'm trying to break the history of both capitalism and Marxism down to their bare basics.
Marx's critique of Capital is as valid today as it was then. Marx, if we ignore the rhetoric, used a methodology that is still of value today. Dismiss Marx at our perile. To challenge Marx we must understand him and his writings and not others who claim to be Marxists.
Have you read Jordan’s Peterson critique of Das Kapital and Marxism? There are serious flaws in Marx’s arguments. And it directly caused millions of deaths
@TesterBoy Marx wrote three volumes of yhe critique of Capital that question and also contradict itself. I have not studied them all and will study ,as you suggest, criticism against him. Thank you for your contribution.
What's wrong with Marx is exactly what Nikos said: Marx failed to recognize that "freedom is an existential necessity." Marx saw history (and man) as determined by the forces of production, and completely left out of the picture the fact that human consciousness is volitional, that man is, above all, an *individual,* each with a mind, a will, and a life of his own. It's the products of that individual mind, the concepts, the ideas, both valid and invalid, that determine the course of history, and because the action of such a consciousness is self-generated, each man *must* be free from the enforced will of other men. Freedom to think and act according to one's own will is a fundamental requirement for human life. Marx didn't see that.
His intention was good, and he wanted there to be equal rights for Jews who suffered greatly from oppression and endless abuse. In the end, the result was destructive because it could not align with human nature. Some strive for power and are unstoppable, some want and seek more, and others are content with little. In practice, the theory as a whole, can never be implemented in a way that will bring satisfaction to people.
Regarding Marxism, James Lindsay's lectures "The hidden religions of the west" are a gem.
Regarding economics, "How an economy grows and why it crashes" by Peter D Schiff is a good read. Short, humourous, easy to read, takes a day at most but explains economic concepts in an intuitive way.
🔥🔥"Freedom as an existential necessity."🔥🔥
Understand it, believe it, and then be a badass idealist!!!
Thanks, Nikos!
Tikhistory had a great video on Marx recently
Not yet seen the one I think you're referring to, but it's a good channel. His 5-hour video on Hitler's Socialism is a tour-de-force.
His intention was good, and he wanted there to be equal rights for Jews who suffered greatly from oppression and endless abuse.
The reason why Marxist ideas continue to sing their siren song is because capitalism in its purest form is not being practised. Fair competition between businesses, no unfair advantage to big corporations, and people then investing long term in businesses they find profitable, not speculating wildly in the stock market for short term gain. This way, wealth is actually built. The last time this must have been practiced would have been in the 18th century. Marx would not have come up with his ideas if capitalism had not devolved into the exploitation of the working class he saw in his day. Maybe this analysis is simplistic, but I'm trying to break the history of both capitalism and Marxism down to their bare basics.
Marx's critique of Capital is as valid today as it was then. Marx, if we ignore the rhetoric, used a methodology that is still of value today. Dismiss Marx at our perile. To challenge Marx we must understand him and his writings and not others who claim to be Marxists.
Have you read Jordan’s Peterson critique of Das Kapital and Marxism? There are serious flaws in Marx’s arguments. And it directly caused millions of deaths
@TesterBoy Marx wrote three volumes of yhe critique of Capital that question and also contradict itself. I have not studied them all and will study ,as you suggest, criticism against him. Thank you for your contribution.
What's wrong with Marx is exactly what Nikos said: Marx failed to recognize that "freedom is an existential necessity."
Marx saw history (and man) as determined by the forces of production, and completely left out of the picture the fact that human consciousness is volitional, that man is, above all, an *individual,* each with a mind, a will, and a life of his own.
It's the products of that individual mind, the concepts, the ideas, both valid and invalid, that determine the course of history, and because the action of such a consciousness is self-generated, each man *must* be free from the enforced will of other men. Freedom to think and act according to one's own will is a fundamental requirement for human life. Marx didn't see that.
Marx was a bitter alcoholic bum with boils who probably didn't even
contribute much to his nonsense ideas of capitalism. Ingles wrote most of it.
His intention was good, and he wanted there to be equal rights for Jews who suffered greatly from oppression and endless abuse. In the end, the result was destructive because it could not align with human nature. Some strive for power and are unstoppable, some want and seek more, and others are content with little. In practice, the theory as a whole, can never be implemented in a way that will bring satisfaction to people.