Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future

[nhboy]

Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future by Paul Mason



"Over the past two centuries or so, capitalism has undergone profound changes--economic cycles that veer from boom to bust--from which it has always emerged transformed and strengthened. Surveying this turbulent history, Paul Mason's Postcapitalism argues that we are on the brink of a change so big and so profound that this time capitalism itself, the immensely complex system within which entire societies function, will mutate into something wholly new.

At the heart of this change is information technology, a revolution that is driven by capitalism but, with its tendency to push the value of much of what we make toward zero, has the potential to destroy an economy based on markets, wages, and private ownership. Almost unnoticed, in the niches and hollows of the market system, swaths of economic life are beginning to move to a different rhythm. Vast numbers of people are changing how they behave and live, in ways contrary to the current system of state-backed corporate capitalism. And as the terrain changes, new paths open.

In this bold and prophetic book, Mason shows how, from the ashes of the crisis, we have the chance to create a more socially just and sustainable economy. Although the dangers ahead are profound, he argues that there is cause for hope. This is the first time in human history in which, equipped with an understanding of what is happening around us, we can predict and shape the future."



Amazon Link

 

[GURPS]

is PostCapitalism: A Guide To Our Future, another scree in the vain of Thomas Piketty

Julian Gough reviews PostCapitalism: A Guide To Our Future, by Paul Mason

Channel 4’s economics editor argues that capitalism is at the heart of all the world’s woes


And, unfortunately, it shows. Like its ancestor texts – the Sermon on the Mount, the Communist Manifesto, and London Calling by The Clash – PostCapitalism is essentially an evangelical religious work, thunderously rejecting the world we live in, before painting a vague vision of paradise. As such, it is a success. Naomi Klein already loves it, providing a lengthy blurb. Irvine Welsh calls it “the most important book about our economy and society to be published in my lifetime”. Noam Chomsky, after reading it, is going to want to snort organic, co-operatively farmed, Fair Trade cocaine from Mason’s noble, non-corporate navel.

From page one, everything bad is capitalism’s fault. Russian invasion of the Ukraine? The rise of Islamic State? “These are the signs that the neoliberal order has failed.” Not signs that, say, totalitarian Russian rule might be in crisis; or that 1,000 years of brutal Sunni/Shia sectarian conflict might have caused some longterm problems in the region. Because in Mason’s world view, there are only two forces at work; capitalism (being unstoppably horrid), and everything else (being ineffectually nice). This becomes grimly comical at times. When women protest against misogyny in India, Mason interprets this as an anti-capitalist protest. This is ahistorical nonsense; the status of women in India has been terrible since at least the Islamic invasions of the 5th century. Women were burned alive on their husband’s funeral pyres until the arrival of the (capitalist) East India Company, which banned the practice.

 

[glhs837]

Please refer to the "Hates America" thread. These are the people who truly hate America.