Re: BOOK: The Mystery of Capital

From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Fri Oct 19 2001 - 09:44:24 MDT


From: "Amara Graps" <Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de>
> It's a big deal if banks, mortgage companies,etc. inside and outside
> of the owner's city, region, country ... recognize it as one's own
> property.

Yes, that would be necessary for real capitalism to emerge.

> Owning your own home means absolutely nothing, asset-wise, if noone
> around you accepts/recognizes it as your property. (That's one of the
> big problems, as I understand it, about why these people, who do
> indeed own their own property, cannot turn it into something of value
> to their economic lives.)

If these people can't own their own property, then they're not really living
in a capitalist system, and therefore the sub-title of the book ("Why
Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else") is erroneous,
since capitalism is not actually in practice in these regions.
Bottom line: this book sounds like a real stinker.

--- --- --- --- ---

Useless hypotheses, etc.:
 consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism, GAC, Cyc, Eliza, cryonics, individual
uniqueness, ego, human values, scientific relinquishment

We move into a better future in proportion as science displaces superstition.



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