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From: usthepeople
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  • Smith's discretion belongs to a stage of capitalist relations that no longer exists. This by no means justify to claim that the current system is something other than capitalism. We live in the era of imperialist capitalism so don't look for the little pa and ma shops engaged in their little entrepreneurial activities...

  • omg karl marx is alive

  • When it comes to profit, democracy will face crisis. Because the only people that can rule the world is not the common people but those who own the capital. For those nation states claim themselves as free and democracy... its just bunch of bullshit.

  • this guy is an idiot...we DO have capitalsim, so did the soviets. Capitalism is an array of systems by which capital is used, allocated and created. There is state-capitalism, mixed capitalism, and free-market capitalism. guess which one we have always had...

  • @Volomonoh

    No he's pretty much on the mark, Adam Smith and every other pro-capitalist intellectual I've ever heard of supported free markets/

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  • FOR CHRISTMAS, I... I WANT A PONY, AND A SHOTGUN, AND A TEDDY BEAR, AND A VIDEO GAME, AND A REEBOK SHOES, AND ANOTHER PONY, AND A PLASMA TV WITH DOLBY DIGITAL SURROUND SOUND, AND A PET TURTLE, AND A SNOWMOBILE...

  • Welcome to the Marxist straw man festival. Not only is the argument presented NOT the chief one presented by economists, but the conditions ERRONEOUSLY attributed to Adam Smith are NOT necessary for the existence of a free market but for "perfect competition". Adam Smith advocated "perfect liberty" (including economic liberty) but was not so naive he believed that it necessary for the market to work.

    And his major treatise was AGAINST the notion of bariers to international trade!

  • @FletchforFreedom

    You're just being nitpicky, it's not so much a "Marxist straw man festival" as it is a confusion of terms.

  • capitalism and democracy really are the BEST systems of economy and social organization respectivelly that have ever existed!

    but that's mostly because every else that existed/exists was a bunch of horse-shit!!! democracy and capitalism have a loooot of room to improve.... and in the future we might see new types of societies, better than even today's western world... capitalism is selling yourself out.... democracy means giving power to those who are 70% idiots! +other probs but 500 ch limit

  • Very interesting. Where can I find these "5 pre-conditions for free market" outlined in Adam Smith? Probably throughout all of his work, but since I'm not too familiar with his economical writings, is there any specific book I could look at first? Thanks.

  • Hm, can you link to those 5 preconditions set out by Adam Smith? I did a Google search and it just lead me back here.

  • @HerrSchenkel

    Adam Smith's classic economic theory, are all based on 5 underlying assumptions:

    • buyers and sellers must be too small to influence market price;

    • complete info must be available to all parties;

    • sellers must bear the full cost of producing their products;

    • capital must remain within national borders and trade between countries must be balanced;

    • savings must be invested only in creation of productive capital.

  • @usthepeople No no, I've seen you post these five preconditions. What I'm asking for is a source since this YouTube page is the only place in which I find anything when I do a Google search.

  • @usthepeople Then Adam Smith can take a hike. No one said that when a society implements ideas from ideologists they ought to follow every word of the person who created them. These ideas should be modified to be better.

    And by the way the Soviet Union is a perfect example that an economy doesn't affect one's moral because the Soviet people were pretty greedy on their own just that their greediness was oppressed....

  • *☭ Solidarity is the only Solution *☭

  • dialectical materialism creates culture not the other way around.

  • China is doing good move of saturating market with cheap commodities therefore the first system that is going to collapse is USA next is EU', after it won't exist solution except some kind of socialism.

  • Ideals stopped being people's raw model, except Islamic fairy tails to those radicals we have today. Without right philosophy we can't progress in natural sciences , without progress in natural sciences it won't be serious progress in technics i.e. commodity production hence economic crisis and hyperproduction. Capitalism is not sustainable system without war or constant progress in natural sciences which is of course impossible.

  • Listen 0:10, "Marx starts with proposition that the mode of production or the economic system that you have forms the human consciousness. Consciousness follows the economic system that we have. " That's the reason why we haven't discovered any fundamental invention or recognised any new genius since collapse of USSR. There is no balance anymore, so people are besotted with commodity fetishism.

  • Maybe we could make something BETWEEN Communism and Capitalism...is that a possibility?or is there something like it already?

  • We had ex Yugoslavia socialsim which is a mixture of both but CIA and BND ruined that conception.

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  • True Communism, as found in a tight knit family or a small religious group or "Commune" is probably THE most effective economic model that can be found or created. Unfortunately when human beings are factored in the whole model will self-destruct as we all seek our own self interests, egos, and sloth, and power, etc.

    In a model Communism is great. When human beings are involved it simply won't, and cannot work...

  • Great, great post. Absolutely. I might go as far as to say that ANY model can work in theory - on paper - until man is entered into the equation.

  • exactly, this is why Marx and Engels communism is a kind of utopia.Human being is not ready for perfect system.

  • I dont believe that at all.  The whole "Communism is against human nature." argument is just a fairy tail. Anti-communist propaganda if you will. Human nature cannot be simply defined because there is no set definition.

  • People behave differently all over the world. This is not the product of some animalistic urge but that the environment in which the person is reared. A violent environment will breed a violent person. And a competitive, ego, consumerist driven culture will breed greedy, narcissistic, and self absorbed people. That is the culture in our America for example. A culture that has been highly influenced by the capitalist system.

  • The capitalist system is almost defined by its need for competition. And you cannot deny that as a American you see references to it everywhere. We are raised almost from birth on the idea of competition, to be the best at whatever it is you do. Though on its own wanting to excel at something is not necessarily bad. But when paired with the selfish elitism that our society practically demands. Dose it become corrupted in a sense.

  • Watch almost any show on mtv for example. They are dominated by mostly rich, snobbish, jackasses. And the image they present to the rest of society is, your not "cool" unless your just like them. Eventually all that starts to add up when the same type of behavior is emphasized in other forms of media. There is no "Human nature." Its just a myth. People are the way society teaches them to be. (Tl:DR People are greedy because society makes them believe they have to be in order to survive.)

  • @PrimusRaven I agree this is why I barely watch tv anymore, the media tries to make us into slaves mentally

    I wish Karl Marx was still alive so he would be laughing his ass off at what's happening in the American media in the 21st century

  • Thats why the communes you mentioned work as well as they do. They are often run by people who reject the values of there present society. That realize the very depth of the rat race that the western world as built in order to keep the rich rich, and the poor poor, with a s little shifting in power as possible. Its often the walstreet fat cats that tell you communism wont work. They say this because they dont want you to take there power away. They love ruling you.

  • Good just trying to start a debate. :P

  • 1. There's no evidence that Martians exist.

    2. Our current system in which Corporations continue to use the state for their own benefit (which isn't even a free market) is very inefficient. So I have to agree with fatherprime's analysis, and being ignorant about the issue, POOPPEPPER, as if Corporatism doesn't exist, is absurd.

  • you lost any credibility citing George Soros, a man who has direct interest in hidden agendas to exist, and in getting speculative advantage from having access to them

  • 1. Change involves the creation of improved economic structures based on technology and the destruction of inefficient economic structures. 2. Capitalism allows this destruction to take place. Pure capitalism as described by Adam Smith never existed.Recent economic systems have been Mixed Economies (a mixture of Capitalism and Socialism) Socialism emphasizes collective ownership and management of economic resources that are equally distributed.

  • b. Market participants, buyers and sellers, have little control over price c. Competition performs the organizing and controlling functions for a market economy 6. Limited government ("laissez-faire") refers to the idea that government should let markets be with a hands-off philosophy) E. Creative destruction described by 20th century sociologist/economist Joseph Schumpeter, was an important addition to the idea of capitalism.

  • Basic characteristics described by Adam Smith 1. Private property-the right to own resources and bequeath property 2. Freedom of enterprise-own a business 3. Freedom of economic choice-work/not work, spend/not spend 4. Role of self-interest  a. People are by nature economic creatures b. Self-interest is a fundamental characteristic of people

    5. Competitive market system a. Many buyers and sellers

  • What were the 7........???????

  • There are actually 5 pre-conditions to free market. They are:

    · buyers and sellers must be too small to influence market price;

    · complete info must be available to all parties;

    · sellers must bear the full cost of producing, selling their products;

    · capital must remain within national borders and trade between countries must be balanced;

    · savings must be invested only in creation of productive capital.

    This describes a decentralized local/regional based economy.

  • Are these from the "Wealth of Nations" ?

  • I call bullshit.

    Those are NOT the qualifications of a laissez-faire market.

    Take it from a real capitalist (me):

    - A complete absence of despotic barriers to entry

    That's all folks.

    Good luck with your straw-man, anti-Utopian bullshit

  • Where are those conditions from, I'd like to chek them out because, capitalism (the real one) goes against all of them.

  • Usthepeople, we really need a citation for those conditions. I have the Wealth of Nations here in my lap and I can't find any such list. I've also looked through the internet and can't find anything related. Please help me out here and tell us where they came from.

  • He is right about not being a perfectly capitalist nation. Capitalism is a model of analysis. Marx's Das Kapital is mainly a theoretical analysis in which he foresees capitalism's dialectical failings if it ever achieved a pristine state of actualization. Thanks to the anthropological variations of pre-capitalist economies, the corporatist initiatives set by pre-New Left social democracy, and all the other things that human life crazy, all these theories remain as they are, theories.

  • So what were the seven points of capitalism that we don't have?

  • Adam Smith actually identified 5 preconditions to free market capitalism:

    1. Neither buyer or seller are big enough to affect prices;

    2. All parties have full information about the product, the transaction, and the consequences;

    3. The seller must bear all costs of the sale - production, sale and use of product;

    4. All capital must stay within national boundaries and trade between nations balanced; and

    5. Savings only invested in productive investments.

    Sounds like a sustainable local economy.

  • That does sound like a sustainable economy. You're right, we don't have it here in the USA. The USSR didn't either.

  • all my life i heard nothing but bad about communism i had neighbors from the formal soviet union that hated the system. i read the communist manifesto for the first time and i agreed with every word

  • bc stalin was no different from any other fascist.....lenin warned of stalin but it seems no one listened

  • Hmm, I'm not so sure I agree with this guy. Marx clearly defined capitalism and what capitalism was. Marx was right, and adam smith was wrong. Adam Smith came up with a system that he was in favor of, but had no bearings into the scientific and objective nature of society. Maybe a pure "free market" doesn't exist, but capitalism is very real.

  • He has a good point in this video. Corporatism is what we see a lot more of.

  • Wait, if this isn't capitalism than what is it? What is he trying to achieve?

  • Funny u say that in the midst of this crisis. Funny.

  • you clearly never read it.

  • I agree with every video you've posted, with you talking.

    You're a great guy.

  • fuck capitalism

    we're consumers, not individuals

  • you look like a mixture between karl marx and santa claus

  • @mediumsteve Oh how nice he brings you presents and talks about philosophy I think thats pretty cool.

  • I'd love to see you expand on this further...

  • aaahh this is too short man,,

  • what are those 7 things?

    come on...

  • I was wrong. The myriad characteristics and complex propositions of capitalism founded on Adam Smith's classic economic theory, are all based on 5 underlying assumptions: buyers and sellers must be too small to influence market price; complete info must be available to all parties; sellers must bear the full cost of producing their products; capital must remain within national borders and trade between countries must be balanced; savings must be invested only in creation of productive capital.

  • 1) Not influence market price? only in perefect competition does this happen, and agriculture is the only example of perfect competition, and even this is changing.

    2) Well this is true of corperations. I don't think we have to worry too much about the inner dealings of smaller businesses.

    3) Well verticle integration can accomplish this, but as a rule this just seems moronic.

    4) Why? Nations are a thing of the past anyways.

    5) Define productive capital.

  • Lest there be any argument as to whether any of these assumptions are valid today, I offer the following quote: "Economic theory is an axiomatic system. As long as the assumptions hold true, the conclusions will follow, but when we examine the basic assumptions closely, we may find that they do not apply to the real world. The conditions of what we call the capitalist economy directly contradict the assumptions of market theory in every instance." George Soros

  • nice

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