The Enigma Of Capital - Professor David Harvey - Part 1 - London School of Economics

For three centuries the capitalist system has shaped western society and conditioned the lives of its people. Capitalism is cyclical and increasingly bankrupt. Boom-and-bust is its model. Laying bare the follies of the international financial system, eminent academic David Harvey looks at the nature of capitalism and why it's time to call a halt to its unbridled excesses.

He examines the vast flows of money that surge round the world in daily volumes well in excess of the sum of all its economies. He looks at the cycles of boom and bust in the world's housing and stock markets and shows that periodic episodes of meltdown are not only inevitable in the capitalist system but essential to its survival.

The essence of capitalism is its amorality and lawlessness and to talk of a regulated, ethical capitalism is to make a fundamental error. The Enigma of Capital considers how crises of the current sort can best be contained within the constraints of capitalism, and makes the case for a social order that would allow us to live within a system that really could be responsible, just, and humane.

David Harvey is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the City University of New York Graduate School and former Professor of Geography at Johns Hopkins and Oxford Universities. The author of numerous books, he was awarded the Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1995 and elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007. He is the world's most cited academic geographer and his course on Marx's Capital has been downloaded by well over 250,000 people since mid-2008: http://davidharvey.org/|

This event celebrates Professor Harvey's new book The Enigma of Capital|.

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[samuraiconservative]

WOW!!! No wonder Harvey didn't see the crash coming. He is absolutely clueless of how economies actually work and why they fail or succeed. He connects the wrong dots, for the wrong reasons, to create a narrative that fits his particular Marxist/Socialist worldview. It's comical really. Free-markets work great as long as you don't have governments regulating, taxing, mandating out of business and debasing the currency with idiotic monetary/fiscal policies DESIGNED to create bubbles. LOL

[fourmanfilms]

@samuraiconservative Like governments who bail out failing banks when we should let them die

[warriorprince1010]

Capitalism is not perfect, but it is governments that cause bust and poverty. So the solution of being turning to socialism which is simply statism and more power tot he same people who have created the poverty and booms. Socialism is the cause of most problems it is not a solution.

[fourmanfilms]

@warriorprince1010 no warrior prince fantasy is the cause of most problems and your clearly in the clouds, or D&D world lol

[warriorprince1010]

@fourmanfilms Interesting how southern Europe the most socialist place on the developed world has gone under. Switzerland, low taxes, ultra capitlaist seems to be doing fine out of the EU.

[fourmanfilms]

@warriorprince1010 Europe Socialist? Are you kidding? Switzerland with the 12 trillion of tax dodging money hoarded by the non contributing leeches from the very countries which are going under? Wake up weve been robbed!

[SparTAKKY]

The rich play while the poor die.

[busybuzzbuzz]

@buddacafe

Liberal! Liberals are Bourgeois Capitalists. Marxists and Socialists are not liberals they are radicals because they apply a radical analysis and not a liberal complaint.

[samuraiconservative]

@hirfel Socialists/Communists/Statists etc., often make this ludicrous and stawman argument. Free-market capitalism requires a wide range of commercial law, product liability law. GAAP regulations, courts, economically viable environmental and building standards, international law, etc., to function. It's when these essential laws and regulations become excessive, are they destructive. America had about the right mix of rules &regs from 1791 to about 1928, fastest GDP growth in human history.

[Hirfel]

@samuraiconservative no such capitalism, totally free of government intervention, has ever existed

[sheltercrow]

"The essence of capitalism is its amorality and lawlessness and to talk of a regulated, ethical capitalism is..." delusional. Capitalism is essentially based on a crime made legal. The legal right to take from others "for their own good." The "success" of capitalism was to get the victims to accept, and embrace, their role.

[warriorprince1010]

@fourmanfilms 1. Switzerland is not in Southern Europe.

2. We said southern Europe.

3. What part of Southern Europe did you not understand? Switzerland has every right to lower taxes it means they have better schools than countries with higher taxes. Try again.

[tellyontellyon]

@warriorprince1010

You should read some Marx for yourself... genuine Marxism is the opposite to statism.

[cergravini7]

Rich are more rich each day,,, it is impossible to stop it!

[Aahlookoutbehindyou]

Some people did predict the economic collapse. They are called Austrian Economists, and no one listened to them.