--- Angelus Novus <fuerdenkommunismus at yahoo.com> wrote:
> But the social relations expressed by the formulas x
> commodity A = y commodity B and M-C-M' are not
> geographically limited to the United States.
>
[WS:] This is arguably one of the most fundamentalist dogmas I've heard for quite a long time, standing ground to the unshaken belief that one will go to heaven in a handbasket in the time of rapture, or the infallibility of the invisible hand. Any hint that a simplistic formula captures all social relationss globally as if institutional context did not matter strikes me a sheer dogmatism untethered by reality.
Fundamentalism - or a firm belief that one can capture the true meaning of reality in one idea - be it a holy scripture, a mathematical equation, and invisible hand or evil conspiracy - is a state of mind, not an empirical proposition. Facts are irrelevant for such a state of mind, because it does not allow the possibility that this singularly held idea can be refuted.
So indeed, once one accept that x commodity A = y commodity B and M-C-M capture it all - any further empirical investigation of social reality is irrelevant. I understand that I am in no position to debate you on this, because nothing anyone can say can sway you. X = Y. Case closed.
As to my own position on the subject, let me paraphrase a memorable quote by one Margaret Thatcher - there is no such thing as capitalism, only the money grubbers and social institutions that soemtimes allow and sometimes impede their operations. So empirical determination which institutions do what to money grubbing and under what conditions makes all the difference in the world. From that view point - EU institutions have a much different effect on money grubbing and its impact on society as a whole than the US institutions. And this is all that really matters - everything else we may say about this or that "-ism" is fluff.
Wojtek
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