[lbo-talk] The State and Capitalism

[Peter Hart Ward]

Surely money, wealth, i.e., is as much the basis of a form of  
arbitrary discrimination as discrimination based on race or sexual  
preference--unless one is prepared to show that God choose that some  
are poor and some are rich, at any rate (in the same manner that God  
might have chosen a certain group as the master race). Personally, I  
think that any form of discrimination, including discrimination based  
on wealth, ought to be abolished at once and that the continuation of  
such discrimination is unethical, as much unethical as racism is  
unethical.

On Mar 14, 2008, at 3:00 PM, Dmytri Kleiner wrote:


>
> On Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:04:59 +1100 (EST), Mike Ballard
> <swillsqueal at yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>
>> Oh sorry, Dmyiti.  I thought you were making claims about what  
>> Marx had
>> written about what money was and I had just read this from CAPITAL  
>> VOLUME
> I:
>
> No, just stating an assumption based on a very general  
> understanding of
> Marx's
> position here.
>
> As I said, I not a Marx scholar.
>
> In any case, from the information posted here, it seems the only
> dispute is what is actually called "money."
>
> To me, money is is simply the memory of an economic exchange, no  
> matter
> how it manifests.
>
> I don't believe that the problem with actually existing money is  
> the fact
> that it circulates, as I and others have said, specialization of  
> labour
> implies exchange. Rather the problem is a matter of limited  
> circulation
> and supply, and rents resulting from the resulting scarcity, which  
> some
> models of alternative currency could alleviate, i.e. RipplePay.
>
> Money is only a problem because too few people have it, IMO
>
> This, in my view, has more to do with distribution of productive  
> assets,
> then
> any intrinsic feature of Money.
>
>> From what you and others have quoted, Marx seems to agree, he just
> wouldn't call alternative or community currencies "money."
>
>
>
> -- 
> Dmytri Kleiner
> editing text files since 1981
>
> http://www.telekommunisten.net
>
>
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