--- On Sun, 2/1/09, Julio Huato SA wrote:
> This strange, idolatrous determination to assume that every significant
> question must have an answer found in Marx or derived from Marx is
> really unfair to Marx, actually. He was brilliant but he was just one guy
-
> who died 125 years ago! I suspect if Marx came back today the first
> thing he would want to do is learn all the stuff he missed after his death
-
> Keynes, Veblen, Minsky, modern finance theory and growth theory, etc.
> (just talking about economics here). And once he discovered these things,
> the last thing he would want is for people to try pointlessly to cram all
that
> stuff into the framework he set out in a bunch of books he had written in
> the 1850's and 1860's, racking their brains every day while
reading the
> newspaper, trying to find a way to explain what's happening today
through
> the lens of those now-ancient tomes. I mean, who does that?
^^^^^^ CB: A lot of people say somethingsimilar to what you say.I wonder whether you have heardof Marx's concept of "ficticious capital", as far asexplaining the dynamics of financecapital. Then as I pointed out to you,the proposal to nationalize the banks intoa single creditor system is pretty fresh, even though it's 150 years old. Also, are you aware of Marx's emphasison changing the world , not just interpreting or explaining it , that isoverthrowing capitalism, not just reformingit based on good analysis and interpretation? This canmake the comparison of Marxand Keynes a comparison ofapples and oranges.What is your purpose in perfectingyour explanation of crises and financecapital ? I think maybe that Marxists havea different project than you do, andthat's why they see more value inMarx's writing even though he died125 years ago. Also, since Marxthere has been Lenin,Hilferding, Monthly Reviewcomrades ,et al. ,who have built on Marx's basics
particularly with respectto the rise of monopoly and finance capitalism. Marx's fundamental ideasare stlll valid, like some ofDarwin's ideas in biology, even thoughDarwin died long ago. Much of Newtonianphysics is still valid,even though hedied more than 125 years ago. Surely youdon't think capitalism is totally differentthan in Marx's day. Things change, but somethings take a long time. Until wehave socialism, capitalism is the more things change, the more theystay the same, and thus ancient Marxis on time still. ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk