[lbo-talk] Terry Moe: the Malthusian Marxist

[Seth Kulick]

> From: Adam Proctor <proctorvt at gmail.com>
> Subject: [lbo-talk] Terry Moe: the Malthusian Marxist
>
> I just caught the interview with Terry Moe, and there is so much to say... but what struck me the most was how, at the end, he basically gave a perfect Marxian account of how capital functions as a system.  He made some claim as to how this can't be a capitalist conspiracy because all of the capitalists are disconnected and come from disparate backgrounds, etc. Yet similar tendencies prevail throughout the system.  He elaborated a little further, and it hit my ears like a passage from Capital vol 1.  Yet, after essentially admitting that capital has solid rules and tendencies - which must indicate that there can be some kind of analysis and indictment of the system despite the veneer of so-called "chaos" and complexity - he went on to make a turn - only better executed by Malthus, himself, in later versions of his "Essays on Population" - when he claims "Nothing can be done" to fix the disparity in the world.  The apologetic impulse in Moe is really quite remarkable.
>
> Sorry if that wasn't quite as articulate as it could have been, but I am still quite flabbergasted by the interview...
>
> -Adam
>

I just listened to that interview today.  Good lord, that was
appalling.   It particularly got to me when Doug brought up the issue
of money, he would say "it's not the money" and some variant of how
they can design the school around the needs of the students blah blah
blah.  While at the same time supporting Race to the Top, which
doesn't exactly encourage designing a school around the needs of the
students.