That is a VERY small point, Carrol. I used that construction to establish a conversational tone, not to state a confirmed universal Truth. You will notice that I didn't start the sentence with "It is a well known fact..." You seem to be unaware that arguments which contain an allegation of "bourgeois ideology" are at best lazy and contentless expressions of smug self-righteousness? Also you needlessly repeated the word "obscure," which makes your conclusion doubly obscure.
On Fri, Apr 18, 2014 at 6:33 AM, Carrol Cox <[email protected]> wrote: > I have just a small point to add to what Ian argues below. Most, if not > all, > arguments, analyses, etc that begin with "people want" are at the best > irrelevant and/or false, at the worse strong expressions of bourgeois > ideology. They obscure obscure reality -- sometimes deliberately. > > Carrol > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Eubulides > Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2014 8:41 PM > To: PEN-L > Subject: Re: [Pen-l] Ants at the Piketty Picnic: What's Wrong with > "Inequality"? > > > > ________________________________ > > Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2014 16:07:28 -0500 > > From: [email protected] > > > > > That's not strong enough. > > > > I submit to you that people want to get rich not to be freed from > > coercion, but to be able to *exercise* coercive power over their fellow > > men and women. > > > > > -raghu. > > > ============== > > > Sorry, not rich enough; there are enormous numbers of people immersed in > systems of production and administration who are not rich who nonetheless > exercise significant coercive power over others. Cops, for example; > managers > 'low' in corporate hierarchies. Building code inspectors, airline pilots, > nurses, software developers, judges etc. Plenty of those jobs involve > varieties of coercion that Warren Buffett and other old-fashioned > capitalists don't need to deploy. The microdynamics of coercion are, in a > sense, a free lunch for Buffett and his ilk precisely because of the > history > of coercive practices that have been developed over the last several > hundred > years. "The dull compulsion of the markets" and all that. > > > The head of the king is still not cut off. > > > E. > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- Cheers, Tom Walker (Sandwichman)
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