Sunday, October 25, 2015

Chris Dillow — Marx's relevance today

In these senses, Marxian questions are relevant today: how does social change or government policy affect classes differently? Are individual choices consistent with aggregate well-being or not? Do capitalistic property rights increases economic growth or hold it back?
I'd add something else. Marx asked, and answered, a fundamental question: what is the point of economic life? For him, it was to increase real freedom and self-realization. Capitalism, he said, doesn't do this but instead alienates us:…
Like I have been saying. The fundamental issue for Marx, who was not only doing economics and political theory but also philosophy, is achieving personal freedom within a sustainable social, political and economic structure. Marx regarded "the sovereign state" acting though the government as the agent of class interests and not the people. In this respect, he was in agreement with classical liberals whose aim was to replace the feudal order under which monarchs and aristocrats had ruled Europe for centuries. This dialectic between different forms of liberalism continues to the present, and Marx still has important things to say about it.

Stumbling and Mumbling
Marx's relevance today
Chris Dillow | Investors Chronicle

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