1984

Before the wage earner could emerge as our society’s paradigmatic subject, a condition historian Michael Denning calls “wagelessness” had to be imposed. “Capitalism,” Denning writes, “begins not with the offer of work, but with the imperative to earn a living.”24 In other words, it begins with manufactured insecurity—insecurity in its new modern ec

Many kinds of malfunctions are possible. The machine may produce luxuries while necessities are scarce. The machine may produce dangerous, toxic and destructive products instead of healthy and beneficial ones. The machine may fatally damage the air, water and environment upon which we all depend. The machine may dehumanize its workers. And the mach

It is certain that despotism ruins individuals by preventing them from producing wealth, much more than by depriving them of the wealth they have produced; it dries up the source of riches, whilst it usually respects acquired property.

What happens when a nation willfully ignores perhaps the most fundamental lesson of economics and hopes that rent seeking will equal real prosperity? This does. What happens when a nation either loses, or prevents, a stabilizing middle class? This does. What happens when a government—any government—gets so out of touch with the governed? This does.