“Everyone But an Idiot Knows That The Lower Classes Must Be Kept Poor, or They Will Never Be Industrious”

Yves here. This post by Yasha Levine ran last week, but it is sufficiently important  that I thought it was worth featuring on NC. The conventional thinking on the so-called “lower orders” usually depicts them as deserving their fate (either due to lack of self-discipline and motivation, or in other ages, as genetically inferior), or as victims of circumstance. But Levine, citing a recent book by economic historian Michael Perelmen, points to another strain of thought: that self-sufficient peasants were indolent, and it would be better for them to reduce their income so as to force them to work harder. God forbid that anyone other that the aristocrats have the luxury of a lot of leisure time 

I do have one quibble with Levine’s piece: just as Keynes has been done a disservice by Keynesians, so has Adam Smith been badly used by some of his purported followers. His “invisible hand” likely came from Macbeth (it was the most famous usage at the time and Smith, a serious Shakespearean actor, would have known its origin). The “invisible hand” is a conjurer’s trick, so Smith appears to have been signaling some reservations about the seeming efficiency of market activity. Similarly, Smith wanted to be remembered for his Theory of Moral Sentiments, not the Wealth of Nations, and he criticized some of the abuses of early capitalism.

Read it at Naked Capitalism
Yasha Levine: Recovered Economic History – “Everyone But an Idiot Knows That The Lower Classes Must Be Kept Poor, or They Will Never Be Industrious”
posted by Yves Smith

I have written about Thatcherism as the Zeitgeist that must play itself out before sweeping social, political and economic change can arrive. This is the spirit of neoliberalism, neo-imperialism, and and neo-colonialism characteristic of the ruling elite of the West. I have called it "Thatcherism" for a specific reason. It is based on a belief that the elite are, well, elite. That is, some people are better than others. This is reflected in Margaret Thatcher's saying to Friedrich Hayek, "You want me to be a Whig, but I am a Tory." This is the basis of class, and it is reflected much more openly in Britain than the US, which attempts to portray itself as a classless society.

The underlying social, political and economic basis for this worldview is based on a philosophical view of human nature and society that is "liberal" only in the sense that it freedom is the freedom to pursue individual self-interest and class interest, which ends in dominance of an elite and subservience of those that serve the interests of the elite.

This view is now being tested. For example, it is manifesting in a division in the GOP between the wealthy and powerful elite and the populist faction, reflected in the current campaign. It is also at the basis of the Occupy and Tea Party protests, which are now finding common ground. It is further evidenced in the growing conflict of East (aka South) and West (aka North) geopolitically.

This is a rising trend that will continue until the cresting of the wave of Thatcherism as the spirit of the times. What will follow it is too vague to discern, but the outlines of the conflict are sharpening as the palace and temple are increasingly challenged more and more openly.