The title of this post comes from Alexis de Tocqueville, from Democracy in America, from the title of Chapter 20 of Book Two. It's a short chapter. Tocqueville opens by saying "I have shown that democracy is favorable to the growth of manufactures". He ends the chapter thus:
"I am of opinion, upon the whole, that the manufacturing aristocracy which is growing up under our eyes is one of the harshest which ever existed in the world; but at the same time it is one of the most confined and least dangerous. Nevertheless the friends of democracy should keep their eyes anxiously fixed in this direction; for if ever a permanent inequality of conditions and aristocracy again penetrate into the world, it may be predicted that this is the channel by which they will enter."The New Arthurian
Tocqueville's "manufacturing aristocracy" is the same as Smith's "those who live by profit". In Tocqueville's time, and Smith's, it was "most confined and least dangerous". But Tocqueville warned us to keep our eyes "anxiously fixed", lest those who live by profit should become a new aristocracy. Fair warning.
"Aristocracy May Be Engendered By Manufactures"
The Arthurian
Instead of "manufactures" I would say rent-seeking, whether it be land rent, monopoly rent, or financial rent. Wealth engendered by rent has a way of becoming hereditary as rentierism. Thus, Keynes: "Euthanize the rentiers."
Instead of "manufactures" I would say rent-seeking, whether it be land rent, monopoly rent, or financial rent. Wealth engendered by rent has a way of becoming hereditary as rentierism. Thus, Keynes: "Euthanize the rentiers."
ReplyDeleteA pretty good piece by "Masaccio" at Firedoglake serendipitously titled Euthanasia of the Rentier. MMT and Randy Wray are mentioned in the penultimate paragragh.