06-26-2003, 01:02 PM
My own synthesis, again. And those who owned the capital ran things. Some might call that, in the modern sense, fascism, with the fusion of the state and industry, but it strikes me as what could happen if capitalism is taken to a pure extreme: corporations become government.
Land equated to wealth, those with the land were the wealthiest, generally, until the rise of the merchant classes, and those with the wealth, the aristocracy, ruled, as did The Church, which also owned land. The family/corporation who ran the economy was also the government.
If you think of land as capital in the light of 'a means of production' like a 'food factory' it sort of translates to the classical definition of capitalism where those who built and owned the infratructure were the capitalists. In some feudal models, the workers were to a greater or lesser extent 'owned' by the land owners, so they had it both ways: they owned both the infrastructure and the labor. The raw materials were in agrarian economies self contained, however, raw materials would be traded for as well.
Consider the present term of 'wage slave' as an opposite of an entrepeneur or independent businessman. The term evolved, IIRC, in the 1800's, and I recall it being tangentially related to the concept of The Iron Law of Wages.
Land equated to wealth, those with the land were the wealthiest, generally, until the rise of the merchant classes, and those with the wealth, the aristocracy, ruled, as did The Church, which also owned land. The family/corporation who ran the economy was also the government.
If you think of land as capital in the light of 'a means of production' like a 'food factory' it sort of translates to the classical definition of capitalism where those who built and owned the infratructure were the capitalists. In some feudal models, the workers were to a greater or lesser extent 'owned' by the land owners, so they had it both ways: they owned both the infrastructure and the labor. The raw materials were in agrarian economies self contained, however, raw materials would be traded for as well.
Consider the present term of 'wage slave' as an opposite of an entrepeneur or independent businessman. The term evolved, IIRC, in the 1800's, and I recall it being tangentially related to the concept of The Iron Law of Wages.
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete