The Question of Debt in Our Lives
11/15/23 • 21 min
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[S5.5 E07] The Question of Debt in Our Lives
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Last week Professor Harvey pointed out that the basic means by which consumerism is developed in such a way is to be consistent with the growth of an economy based upon profit seeking was to expand indebtedness. But it turns out that the credit system and the circulation of interest-bearing capital on the development of indebtedness has another very strong role. And therefore there is a double force which is concentrating upon the credit system. And that double force is related to the fact that increasingly in the history of capital, capital has required more and more fixed capital, fixed capital within the factory in the form of machines and plant and all the rest of it, but also fixed capital of what Marx called fixed capital of an independent kind - that is fixed capital that would be used in common. Professor Harvey traces the development of fixed capital and the credit system to understand the financialization of our economy today.
David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles is co-produced by Politics in Motion. Politics In Motion is a nonprofit organization founded in May 2023 by Prof. David Harvey and Prof. Miguel Robles-Durán, along with Dr. Chris Caruso, instructional technologist, and noted writer and art curator Laura Raicovich. Our anti-capitalist media platform offers piercing insights and thought-provoking analyses on political, social, spatial, cultural, environmental and economic issues through a range of engaging mediums, including YouTube streams, podcasts, and live events.
If you would like to support this project and see more of Prof. Harvey, visit us at:
https://patreon.com/PoliticsinMotion
__________________________________________________________________________
David Harvey's lastest book "A Companion to Marx's Grundrisse" (Verso 2023):
https://www.versobooks.com/products/2930-a-companion-to-marx-s-grundrisse
__________________________________________________________________________
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#profit #capital #finance #consumerism
[S5.5 E07] The Question of Debt in Our Lives
Stay connected with the latest news from Politics in Motion. Join our mailing list today: https://www.politicsinmotion.org
Last week Professor Harvey pointed out that the basic means by which consumerism is developed in such a way is to be consistent with the growth of an economy based upon profit seeking was to expand indebtedness. But it turns out that the credit system and the circulation of interest-bearing capital on the development of indebtedness has another very strong role. And therefore there is a double force which is concentrating upon the credit system. And that double force is related to the fact that increasingly in the history of capital, capital has required more and more fixed capital, fixed capital within the factory in the form of machines and plant and all the rest of it, but also fixed capital of what Marx called fixed capital of an independent kind - that is fixed capital that would be used in common. Professor Harvey traces the development of fixed capital and the credit system to understand the financialization of our economy today.
David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles is co-produced by Politics in Motion. Politics In Motion is a nonprofit organization founded in May 2023 by Prof. David Harvey and Prof. Miguel Robles-Durán, along with Dr. Chris Caruso, instructional technologist, and noted writer and art curator Laura Raicovich. Our anti-capitalist media platform offers piercing insights and thought-provoking analyses on political, social, spatial, cultural, environmental and economic issues through a range of engaging mediums, including YouTube streams, podcasts, and live events.
If you would like to support this project and see more of Prof. Harvey, visit us at:
https://patreon.com/PoliticsinMotion
__________________________________________________________________________
David Harvey's lastest book "A Companion to Marx's Grundrisse" (Verso 2023):
https://www.versobooks.com/products/2930-a-companion-to-marx-s-grundrisse
__________________________________________________________________________
Follow Politics in Motion:
Website: https://www.politicsinmotion.org
Patreon: https://patreon.com/PoliticsinMotion
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PoliticsInMotion
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/politicsinmotion
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/politicsnmotion
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Threads: https://www.threads.net/@politicsinmotion
Follow David Harvey:
Website: http://davidharvey.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/profdavidharvey
BlueSky: https://davidharvey.bsky.social
Mastodon: https://sciences.social/@DavidHarvey
#profit #capital #finance #consumerism
Previous Episode
Where Does Profit Come From?
[S5.5 E06] Where Does Profit Come From?
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Professor Harvey takes us back to the very origins of Marx’s Capital by asking the questions, where does profit come from and what are the consequences of profit making? Harvey discusses how the debates between Ricardo and Malthus informed Marx’s answers to those questions. He then turns to Rosa Luxemburg’s insights into the role of imperialism’s predations on non-capitalist societies to expand accumulation. Finally, he brings the argument up to date by discussing the role of the credit system. As the internal capacity for consumerism and the imperialist capacity for consumerism become exhausted, the burden lies upon an expansion of the credit system to realize the value of ever-growing consumerism. Increasing financialization since the 1980s has created a different kind of logic to the dynamics of capital in which more and more of the onus is placed upon the growth of the credit system to keep the accumulation of capital expanding, which exposes the capitalist system to financial crises.
David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles is co-produced by Politics in Motion. Politics In Motion is a nonprofit organization founded in May 2023 by Prof. David Harvey and Prof. Miguel Robles-Durán, along with Dr. Chris Caruso, instructional technologist, and noted writer and art curator Laura Raicovich. Our anti-capitalist media platform offers piercing insights and thought-provoking analyses on political, social, spatial, cultural, environmental and economic issues through a range of engaging mediums, including YouTube streams, podcasts, and live events.
If you would like to support this project and see more of Prof. Harvey, visit us at:
https://patreon.com/PoliticsinMotion
__________________________________________________________________________
David Harvey's lastest book "A Companion to Marx's Grundrisse" (Verso 2023):
https://www.versobooks.com/products/2930-a-companion-to-marx-s-grundrisse
__________________________________________________________________________
Follow Politics in Motion:
Website: https://www.politicsinmotion.org
Patreon: https://patreon.com/PoliticsinMotion
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PoliticsInMotion
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/politicsinmotion
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/politicsnmotion
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Politics-in-Motion/100092557227878/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@politicsinmotion
Follow David Harvey:
Website: http://davidharvey.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/profdavidharvey
#profit #imperialism #finance
Next Episode
The Politics of Humiliation
[S5.5 E08] The Politics of Humiliation
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In his book, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, economist John Maynard Keynes warned against the humiliation of Germany at the end of World War I. Keynes argued that if you deal with Germany by humiliating it and draining it of any economic possibilities, keeping it lost underground as it were, there will be instability all across Europe and there will be social uprisings and all the rest of it. So what Keynes was predicting in a way was the sort of social instability that started to become very apparent almost immediately after the Versailles conference in 1923 when Hitler launched his coup attempt in the Munich beer Hall. And it was generally laughed at and said this was kind of a very amateurish operation and that therefore didn't go very far. And Hitler got arrested and was sentenced to jail for five years, but got out after five months. But nobody took this seriously. And this seems to me to be one of the lessons which comes from reading Keynes on The Economic Consequences of the Peace and living through the 20th Century that too many have not actually recognized the significance of this dimension to the conflicts which are going on around us.
David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles is co-produced by Politics in Motion. Politics In Motion is a nonprofit organization founded in May 2023 by Prof. David Harvey and Prof. Miguel Robles-Durán, along with Dr. Chris Caruso, instructional technologist, and noted writer and art curator Laura Raicovich. Our anti-capitalist media platform offers piercing insights and thought-provoking analyses on political, social, spatial, cultural, environmental and economic issues through a range of engaging mediums, including YouTube streams, podcasts, and live events.
If you would like to support this project and see more of Prof. Harvey, visit us at:
https://patreon.com/PoliticsinMotion
__________________________________________________________________________
David Harvey's lastest book "A Companion to Marx's Grundrisse" (Verso 2023):
https://www.versobooks.com/products/2930-a-companion-to-marx-s-grundrisse
__________________________________________________________________________
Follow Politics in Motion:
Website: https://www.politicsinmotion.org
Patreon: https://patreon.com/PoliticsinMotion
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PoliticsInMotion
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/politicsinmotion
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@politicsinmotion
Twitter: https://twitter.com/politicsnmotion
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Politics-in-Motion/100092557227878/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@politicsinmotion
Follow David Harvey:
Website: http://davidharvey.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/profdavidharvey
BlueSky: https://davidharvey.bsky.social
Mastodon: https://sciences.social/@DavidHarvey
#war #peace #humiliation #capitalism
David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles - The Question of Debt in Our Lives
Transcript
David Harvey (00:00):
Welcome to the Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, which are a production of politics in motion. I want to continue talking a little bit about indebtedness and the role of indebtedness in the development of economic life.
Chris Caruso (00:52):
Hi, I am Chris Caruso, director of Politics and Motion. I am a popular educator, community organizer, and educational technologist. Politics in Motion is a new anti-capitalist media platform, founded in May, 2023 by Dav
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