Muller Capitalism (2)

Muller says that a serious consequence of the dynamism of capitalism is increased insecurity.

Capitalism’s intrinsic dynamism, however, produces insecurity along with benefits, and so its advance has always met resistance. Much of the political and institutional history of capitalist societies, in fact, has been the record of attempts to erase or cushion that insecurity.

The right has largely ignored the problem, while the left has sought to eliminate it through government action, regardless of the cost. Neither approach is viable in the long run. Contemporary capitalist polities need to accept that inequality and insecurity will continue to be the inevitable result of market operations and find ways to shield citizens from their consequences- while somehow still preserving the dynamism that produces capitalism’s vast economic and cultural benefits in the first place.

Capitalism is a system of economic and social relations marked by private property, the exchange of goods and services by free individuals, and the use of market mechanisms to control the production and distribution of those goods and services….

Throughout history, most households had consumed most of the things that they produced and produced most of what they consumed. Only at this point did a majority of the population in some countries begin to buy most of the things they consumed and do so with the proceeds gained from selling most of what they produced.

The growth of market-orientated households and what came to be called “commercial society” had profound implications for practically every aspect of human activity. Prior to capitalism, life was governed by tradition institutions that subordinated the choices and destinies of individuals to various communal, political and religious structures. These institutions kept change to a minimum, blocking people from making much progress, but also protecting them from many of life’s vicissitudes. The advent of capitalism gave individuals more control over and responsibility for their own lives than ever before- which proved both liberating and terrifying, alowing for both progress and regression.