CNBC headline "Warren Buffett says no textbook could have predicted the strange economy we have today". Below a picture of the books "Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism" and "Das Kapital" with a semi-transparent thinking emoji that looks like Karl Marx in front of them

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[+] 58 points 9 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 31 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Exactly. It wouldn't occur to him, or really anyone, that the people would tolerate this for so long.

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  • [–] 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

    He didn't predict it, but he did begin to analyze imperialism, which is why it has lasted longer than he thought it would, and which Lenin continued on. Capitalism in Marx’s age was far worse for the average laborer than the current western labor aristocracy feels. Child workers were packed like sardines into tiny rooms and forced to work over 10 hours a day, Capital Volume I describes this vividly. However, Marx only lived to see the beginnings of imperialism, which Lenin observed, and watched the imperial core export suffering to the global south and bribe its proletariat into complacency with the spoils. That’s why Imperialism, the Current Highest Stage of Capitalism is listed in the meme alongside Capital.

    Further, Lenin did not live to see the consolidation of the world’s competing imperialist power into one unified international dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, helmed by the US Empire, with subservient vassal states. This happened post-World War II, and the decay in this “super-imperialism” is what is driving present conditions forward.

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  • [–] 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

    Capitalism in Marx's age was far worse for the average laborer than the current western labor aristocracy feels. Child workers were packed like sardines into tiny rooms and forced to work over 10 hours a day, Capital Volume I describes this vividly. However, Marx only lived to see the beginnings of imperialism, which Lenin observed, and watched the imperial core export suffering to the global south and bribe its proletariat into complacency with the spoils. That's why Imperialism, the Current Highest Stage of Capitalism is listed in the meme alongside Capital.

    Further, Lenin did not live to see the consolidation of the world's competing imperialist power into one unified international dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, helmed by the US Empire, with subservient vassal states. This happened post-World War II, and the decay in this "super-imperialism" is what is driving present conditions forward.

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  • [+] 67 points 9 months ago* (2 children)
  • [–] 9 points 9 months ago

    I need the marx emoji

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  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago

    I’d add in Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay.

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  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago* (1 child)

    ITT: mfs who have read 0 Marx boldly making comments about what Marx's predictions were and how they were wrong

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (3 children)

    Well ackchyually, those are not textbooks.

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Both are studied in schools, how are they not textbooks? What's the technical distinction?

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  • [–] 0 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Just being pedantic on the definition of a textbook.

    The books aren't technically textbooks and buffet is claiming there are no textbooks.

    I doubt his statement is true because I'm sure there are plenty of textbooks that include references to the two referenced works in the meme but the meme isn't making that specific case, hence the sarcastic use of "ackchyually"

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago

    I guess I'm curious what distinguishes a textbook from a non-textbook. Both titles above were meant for academic settings, as well as for the average worker and organizer.

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