“The notion that a society could be regulated entirely by market forces is a utopian fantasy: an impossible dream generated by imagining what the world would be like if everyone's behavior was utterly consistent with some abstract moral ideal-in this case, economic theories that assume all human action is based on calculating, systematic, (but scrupulously law-abiding), greed.” IfsWorldHumansDreamWould BeActionLawForceMoralCasesFantasyImpossibleEconomicTheoryBehaviorIdealsAssumingNotionGreedLibertarianAbstractConsistentAbidingSystematicUtopianCalculatingHuman ActionsEconomic TheoryImpossible Dream Author:David Graeber
“The fascinating thing about standard economic stories is exactly that: they assume that everybody wants that kind of closure. That all human relations are forms of exchange, because if everything is an exchange then it's true that we're both equals. We walk up, I give you something, you give me something, and we walk away. Or I give you something, you don't give me something right now, and you owe me. So if we have any ongoing relationships at all, it's because somebody is in debt.” IfsWantGivingHumansKindStoriesFormWalksEconomicRight NowStandardsGive MeRelationAssumingDebtFascinatingOngoingHuman RelationsClosure Author:David Graeber
“Neoliberalism isn't an economic program - it's a political program designed to produce hopelessness and kill any future alternatives.” PoliticalEconomicProduceProgramAlternativesHopelessnessNeoliberalism Author:David Graeber
“What about precarious labor? It's actually not the most efficient form of labor at all. They were much more efficient when they had loyalty to their workers and people were allowed to be creative and contribute - you know that what precarious labor does is that it's the best weapon ever made to depoliticize labor. They're always putting the political in front of the economic.” PeopleKnowsDoeMadeFormPoliticalCreativeEconomicFrontsWeaponsLaborWorkersLoyaltyEfficientBe CreativePrecarious Author:David Graeber
“But in the years since the neoliberal project really has been stripped down to what was always its essence: not an economic project at all, but a political project, designed to devastate the imagination, and willing - with it's cumbersome securitization and insane military projects - to destroy the capitalist order itself if that's what it took to make it seem inevitable.” IfsYearsHas BeensSeemsPoliticalOrderImaginationEconomicMilitaryWillingProjectsEssenceInsaneInevitableCapitalist Author:David Graeber
“If you look at history, there seems to be a regular pattern: the country with the most powerful military also happens to be the one with the world trade currency. That gives them an enormous economic advantage, which causes goods to flow into their country.” IfsWorldGivingLooksCountrySeemsHappensCausesPowerfulEconomicMilitaryAdvantageFlowTradePatternsEnormousMost PowerfulGoodsCurrencyWorld Trade Author:David Graeber
