“The reluctance of southern planters to grow food stemmed from more than simply greed and economic self-interest. A major concern involved what to do with their slaves, who would have more time on their hands if not out tending cotton. Planting corn exacted much time during the planting and cultivation stages, but came nowhere near matching the long cotton-picking season, which typically lasted four and often five full months. As one Georgia newspaper put it, 'No grain crop in this climate needs cultivation more than four months of the year, the remainder of the working season is unemployed. Can the farmer afford to keep his negroes, horses, and other capital idle and 'eating their heads off' for the balance of the season?” HistoryEconomicsSlaveryGreedCottonCapitalDixieConfederate States Of AmericaPlantation Book:Down to Earth: Nature's Role in American History Source: Down to Earth: Nature's Role in American History
“If there is much to be said for the virtues of the free market, for its role in encouraging hard work, innovation, and economic growth--and argument that seems nearly beyond dispute at this point--then it must also be acknowledged as equally indisputable that organizing an economic system around self-interest and competition tends to produce a multitude of so-called neighborhood effects. No one has yet to solve the conundrum of the ecological costs associated with economic growth without conceiving of some role of state intervention. Thus far, the notion that unrestrained capitalism can make the United States fabulously wealthy and save the planet too remains little more than a pipe dream.” EnvironmentalismLaissez FaireNeoliberalismLaissez Faire CapitalismEcology And CapitalismState InterventionUnrestrained Capitalism Book:Down to Earth: Nature's Role in American History Source: Down to Earth: Nature's Role in American History