Almost all the economies of the world today are based on the principles of capitalism.
At the same time, it gives rise to feelings of frustration, frustration and distrust.
It is remarkable that none of the critics is new. Criticism has pursued capitalism from its beginnings.
So let’s look back in the past to see how capitalism has come to bad reputation
and what can be done to remedy it.
Padov, Italy 1304.
On the wall of a church near Venice, Giotto painted a fresco:
Jesus and money-changers.
The fresco depicts a well-known idea at that time:
The idea that good spiritual life and hunting for a trade …
… are enemy enemies.
Jesus goes to the temple in Jerusalem, sees merchants and bankers here and gets angry.
This sacred place is not suitable for such a low activity as buying and selling.
The Christian attack on the moral corruption of money had a profound effect
and to hold back the development of capitalism for centuries.
Venice, 1450.
Franciscan monk Luka Paciolli publishes the first book on accounting.
Summa de arithmetica is the most important capitalist invention …
… into the birth of a joint stock company and a modern factory.
The book describes the principles of double-entry accounting,
which will gradually become common practice in all societies.
Textbooks say that proper treatment of money no longer matters on faith.
Money is not God’s punishment or reward.
Money is a kind of science that can be learned through patience, reason and hard work.
Geneva, 1555.
Jan Kalvin, a Protestant preacher, in his influential sermons …
… emphasizes the Protestant virtues:
Workmanship, renunciation, patience, honesty, and sense of duty.
For capitalism these virtues prove to be very useful.
Like many pre-established preachers,
Calvin preaches that we must not be disheartening and indulge in luxury.
All profits need to be returned to business as an investment.
It adds that success in business …
… pleased God much more than being a natural warrior or a monk.
It is possible that rather than technology, it is precisely this set of values,
which accelerated the development of capitalism.
1670, Delft, The Netherlands.
The newly independent republic is the first explicitly capitalist country,
where lacy aristocrats are viewed with despise, while industrious merchants are respected.
In churches, they are preoccupied with workmanship and economy.
Painful glorification of kings and queens recedes.
Johannes Vermeer completes Krajkářka –
an image that shows a careful domestic lace production.
The image of the aisle suggests that a quiet life in a quiet home
and doing business is much more attractive and noble,
than war or life in the monastery.
1776, 141 the Stand, London.
Here is the headquarters of Strain & Cable,
which was very successful with the new book: The Wealth of Nations.
Written by Scottish philosopher Adam Smith.
It explains the creation of wealth through the growth of capitalist economies.
He will come to some important conclusions:
Slavery is clearly ineffective.
Violence is less effective for the employee than money.
In addition, the cost of purchasing and maintaining slaves is much higher than wages.
The capitalist earns much more money by treating workers legally and humane.
Economies are growing due to specialization, Smith says.
It focuses on the production of pins and concludes,
while one laborer produces twenty pins a day,
so well-guided by a team of 10 laborers does not make 200 but 48,000.
This is possible thanks to what Smith calls the division of labor.
Smith also tells us that capitalism is led by so-called invisible hands.
Unique by increasing your own profits …
… unintentionally contributes to society by offering goods that are in demand.
In his words: “That we can have lunch, it is not from the good will of a butcher …
… brewer or baker, but because they care for their own interests.
These ideas further deprive capitalism of suspicion of moral malfunction.
However, capitalism has not yet been won.
1854, London
The British economy is the largest in the world.
Thanks to textiles, shipbuilding and coal.
Large cities absorb the rural areas of the Midlands and North of England.
Traders and the freshly rich class of capitalists have achieved their success.
But many are distracted.
Writer Charles Dickens fervently criticizes unbridled capitalism.
His novel The Bad Times is set in a fictional analogy of Manchester.
He criticizes the fierce capitalists who exploit the workers
and employing children in mines and cleaning chimneys.
In addition, they keep them ignorant of their miserable condition.
Dickens’ description of the city of Koksov:
It was a city of red bricks or better of bricks that would be red if smoke and ashes were allowed.
Under the circumstances, however, the city was unnaturally red and black as the painted face of the savage.
Dickens argues that capitalism is evil,
because it leads to the appalling conditions of the laborers.
Under the influence of capitalist logic otherwise quite nice people …
… justify employing children in factories
or consider it natural to leave people unable to starve.
1860. London.
Reformer John Ruskin issues a critically critical essay In this last against capitalism.
It does not even criticize the capitalist production process,
as the area of consumption.
Just as Dickens is angry about the misuse of people and the destruction of the environment.
But he asks another question: In the name of what?
Ruskin points out that capitalist wealth is built on selling absurd things.
Trees and decorative plates
embroidered handkerchiefs,
high caps and carved furniture.
All the suffering in the factories
is caused by our demand for very cheap shirts with sophisticated collars.
We are destroying our lives because of the baubles,
while money should not only be ethically profitable but also ethically paid.
Worn out for the truly noble and beautiful things people need.
It contrasts the beauty of Venice with the ugliness of modern Britain.
Berlin, 1963.
Communist GDR leader Walter Ulbricht …
… launches an ambitious project: the Neues Ökonomische System.
It aims to resolve, in his eyes, two fundamental imperfections of capitalism
First, it provides workers with good conditions …
… extension of state education, construction of flats and recreational facilities.
Secondly: He will not focus on making slices
like jeans or pop.
It offers people Plato and Marx and TV shows about the production of tractors.
1976, Dresden, East Germany.
The deadly mistake of Communism is revealed by mass unrest …
… caused by lack of coffee.
Eastern Germans love coffee, but the global rise in their prices will cause them,
that the scheme is no longer able to import it in the necessary quantities.
The party leadership will withdraw all the coffee from the shops
and replaced by so-called “Mich Kaffee”.
It’s coffee from 51 percent, the rest are substitutes like …
… chicory, rye and beet sugar.
Dissatisfaction must be calmed down by the state secret police.
It is an unintended bow of capitalism,
which is good especially to offer us a little luxury.
November 1989. The East Germans, who just broke the Berlin Wall,
heading straight to Western supermarkets like Edeka near Hamburg.
They will marvel at the productive possibilities of capitalism
and over the ability to provide modest but very important things
such as olive oil, party caps, pastries with icing and coffee.
Old garnishing of East Germany, which thought people would be satisfied …
….. philosophy, athletics, sour cabbage and agriculture programs …
… is being expelled from their offices.
1999, Seattle, USA.
A World Trade Organization that removes barriers to trade and liberalizes markets ….
… meets for the next round of negotiations.
Ten years since the fall of communism
and after ten years of great economic growth.
Despite the optimism of negotiations, there are thousands of anti-capitalist protesters in the streets,
who have come together to end the inequalities of global capitalism.
Complaints are strikingly similar to those of Jesus Christ.
Capitalism does not care about the manufacturer
and upgrades important spiritual aspects of life
in favor of hamburger, unsustainably cheap clothes
and tasteless and scattering mass media.
Protesting their beards and lean figures remind Jesus.
The police are very strong and the tear gas is poured into the crowd.
He arrests two thousand people and summons the National Guard.
Protests to the world recall that, in addition to winners,
there is a huge crowd of excluded and angry.
They see more sense in Jesus, Dickens and Ruskin,
than in Adam Smith and Bill Clinton.
At the same time, it gives rise to feelings of frustration, frustration and distrust.
It is remarkable that none of the critics is new. Criticism has pursued capitalism from its beginnings.
So let’s look back in the past to see how capitalism has come to bad reputation
and what can be done to remedy it.
Padov, Italy 1304.
On the wall of a church near Venice, Giotto painted a fresco:
Jesus and money-changers.
The fresco depicts a well-known idea at that time:
The idea that good spiritual life and hunting for a trade …
… are enemy enemies.
Jesus goes to the temple in Jerusalem, sees merchants and bankers here and gets angry.
This sacred place is not suitable for such a low activity as buying and selling.
The Christian attack on the moral corruption of money had a profound effect
and to hold back the development of capitalism for centuries.
Venice, 1450.
Franciscan monk Luka Paciolli publishes the first book on accounting.
Summa de arithmetica is the most important capitalist invention …
… into the birth of a joint stock company and a modern factory.
The book describes the principles of double-entry accounting,
which will gradually become common practice in all societies.
Textbooks say that proper treatment of money no longer matters on faith.
Money is not God’s punishment or reward.
Money is a kind of science that can be learned through patience, reason and hard work.
Geneva, 1555.
Jan Kalvin, a Protestant preacher, in his influential sermons …
… emphasizes the Protestant virtues:
Workmanship, renunciation, patience, honesty, and sense of duty.
For capitalism these virtues prove to be very useful.
Like many pre-established preachers,
Calvin preaches that we must not be disheartening and indulge in luxury.
All profits need to be returned to business as an investment.
It adds that success in business …
… pleased God much more than being a natural warrior or a monk.
It is possible that rather than technology, it is precisely this set of values,
which accelerated the development of capitalism.
1670, Delft, The Netherlands.
The newly independent republic is the first explicitly capitalist country,
where lacy aristocrats are viewed with despise, while industrious merchants are respected.
In churches, they are preoccupied with workmanship and economy.
Painful glorification of kings and queens recedes.
Johannes Vermeer completes Krajkářka –
an image that shows a careful domestic lace production.
The image of the aisle suggests that a quiet life in a quiet home
and doing business is much more attractive and noble,
than war or life in the monastery.
1776, 141 the Stand, London.
Here is the headquarters of Strain & Cable,
which was very successful with the new book: The Wealth of Nations.
Written by Scottish philosopher Adam Smith.
It explains the creation of wealth through the growth of capitalist economies.
He will come to some important conclusions:
Slavery is clearly ineffective.
Violence is less effective for the employee than money.
In addition, the cost of purchasing and maintaining slaves is much higher than wages.
The capitalist earns much more money by treating workers legally and humane.
Economies are growing due to specialization, Smith says.
It focuses on the production of pins and concludes,
while one laborer produces twenty pins a day,
so well-guided by a team of 10 laborers does not make 200 but 48,000.
This is possible thanks to what Smith calls the division of labor.
Smith also tells us that capitalism is led by so-called invisible hands.
Unique by increasing your own profits …
… unintentionally contributes to society by offering goods that are in demand.
In his words: “That we can have lunch, it is not from the good will of a butcher …
… brewer or baker, but because they care for their own interests.
These ideas further deprive capitalism of suspicion of moral malfunction.
However, capitalism has not yet been won.
1854, London
The British economy is the largest in the world.
Thanks to textiles, shipbuilding and coal.
Large cities absorb the rural areas of the Midlands and North of England.
Traders and the freshly rich class of capitalists have achieved their success.
But many are distracted.
Writer Charles Dickens fervently criticizes unbridled capitalism.
His novel The Bad Times is set in a fictional analogy of Manchester.
He criticizes the fierce capitalists who exploit the workers
and employing children in mines and cleaning chimneys.
In addition, they keep them ignorant of their miserable condition.
Dickens’ description of the city of Koksov:
It was a city of red bricks or better of bricks that would be red if smoke and ashes were allowed.
Under the circumstances, however, the city was unnaturally red and black as the painted face of the savage.
Dickens argues that capitalism is evil,
because it leads to the appalling conditions of the laborers.
Under the influence of capitalist logic otherwise quite nice people …
… justify employing children in factories
or consider it natural to leave people unable to starve.
1860. London.
Reformer John Ruskin issues a critically critical essay In this last against capitalism.
It does not even criticize the capitalist production process,
as the area of consumption.
Just as Dickens is angry about the misuse of people and the destruction of the environment.
But he asks another question: In the name of what?
Ruskin points out that capitalist wealth is built on selling absurd things.
Trees and decorative plates
embroidered handkerchiefs,
high caps and carved furniture.
All the suffering in the factories
is caused by our demand for very cheap shirts with sophisticated collars.
We are destroying our lives because of the baubles,
while money should not only be ethically profitable but also ethically paid.
Worn out for the truly noble and beautiful things people need.
It contrasts the beauty of Venice with the ugliness of modern Britain.
Berlin, 1963.
Communist GDR leader Walter Ulbricht …
… launches an ambitious project: the Neues Ökonomische System.
It aims to resolve, in his eyes, two fundamental imperfections of capitalism
First, it provides workers with good conditions …
… extension of state education, construction of flats and recreational facilities.
Secondly: He will not focus on making slices
like jeans or pop.
It offers people Plato and Marx and TV shows about the production of tractors.
1976, Dresden, East Germany.
The deadly mistake of Communism is revealed by mass unrest …
… caused by lack of coffee.
Eastern Germans love coffee, but the global rise in their prices will cause them,
that the scheme is no longer able to import it in the necessary quantities.
The party leadership will withdraw all the coffee from the shops
and replaced by so-called “Mich Kaffee”.
It’s coffee from 51 percent, the rest are substitutes like …
… chicory, rye and beet sugar.
Dissatisfaction must be calmed down by the state secret police.
It is an unintended bow of capitalism,
which is good especially to offer us a little luxury.
November 1989. The East Germans, who just broke the Berlin Wall,
heading straight to Western supermarkets like Edeka near Hamburg.
They will marvel at the productive possibilities of capitalism
and over the ability to provide modest but very important things
such as olive oil, party caps, pastries with icing and coffee.
Old garnishing of East Germany, which thought people would be satisfied …
….. philosophy, athletics, sour cabbage and agriculture programs …
… is being expelled from their offices.
1999, Seattle, USA.
A World Trade Organization that removes barriers to trade and liberalizes markets ….
… meets for the next round of negotiations.
Ten years since the fall of communism
and after ten years of great economic growth.
Despite the optimism of negotiations, there are thousands of anti-capitalist protesters in the streets,
who have come together to end the inequalities of global capitalism.
Complaints are strikingly similar to those of Jesus Christ.
Capitalism does not care about the manufacturer
and upgrades important spiritual aspects of life
in favor of hamburger, unsustainably cheap clothes
and tasteless and scattering mass media.
Protesting their beards and lean figures remind Jesus.
The police are very strong and the tear gas is poured into the crowd.
He arrests two thousand people and summons the National Guard.
Protests to the world recall that, in addition to winners,
there is a huge crowd of excluded and angry.
They see more sense in Jesus, Dickens and Ruskin,
than in Adam Smith and Bill Clinton.
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