The Cheap Side of Things

 Serena Becker

GEOG 101

Paper 2

 

The Cheap Side of Things

 

In the excerpt from the book A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things by Raj Patel and Jason Moore the writers argue that we are living in a new era of capitalism which has spurred on a state of ecological emergency within our world. This is important because while this new era may look like its working for everyone and providing work and food for the common people, it is actually destroying the world resources and drowning out other healthier options for global economic prosperity. Moore and Patel form their argument by providing examples throughout history where civilizations have collapsed because they failed to recognize the fault in systems that they thought were in everyone’s best interest. When addressing the collapse of civilizations the authors inform that, “Great historical transitions occur because ‘business as usual’ no longer works” (page 12). They say this point out that the people who hold most of the power have a way of sticking to old strategies of capitalism prosperity, even though they have shown time and again to be unsuccessful. 

            Patel and Moore also expose how capitalism is tied very closely with colonization and promoting cheap labor. According to the authors the main game of capitalism is to accumulate as much power and wealth as possible any means necessary. The authors state that, “Capitalism is not just the sum of ‘economic’ transactions that turn money into commodities and back again; it’s inseparable from the modern state and from governments’ dominions” (page 25). They say this to communicate that the era of capitalism we find ourselves in today is something that is globally so engrained in our societies and transactions that it is unavoidable. The whole system of capitalism involves the control of power and money, at the cost of exploiting workers and the environment.

            As I read this section from the book I was challenged to think on this topic of capitalism and the economic systems that have failed in the past. I feel like I am so often hearing that socialism is bad, or communism is evil, but very seldom do I hear about how evil or bad capitalism is. It seems that capitalism is normalized to a point where people often ignore the downsides and history of capitalistic expansion. Like any system, capitalism is unable to meet the needs of all people involved and will eventually fail civilizations, it already has. One of the main concerns I think is how capitalism has been affecting the environment. People are so concerned with getting rich and having power that they fail to see that this era of capitalism is destroying the planet.