Faux Marx
I just got an email from an investment banking friend of mine with following quote attributed to Karl Marx
Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalised, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism.
Karl Marx, Das Kapital, 1867
Apparently this has been doing the rounds on Wall St. If you are suspicious that this is actually Marx you have the right to be! The dead give away for me is the reference to buying “technology”. Not sure what technology workers were buying in 1867….
Megan McArdle has a good discussion of this quote here
How’s that investment banking going for him? 😛
The fact that my email didn’t begin with “My friend who used to be an investment banker…” tells all doesn’t it?
He must be pretty talented to still have a job in the current environment 🙂
Some people would say he’s a NZ Idol
Some people would say he’s an NZ Idol
I would have to second that assessment – if only we could get him to write something here 😉