Socialists and shares

Pootergeek’s pop asks, a propos David Blunkett: “what kind of socialist buys shares?”

Five types:

1. One who wants to diversify his human capital. One of the great scandals of capitalism is that it compels most of us to invest all our biggest asset – our human capital – into one firm. Owning shares is one way of spreading this risk.

2. One who believes it’s better to gamble in a positive-sum game than a negative-sum one. It would be better to ask: what kind of socialist hands his money over to bookies?

3. One who recognizes that withholding his cash from the stock market isn’t going to bring the day of revolution any closer.

4. One who recognizes that stock markets will probably have to exist even in a socialist economy, because the job of allocating external finance to companies will have to be done somehow.

5. One who believes that, within limits, there’s not much wrong with mutual exploitation. There is a difference between socialism and utopia.

Pootergeek's dad should really have asked: what kind of socialist owns a badly diversified share portfolio? But that's another issue.

So yup, Pootergeek’s right – dads should stick to dancing badly at weddings. Not that I’m one to talk about embarrassing dads…

Comments

[Backword Dave]

"I have, which will surprise you, been speculating -- partly in American funds, but more especially in English stocks, which are springing up like mushrooms this year (in furtherance of every imaginable and unimaginable joint stock enterprise), and forced up to quite an unreasonable level and then, for the most part, collapse. In this way, I have made over 400 and now that the complexity of the political situation affords greater scope, I shall begin all over again. It's a type of operation that makes small demands on one's time, and it's worth while running some risk in order to relieve the enemy of his money."

Karl Marx to Lion Philips, 1864. Quoted in Francis Wheen, Karl Marx, p268. Wheen notes that "some scholars have assumed that Marx simply invented the story" but concedes that "it may be true."

(Double posted at PooterGeek.)

[dearieme]

“what kind of socialist buys shares?” An ex-socialist.

[Stevey]

Not your fathers kind of socialist, then.

Glad to hear it.

[Max]

If you have a good stock portfolio then you can afford to be a socialist.

[Phil Hunt]

Surely being a socialist is grounds for expulsion from New Labour?