Before 2008, when capitalism still relied on profit as its motive power, it would not have been possible for such a scheme to be generalised – if it were and too many of the various PropComs went on sale at the same time, their value would fall. This is what gave Adam Smith his optimism about capitalism: his faith that capitalist profit would continue to triumph over feudal rent. In reality, since Smith wrote his famous lines in the 1770s, rent has survived and even prospered under capitalism. Cartels, consumer gouging, the technostructure’s successful manufacturing of desires for things we do
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