Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"Much though it's now treated as a natural fact, the very idea that something called 'the economy' exists is a relatively recent concept. The expression would have meant nothing to Luther, Shakespeare, or Voltaire. Even after its existence was widely accepted, the referent kept shifting. When the term 'political economy' first came into common usage in the early nineteenth century, for instance, the idea was very close to 'ecology' (to which it is etymologically linked): both referred to what were thought to be self-regulating systems which, if they remained in natural balance, also produced something extra (profit, growth, nature's bounty…) for humans to enjoy. Now, it would seem, we have reached the point where 'the economy' refers not to a mechanism for the provision of human needs or even desires, but largely, to that very extra added on top: that which grows when GDP increases. As we've just learned from the lock-down, this is largely smoke and mirrors. In other words, we've reached the point where 'the economy' is largely a code-word for the bullshit economy; it is excess, but not excess celebrated for its own uselessness, as aristocrats might have once have done, but excess aggressively fostered as the realm of necessity, 'utility', 'productivity' or hard-headed realism." -- David Graeber, "vers une «bullshit economy»", 2020-05-27 ( French version)