Great Black Hope: Capitalist Fever Dreams
An Audacious Book Club Discussion
At the end of Chapter 10, Smith thinks about, “how the whole economy of this island, that great natural beauty extending into the Sound, trafficked on profitable illusions: that proximity to the thing was the thing itself—all the share-housing debtors at the end of America—that freedom was something for sale” (132). What do you think about Smith’s musings? What do you think he meant? Do you agree? What are some of the profitable illusions that you have to participate in to survive in America?
I think he’s on to donething. In a land of plenty where much is dwindling and concentrated more and more in the hands of the few, proximity to wealth is everything. It’s what movies and media and even the arts and books give all of us: something more. You are nothing without stuff in the land of plenty. Soon there will be garbage dumps in space circling the globe. The seas afloat with islands of refuse…