Public demonstrations still seem to have an effect in nations where civil society is restricted or non-existent (see the “Arab Spring”) and in France (in the form of the general strike), but this political style is pretty much exhausted in the USA, almost to the point of becoming a cliché. The declining significance of street protests is made worse when organizers promise more than they can deliver, in this case occupying Wall Street. Until what happens? The closing of the DJIA? What Graeber purports to be one of the signs of the fall of the American empire, the tribal drumbeats echoing through the canyons of lower Manhattan, is nothing more than a local spectacle; meanwhile, for criminal banksters and feral traders (like the USB thug Kweku Adoboli) it’s back to business as usual. 

The anarchist vision apparent in this commentary (“This is why protesters are often hesitant even to issue formal demands, since that might imply recognising the legitimacy of the politicians against whom they are ranged”) is no substitute for a real political theory of how the widespread change its author envisions might be actualized. Hardt and Negri suffice for the sound bite imagination of the well-meaning demonstrators; the rest of us can still hope for something more profound.

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The decision to have a headless movement facilitated the surveillance and infiltration of Occupy. There was no learning from the 1960s, just a dash of Hardt and Negri, and a splash of Graeber.

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Mr Piketty is a significant improvement over recent heroes of the bookish left, eclipsing the likes of Negri, Hardt, and Graeber.

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Mr Graeber makes a self-evident point that has been noticed for quite a long time. The visible hand of regulation is what put “crisis theory” out of business.

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That’s the problem with well-meaning but inexplicably naive (from a historical standpoint) anarchists such as Mr Graeber. They fail to see that bureaucracies (complex organizations) “unburden” individuals from many tasks. The real problem is the over-complex functioning of organizations, which are further from the control of individuals, not the existence of complex organizations themselves.

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Railing against the storm only gets one rain soaked, which exposes one to death by consumption or possibly electrocution. Unfortunately for Mr Graeber, the likelihood that the Kula Ring and a potlatch economy will return is less than 1%. This is modernity.

One bullshit job left unconsidered is that of the anarcho-libertarian writer, whom the 99% abandoned once it realized such a writer is no substitute for a real political theorist and a real theory of how widespread change might be actualized.

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The end of capitalism was just around the corner. In 1848. The final crisis of capitalism never quite happened. Hence, there arose in its place the “crisis of crisis theory” (Claus Offe). Anyone remember the falling rate of profit? 

Capital is always innovativing, which Marx recognized. Methods are revolutionised constantly; whatever does not work, is abandoned. What Marx failed to recognize was the role that the state would play in extending the shelf life of capitalism well beyond Marx’s worst fears. The state is not merely the “executive committee” of the capitalist class in its struggle against the working class; it is also an engine of capitalist expansion. Most importantly, the state keeps the invisible hand quite visible to investors.

The term “post capitalism” is a fudge on the fact that it’s still capitalism (or “late capitalism” as per Adorno). Mr Graeber is, at best, a theorist of the “last crisis,” not the “final crisis,” which never arrives anyway. So don’t waste time enrolling in Potlatch Economics 101.