# In short, Polanyi debunks the free-market economy. He debunks economists who call for less government interference. Whenever markets have been deregulated, bad things have happened. Financial players if left unopposed have boosted prices to fantastic levels that bear no resemblance to reality. Employers if left unopposed have dehumanized workers till they've become mere commodities or zombie machines. Landowners if left unopposed have turned thriving ecological systems into wastelands that are the remains of short-term profits.
# From the 18th-century till WWII, Polanyi gives concrete examples where governments have been forced to intervene in the market economy to prevent social catastrophes. The old saw that "supply and demand will prove beneficial for everyone" is debunked six ways to Sunday.
# The major problem for economic theorists is that they assume human industry is somehow divorced from Nature. They take no account of the capital losses to The Commons when metal ingots are extracted from the earth. New reserves of gold, copper or oil are recorded as gifts from on high. Economic ledgers make no allowance for the "consumed" oil as if it will always be there in limitless supply.
# Without a social conscience, business reverts to a destructive plague that helps no one but the elite at the top of the rock pile. Polanyi documents the countless results of deregulation from 1795 to 1940. In every case, unfettered markets dehumanized the bulk of citizens. Unfettered markets bankrupted traditional family farms. They lowered wages, created greater unemployment, promoted unhealthy lifestyles, destroyed priceless artifacts and assigned nonsensical values to everyday staples.
# At present, we live on the fragile surface of a bubble which has been stretched out of all proportion.
# Over 90% of the money that is recognized in international trade is monopoly money i.e. M2, M3, M4, etc. You or I cannot spend monopoly money. We only see the currencies issued by banks i.e. M1. Our money (M1) is taxed to the hilt since it represents transactions in the REAL economy. The elite industrialists, investment bankers and absentee landlords deal with monopoly money. Only THEY can turn monopoly money into currencies that will buy stuff in the real world. Worse, monopoly money is rarely if ever taxed. 99% of us work to support governments that give the elites a free ride.
# One day the bubble of interdependent debt will burst. Most of us will become destitute, but the elite will retain their assets because monopoly money won't be touched. It's fantasy money afterall. Only everyday currencies will disappear or become worthless as toilet paper.
# I recommend Karl Polanyi's "The Great Transformation" and please take his advice to heart before robots, controlled by the elite, herd all of us into concentration camps.