Amit Chatterjee's Blog - Posts Tagged "capitalism"
Have we already sold out to economic growth?
Economic growth for a nation has been the pronounced objective of all governments in the capitalist world we live in today. The reason is very simple and has nothing to do with the nation. It has to do with what economic growth places within reach of individuals and those who run the governments. Individuals get more money in their hands to fulfill all they yearned for and that is what motivates them to strive for economic growth. Whether money can buy everything or at least happiness (hic!) is a philosophical question; and everyone knows the answer! But, philosophy is never a part of the agenda for those who run governments or work the shiny wheels of capitalism.
Those running governments have no option but to periodically win elections and /or retain their power to rule others. If they are not able to put some money in the hands of their voters or who gets them the votes, they would be banished to the peripheries of political Siberia. Individuals in government with a penchant for ‘mere’ patriotism or statesmanship normally do not last long enough in politics to substantiate any other reason for governments working for economic growth. The best eventually prostrate to their narcissistic demons only to leave behind a burnt garden for another generation to resurrect from.
That is the simple and straightforward logic for all the cacophony over economic growth, the world over. Look at the guest list of any hotel in Davos and you should find the same guys owning something on the Riviera. It is all about Money, Honey! The cursed trajectory in economics is a tragic one way street. Either you grow or you perish. Hence, Mr. Money is the boss or the supernatural that rules the worker, the most educated, the best professional and the wily politician. Let us accept it; Abraham Maslow was bang on! We humans anywhere and everywhere are an incurable lot. We have always been ‘perpetually wanting animals’, never satiated with what we have and always drooling for more and more of what we do not have.
A mini Rewind to the 19th century and we know that the Industrial Revolution and later Medicine unleashed a tremendous lease of life to mankind. Fast Forward to the 21st, the pivot for economic growth shifted from trading monopolies supported by feudalism to knowledge arbitrage. And knowledge was not held in land, machines or in banks, but in an Individual. On the other hand, Capitalism is based upon the need or greed of an Individual. For the first time in the history of mankind, the Individual could wield power that even Democracy could not thwart for long. No wonder, politicians in agrarian societies leave no stone unturned to hold back Industrialisation. Industrialisation takes capitalism to a crescendo and heralds the Individual. No wonder again that crony capitalism becomes the serpent that entwines the spine of all government bureaucracies in the world. In the developed nations, they legalized corruption and called it lobbying.
But, paradox is the only reality of any progress. Industrialisation, Capitalism with the Knowledgeable Individual as its pivot has created the modern world we live in today; the world ruled by the Knowledgeable Capitalist (KC)!
Capital, in surplus the world over hovers above like a drone ready to swoop in on anything or anybody that gains any knowledge of differentiation. Capital cavorts everyday with Knowledge. The symbiosis promises an orgasmic ecstasy not many can reject. One could only watch them dancing away into the wee hours of our societal nights. No one wants the orgy to end, no one knows if there would be a new dawn.
But, questions pop up in our minds when we take a pause. This pause is probably more possible for some who have already gained some slices of surplus and hence rest a while.
What next?
Where are we headed?
What more to acquire?
Is more really required?
What to do with our knowledge and financial surplus?
Have we already sold out?
Those running governments have no option but to periodically win elections and /or retain their power to rule others. If they are not able to put some money in the hands of their voters or who gets them the votes, they would be banished to the peripheries of political Siberia. Individuals in government with a penchant for ‘mere’ patriotism or statesmanship normally do not last long enough in politics to substantiate any other reason for governments working for economic growth. The best eventually prostrate to their narcissistic demons only to leave behind a burnt garden for another generation to resurrect from.
That is the simple and straightforward logic for all the cacophony over economic growth, the world over. Look at the guest list of any hotel in Davos and you should find the same guys owning something on the Riviera. It is all about Money, Honey! The cursed trajectory in economics is a tragic one way street. Either you grow or you perish. Hence, Mr. Money is the boss or the supernatural that rules the worker, the most educated, the best professional and the wily politician. Let us accept it; Abraham Maslow was bang on! We humans anywhere and everywhere are an incurable lot. We have always been ‘perpetually wanting animals’, never satiated with what we have and always drooling for more and more of what we do not have.
A mini Rewind to the 19th century and we know that the Industrial Revolution and later Medicine unleashed a tremendous lease of life to mankind. Fast Forward to the 21st, the pivot for economic growth shifted from trading monopolies supported by feudalism to knowledge arbitrage. And knowledge was not held in land, machines or in banks, but in an Individual. On the other hand, Capitalism is based upon the need or greed of an Individual. For the first time in the history of mankind, the Individual could wield power that even Democracy could not thwart for long. No wonder, politicians in agrarian societies leave no stone unturned to hold back Industrialisation. Industrialisation takes capitalism to a crescendo and heralds the Individual. No wonder again that crony capitalism becomes the serpent that entwines the spine of all government bureaucracies in the world. In the developed nations, they legalized corruption and called it lobbying.
But, paradox is the only reality of any progress. Industrialisation, Capitalism with the Knowledgeable Individual as its pivot has created the modern world we live in today; the world ruled by the Knowledgeable Capitalist (KC)!
Capital, in surplus the world over hovers above like a drone ready to swoop in on anything or anybody that gains any knowledge of differentiation. Capital cavorts everyday with Knowledge. The symbiosis promises an orgasmic ecstasy not many can reject. One could only watch them dancing away into the wee hours of our societal nights. No one wants the orgy to end, no one knows if there would be a new dawn.
But, questions pop up in our minds when we take a pause. This pause is probably more possible for some who have already gained some slices of surplus and hence rest a while.
What next?
Where are we headed?
What more to acquire?
Is more really required?
What to do with our knowledge and financial surplus?
Have we already sold out?
