This is amazing that even here in the US, the nest of the capitalism, there are people talking about the evil “Wild Capitalism”. Well, looks like a banana country expression but there is a conceivable large sector particularly associated to this current government that feels very much identified with such a demagogic expression.
The truth of the matter is that this is BS. It is human nature to be “wild capitalist” to prove my thesis I just want to use a couple of simple illustrations to argue it:
· What happen when a consumer, a regular one, decides to go shopping and finds one of these stores with matching price policies? Well, the answer is simple, the consumer takes advantage of the offer and purchase whatever product he (her) was looking for. Did this person cares about the other competitor that had the matching price? Guess what, this consumer couldn’t care less about that competitor even if this is about to go to bankruptcy. That is just reality!
· Another case might be an individual that thanks to his (her) effort and hard work gets a promotion at work together with a substantial salary raise. That very same night, the President announces a tax hike at his (her) bracket level; and during the same announcement The President justified the tax increase because of the government need to increment the welfare to whom might need it. This reminds our fellow individual that his (her) drunken next-door neighbor has 5 years taking advantage of such welfare with no intention to make an effort to find a job. Guess what, our individual will adversely reacts to such announcement.
Ok, above we have a couple of simple examples of evil “wild capitalism” in action!
The truth is that we are inhabitants of an imperfect world full of imperfect people. The reality is that no matter what, market will domain. There always will be someone that produce innovative better products and cheaper; and this “someone” will attract consumers and investors with them all their money. These “someone’s” are the ones that generate wealth and jobs for the masses.
On the contrary, and no matter what, those nations that goes through socialism; eventually but sooner than later will face the dilemma to move back to capitalism or accept the chaos and its consequences. The reason is simple; Nations cannot afford, in the long run, an elephant size government where the bureaucracy and corruption erupts like a terrible cancer that eventually devours the whole economy.
If we really care and want to create a sustainable society, we have to find a way to make education available to anyone; however and ultimately, it will be anybody’s choice to take advantage of such an opportunity. For the time everybody makes their best effort pursuing their dreams at that time we will become a real mature and advanced society.
Because of the above we should not forget Mr. Winston Churchill’s words when he said: “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery”.
Dear Pedro
ReplyDeleteI just happened to find your blog while browsing LinkedIn and with much enthusiasm started reading this posted article.I understand your political preferences tilt towards the right, republican, conservative and I also remember back in our country when you were Copeyano and you may remember that I was pretty much Adeco.
I've always been puzzled about the rational-emotional process by which an individual goes one way or the other in the political spectrum although there are some obvious signs that determine those preferences. In our case, do you remember back in 1968 the presidential campaign in which your favorite candidate was Rafael Caldera, mine of course was Gonzalo Barrios ? We had arguments defending our preferred candidates and we were 15 year's old boys without much maturity to discuss sophisticated subjects much less the country's convenience of either candidate becoming president.
Later in life we may have developed what it takes to analyze complex political, social and economic subjects, in short, the tools to support our ORIGINAL EMOTIONAL PREFERENCES. That is, I feel my values are better represented by progressive, liberals ideas and I surmise yours are better off with conservative values.
But, there's a catch.
Our formative years took place during a particular time when the ideal world was either Left or Right, the Russians were mean ( depending on who you would ask ), Americans went to the moon while we were listening to Ten Years After ( and the like ). The tenets of economic discourse were well and sound.
Forty Years After...we are in a big mess and left and right, conservative or liberal, Democrats or Republicans, Keynes or Friedman are no longer an answer.
Yes, you are right. Social Security creates a sense of entitlement not sustainable by any means but corporate greed is not helping either and the world as we know it is simply exhausted.
Here is a proposition: I advise you to read People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. The purpose is an attempt to explore the world of people - human beings - who have no reason to believe in the free market as a solution to their most pressing problems. I would accept a recommendation of yours, could be an important book, treaty, etc that has influenced your thinking (Recently I read IN CHINA by Henry Kissinger so don't recommend that one )
Miguel Santeliz
Hello Migueliño!!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, thank you very much to have the courage of using your free time to read my crazy ideas; it is an honor!!
Let me clarify something first, I have never ever been copeyano and much less Calderista; I think you are very confuse in this one. Rather, I actually in all occasions voted for the AD party and also for CAP in his second run; and at that time, I was also very supportive of his economic policies.
You know, the beauty of a true democracy is precisely this; I can share with any one what is my opinion towards something and anyone can confront it freely. This is really fantastic! On the other hand, I believe in what I said but at the same time I know that I do not own the whole truth neither anybody else simply because there isn’t total truth.
I respect 100% your views but what I tried to express is based on my life experiences. One of these life experiences was when I came to the US to school back in 1982, in the occasion of obtaining my MBA. At that time, Mr. Ronald Reagan was a debuting President just after Mr. Carter’s period. I remember, inflation and unemployment were in two-digit range. At that time, he pushed for a major and “different” economic approach: the so called “supply side economics”. There was no demagogy; rather, he was inspirational. In my opinion, all the prosperity that came after his period and for many years to follow was due to Mr. Regan’s policies and strategies. Ever since, I just do not believe in the thing called “social responsibility or social justice”; with all the respect, what is behind this is hypocrisy. I believe, instead, that the best you can do for society is to provide it with education and opportunities and make them accessible to anyone but, at the end, it is anyone’s responsibility to take them or not. What it is not right is that you sacrificed yourself with hard work to feed the ones that are seating either criticizing your success or laughing your failure.
I always remember what Benjamin Franklin said: “if you really want to help the poor then make them uncomfortable with their poverty”.
In my article, what I tried to mean is that no matter whether your tendency is leftist or rightist, those that produce competitive (quality, price, supply & sustainability conscience) good and services will always be better off than the rest. This is no a matter of social justice, this is a matter of fact. Of course, for the time we reach a real high level of education and maturity, as a society, only then each human being will have the possibility to choose where to be.
I’ll take a look at the book you are suggesting.
Bueno, Migueliño, lastima que estamos tan lejos para reunirnos, tomarnos un trago y poder conversar sobre estos temas tan interesantes. ¡Quizás un día de estos!
Un abrazo fuerte para ti y tu gente,
Pedro
P.S. Espero que cuando nos veamos todavía cargues tu guitarra contigo!!