Capitalism
I’ve been a bad blogger, I know. But I have an excuse. All the writing I could stand to do for the last month was used up on the papers I was writing for the end of the semester. To keep you appraised of what’s been keeping me busy I’m going to give you some summaries of what I was working on.
The first paper I’ll describe was on Capitalism. I was asked to describe the nature of capitalism and the concept of Adam Smith’s ‘Invisible Hand.’
Capitalism is, of course that economic system we all know and love (although some to a lesser degree the latter). The market economy - with the ‘means of production’ and almost everything else in private hands, the right to buy and sell property, organize corporations, and make your own way without too much interference - has come to pretty well rule the roost in western nations. The constants of competition and profit motive drive and sustain the whole thing, but can also show its ugly side.
Not that Adam Smith (the 18th Century philosopher/economist) would say that! He thought that when we all work toward our own benefit, we inadvertently help the wider community. In pursuit of our own gain we encourage efficiencies and productivity in the community around us (led by an invisible hand), and this leads to a functional and profitable society.
I then went on to explain how people use this theory and others to justify capitalism against its opponents, most of whom write University textbooks; including the one supplied for this class.
The authors of the book in questions (Shaw and Barry of Moral Issues in Business) launch a sustained attack on capitalism and tacitly endorse Marxism as a more moral and rational alternative. So, naturally I couldn’t let well enough alone.
I gave a brief, relevant and not especially unfair history of western Canada to illustrate my case. Specifically I contrasted Saskatchewan with Alberta and explained how the economic policies of the two provinces have had extraordinary effects on their state and character. Saskatchewan was by far the larger and more powerful when the two were formed, that’s now completely reversed. While you can thank Saskatchewan for important social innovations (think health care), Alberta is by far the larger presence, the economic powerhouse and so on (although Saskatchewan’s starting to catch up). I’m not going get into all the detail, the history of the CCF and the NDP and Alberta’s funny electoral history. Suffice to say that Saskatchewan saw North America’s first and only true Socialist government and Alberta saw the world’s only true Social Credit government, and that, as they say, has made all the difference.
Some of the criticisms of capitalism are of course valid. Adam Smith was wrong, the market isn’t enough to keep things moving for the greater good. And he’d been able to see the fruits of capitalism is London and Manchester in the next century, he would have known better. There are some things the government should do, some things that private industry should do, some things the church should do.
Unfettered capitalism, as is the famous phrase, is not a good. But my point in this paper was to show that unfettered socialism is no picnic either. To suggest Marxism as a way of moving forward, at this point, is beyond unhelpful; no political or economic system has been so thoroughly discredited. Working with the broad terms of modern capitalism is the best route currently available to address the world’s issues. What needs to change is the attitudes and motives of the people within that system.
