Capitalism, Socialism, and Development

Written by Carol Lawton

The market is pure and the market will correct itself is a premise I adhere to. Now as it states you will say Capitalist and I will say no. The wealth of the nation cannot be held by a few but should be for the welfare of all stake holders in equity. Now you will say Socialist and I will say no. Development of the nation can be realized by objectively analyzing key sectors using statistics and other analysis tools. I will again say no, but why these entire no? Too long have we stuck to the idea of measuring the correct course as far as social equity, capital development and national development using philosophies of centuries pass without acknowledging how far the systems have evolved?

Let again be frank and wipe the slate clean. Most economies were developing because of human farming heritage. The rich and the poor have always existed and man have sought various ways to determine equity for each other based upon many factors such as race, .status(citizenship), class, skills, education. For this we will use the latter four as this is where the world is at now. Most nation states as we know them today are political creation of less than 200 years. I will say less than 200 years because of the wars that were fought to secure or give up land to form the borders. Hence the stake holder of a nation may share numerous borders as these borders secured by might and political decisions. So we created a mess.

We have always been a globalize world in vision as empires always though their empire was the world. Alexander the Great may have started the model we now use as he left in tack the ruling class of regions that fell to the Hellenist. The Romans would further push this as one could be a Roman but never see Rome thus the creation of a borderless citizen. With massive military machines, the works to support them became more complicated even utilizing many of the principle of Adam Smith to produce their stock piles. Let’s not forget a to thank China for the printing press which open the minds of people in Europe which lead to the Reformation and yes ‘paper money’. By the time the Union Jack came to fly at its might, the development of the isms had began with mercantilism being the word of the day. The French with their revolution would bring about the vision of all citizens being equal and the removal of heredity rights and the spread of the vote. It must be noted that it was the French who removed barriers of religion as a requirement of citizenship to assimilate their Jews and colonial residents. Liberty was then the word of the day which caused fear among its neighbors hence small nation states forge a national unity with other nation state (Germany) to counter the might of France and its new equalitarian government. The next great moves was the Industrial revolution and humans move to rethink how he fits into a capital model that was not dependent on land hence the isms to understand the ideals (Capitalism, socialism, Marxism). It was also the time of Max Weber and the development of bureaucracy. A model that most do not give much credit to but allowed all this to take place as it is the only model to create segmented with using skills and intellect as a capital element. But all this took place over 1000s of years and not in the timeline of 30 years, the internet changed all this. The world is one for Global in reach, local in action and global in response.

Capitalism and Socialism fought to see each fighter knocked out by their own might. When the USSR went down we all cheered of boo. Now the USA is in a mess with 42% of its debt held by other countries, its money value help up not by gold or silver as the pass but good faith hence invisible which allowed for the development of a credit system which created the world largest consumer nation. With a war on the field and the credit system see the extent of its ability to grow a country without production. It went against the very principle on which Wall St stand and that is management and the not so invisible hand. The riskiest would be the hedge funds and the derivatives. Basically Derivatives are simply fancy futures which can be as silly as there will be a hurricane in Montana where people bet, hedge, and conduct arbitrage with billions of dollars that belong to other people. Coupled with lending to people with low capital base to maintain a mortgage and a inflated real estate market the market had to correct itself as it has gone too far right. Now 700B to correct it is nothing for what most should look at is the connection of all world market, multinationals, national lending/borrowing and movement of goods and services. If the greatest capitalist state does not act like a socialist it will cause a global collapse of the system affecting food and other commodities, travel, “what is considered money”, social services, housing, and an increase in poverty as there will no doubt be a transfer of wealth to those who have from those who were merely grabbing for the dream.

The real winner here is China but they will have to decide the development worth it as the intangible cost of the environment will bear down on it. China a socialist country with a capitalist mind set is streaming along to develop but its cost will be the environment. But since I really hate long tirade I would like you to consider one point where all countries are trying to sort out as we speak. Is it worth it to be listed as developed when the price is the physical environment, the interpersonal relation of people vs. machine, eating organic vs. not, paying for H2O a price higher than gas or milk, increase materialism where life has no value. It is the intangible factors that will determine if countries like Jamaica is considered develop as well as balancing the need for the market to do its work with the need for the people to find equity and balance. Basically all this is about is work hard and be productive, expand markets, PAY YOUR TAXES TO SUPPORT THE SERVICES, protect the environment (JOB ONE) and be human beings who can empathize and sympathize with each other. That is the long and short of Capitalism, Socialism and Development.( how humans relate to each other and their environment). That my definition of development without the technical support systems diving into it.