"Most poets have already been persuaded that war is horrible or that capitalism is greedy or any of the other things political poetry tries to beat into your skull. So, OK, we know this, let's talk about something else."
Interview with poet John Ashbery in The Believer, February 2009.
Really? Capitalism is greedy. End of story. There's nothing left to discuss? Odd claim for a poet, of all people, to assert.
I'm a little tired of listening to clinkers like "capitalism is built on greed." If you accept at its core capitalism is greedy then I suppose you would want to talk about something else. I don't think it is.
It's far more complex, I should think, than that. Is greed, for example, not offset by fear? Of course, the psychological aspect of capitalism is wide in scope.
Talk about selling something short. As I've mentioned in prior posts, it's all the rage to attack capitalism now. This is not to deny capitalism doesn't have its share of greed and corruption - but so do any of the systems devised by man up until this point.
A more appropriate thought would be: Capitalism leaves itself open to greed just like socialism leaves itself open to waste and coercion.
The concept of humans free to explore our personal interests under a free market system is a sacred one for me.
Capitalism does have, believe it or not, a "built-in honor system" in it. Anyone who runs a business knows what I mean.
I take offense with the notion if I start a business, my motives are based on greed. As a free-thinking individual, I possess strong personal morals and convictions. I do my best to live honorably with respect and desire.
So you see, to me, this topic remains open for discussion.
It's so true. I think a big motivation behind starting my blog was that I missed capitalism (not the making money part as clearly that isn't happening via my blogger account, the being your own boss part). There's something beautiful about being part of the market.
ReplyDeleteNo system wether economic or political is bad per se. the way we use it is the problem. The problem is not the system but what the human makes of it for his own egotistical goal or for the general wellbeing including his.
ReplyDeleteMaking money is not a problem.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with capitalism is that it is based on the premise of constant growth. In order to survive, a business has to grow and there is no limit to this growth.
As the current environmental crisis is making obvious, this limitless growth is not viable in the long term.
Heg, you make a great point: blogging is indeed free market system at work. You run your own private "information medium." If you can make some scratch from it all the better. However, the odds against making a living with it are long.
ReplyDeleteFrancois, true - on the "big end" of it.
But a local business owner does have the option of not expanding. My father was a small business owner and chose to remain small when the opportunity to expand came. He went from being alone to a peak of 15 workers and back to himself. All companies have the option of going public (to expand) or not.
I look at a country like Italy and most small companies choose not to list on the stock market and remain private corporate kingdoms based on dynastic family lines. I love that in the sense it keeps a society "particularistic." MOR could speak to this more than I.
Small and medium businesses are, for me anyway, a congregation and amalgamation of a society's talent and it's not based on greed as so many "thinkers" tend to sum up .
As for giant MNC's that's for another discussion. Way too many factors to consider regarding its impact on domestic and international affairs.