Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to Ah. The squid ink.

Gentlemen, gentlemen...
ER — (archived)

It's actually quite simple...

Economic systems are instituted to manage resources in a society to maximize the benefit of all. The free market system has shown itself to be quite effective at doing this by coming up with a means of balancing the interests of all concerned with natural self-regulation and controls, and by taking advantage of the human desire of all to work hard and take risks for their own benefit.

However, the free market system has also shown itself to be inherently unstable, prone to potentially catastrophic excursions, and vulnerable to unscrupulous manipulators who take advantage of momentary successes to drive out competition, monopolize markets and exploit both customers and workers.

Those who take great risks or perfom complex tasks certainly deserve more than their share of the rewards, but we must always keep in mind that the PURPOSE of an economic system is to provide the greatest good for the greatest number, not to serve as a means of self-actualization and aggrandizement for the small percentage of the population who fancies themselves congenitally suited for this activity. I.e., business is a social activity, not a private club, and when it no longer is effective at meeting social goals, as defined by society, it must be persuaded to change until it does.

This has been the strategy adopted in the "Western Democracies", and in spite of brutal resistance by private interests, it has worked quite well, in fact, it appears to be spreading as the accepted model throughout the world. History has shown us that when those who control business enterprises do so without any form of democratic societal supervision, they either drive the economies of their nations into the ground through depression and massive social dislocation, or they generate severe backlashes and revolution and violence against the economic tyrannies they impose as they strive for ever more "efficiency" and profit.

Either way, everybody loses.

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