Home » Opinion » Foreign Views
US reader warns of too-passionate embrace of markets
February 4, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MR Wang Yong,
I am writing to commend you for your editorial in Saturday's Shanghai Daily, "Capitalist Seeds of Its Own Collapse." A clear and gracefully written piece.
It is so well done that I have attached a link to it on my Facebook home page so that more Iowans and other Americans might have a chance to read it.
"This is not to say capitalism is bad in all aspects," you wrote, "but once you add 'ism' to 'capital,' you bet it can't be all right when capital calls all the shots. Men are indeed greedy, but they can be less greedy if a society in which they live redefines happiness as something beyond the possession of capital ... a society secured only in capital is on shaky grounds."
Karl Marx, much derided in the West, also commented incisively on many of the negative consequences of unrestrained markets. He also pointed out that one of the quandaries of capitalism was its incessant need to "expand," to "seek new markets."
To the extent that this meant increased, peaceful trading, this could be quite beneficial. But not only could it also lead to trade wars (sometimes also military ones), but the compelling impulse was for "ever higher consumption." This is not the same thing as "improving the economic livelihood of peoples." It can be, but it is not necessarily so.
Much of your editorial reflected upon the wisdom of the late John Kenneth Galbraith who, I concur, was a remarkable man. Nearing conclusion in your column, you wrote, "Galbraith's book is also a hymn of caution to China ..." To all of us! In the United States, too many people believe that a "hands-off approach to the markets" is the essence of wisdom. Capitalism has become more than a type of economics, it has become something in which people "believe."
Many people here also cite (without, I suspect, ever having read it) Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" as if it equaled the Bible in untouchable truths. In fact, Mr Smith was a wise, compassionate man who also believed we needed to be very mindful of the larger society, taking special note of the poor and others who might be "falling behind."
In my beloved country, I am heartsick at the way near-worship of "the markets," combined with excessive individualism, has fed a demand for ever more "things," a growing anger at the pit into which we've dug ourselves economically, a disdain for those who are poorer as "they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps," and a concurrent substantial decline in pursuing what is best for the "commonwealth" (a term used frequently by our Founders).
I offer these thoughts, in tandem with yours, as cautions to those in China who might be tempted to be over-eager to embrace capitalism without maintaining China's rich spiritual and communal traditions. I do not know if this is possible, though. As individualism and materialism grow more powerful in China - both a consequence of the never-ending pursuit of more "things" for oneself - I fear there will be an accompanying weakening of some of those very things that have given China such a distinct character for so many centuries.
Change is inevitable, but not all change is for the good. We must choose wisely.
(The author was a member of the Iowa State House of Representatives in the United States. He also served in the Iowa executive branch. He retired in 2004.)
I am writing to commend you for your editorial in Saturday's Shanghai Daily, "Capitalist Seeds of Its Own Collapse." A clear and gracefully written piece.
It is so well done that I have attached a link to it on my Facebook home page so that more Iowans and other Americans might have a chance to read it.
"This is not to say capitalism is bad in all aspects," you wrote, "but once you add 'ism' to 'capital,' you bet it can't be all right when capital calls all the shots. Men are indeed greedy, but they can be less greedy if a society in which they live redefines happiness as something beyond the possession of capital ... a society secured only in capital is on shaky grounds."
Karl Marx, much derided in the West, also commented incisively on many of the negative consequences of unrestrained markets. He also pointed out that one of the quandaries of capitalism was its incessant need to "expand," to "seek new markets."
To the extent that this meant increased, peaceful trading, this could be quite beneficial. But not only could it also lead to trade wars (sometimes also military ones), but the compelling impulse was for "ever higher consumption." This is not the same thing as "improving the economic livelihood of peoples." It can be, but it is not necessarily so.
Much of your editorial reflected upon the wisdom of the late John Kenneth Galbraith who, I concur, was a remarkable man. Nearing conclusion in your column, you wrote, "Galbraith's book is also a hymn of caution to China ..." To all of us! In the United States, too many people believe that a "hands-off approach to the markets" is the essence of wisdom. Capitalism has become more than a type of economics, it has become something in which people "believe."
Many people here also cite (without, I suspect, ever having read it) Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" as if it equaled the Bible in untouchable truths. In fact, Mr Smith was a wise, compassionate man who also believed we needed to be very mindful of the larger society, taking special note of the poor and others who might be "falling behind."
In my beloved country, I am heartsick at the way near-worship of "the markets," combined with excessive individualism, has fed a demand for ever more "things," a growing anger at the pit into which we've dug ourselves economically, a disdain for those who are poorer as "they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps," and a concurrent substantial decline in pursuing what is best for the "commonwealth" (a term used frequently by our Founders).
I offer these thoughts, in tandem with yours, as cautions to those in China who might be tempted to be over-eager to embrace capitalism without maintaining China's rich spiritual and communal traditions. I do not know if this is possible, though. As individualism and materialism grow more powerful in China - both a consequence of the never-ending pursuit of more "things" for oneself - I fear there will be an accompanying weakening of some of those very things that have given China such a distinct character for so many centuries.
Change is inevitable, but not all change is for the good. We must choose wisely.
(The author was a member of the Iowa State House of Representatives in the United States. He also served in the Iowa executive branch. He retired in 2004.)
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
