http://www.pakistantimes.net/pt/detail.php?newsId=2787
Monday, July 27, 2009 Sha'aban 04, 1430 AH What We Seek to Do? By Dr Zafar Altaf When Karl Marx wrote about 160 years ago 'The ruling ideas of any epoch are the ideas of a ruling class, that is, the class the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force.' and he goes on to say ' It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but o the contrary their social being that determines their consciousness.' Karl Marx still rides the intellect that he had and that he developed in the libraries of Paris. The applicability of these epigrams have retained their applicability up to our time, given the subsequent emergence of a class of men that have ruled the roost in their favor. The unlimited powers of current capitalism furthered by the consciousness of the men of our times in Pakistan have sullied the very 'Pak' name of the country. The exploitation that is going on is remnant of the current democracy and enlightenment that regimes have brought one after the other. The current existing democracy made up of local elected representatives have a hard time settling down as the consciousness of the current elite is in an exploitative mode. Those that were in the past have laid the ground works of capitalism to their end and to the exploitation of the poor. The inflation factor was never worked in to the mean and rapacious policies of the enlightened power and ruling class. The invidious nature of things has permeated to everything in this country. Pakistan has followed the model of the west albeit not so energetically. The corporate attack from the west was so marked that Pakistan started looking at the models of the west for development and in the process missed out on the indigenous development of the locals. The monstrous MNCs have had a field day at the expense of the locals. In 2000 the combined sale of 500 largest global corporations was $ 14 trillion. Pakistan's MNCs were bit players but still taking a hefty cake from the economics of this country. The WB/IMF helped by saying that the profits of these countries were to be repatriated and the current account suddenly became convertible. The power of these MNCs is beyond production and trade and they enter in to every crevice and social existence. The power of capitalism is not challenged any more because the underlings of the present world are in one way or the other dependent on these MNCs. Capitalisms rationale came with the WTO and in the process lent dignity and support to the MNCs system. The country and the rest of the world forgot that their performance was akin to the seven deadly sins. The media and the consumerism that has come to Pakistan play a part in that role of lending dignity to the MNCs. The media is the transmitter and not the originator of the ideas of the ruling class. Go back to the last regime and see how the media was perverted - graft in the form of plots and other benefits accrued to them. The universities of the west are the originators of these silly and stupid armchair development theories. There are so many of these theories floating around that the development economist in developing countries is awash and confused. It is only after some experience of the countries conditions that one sees the real situation. All these armchair economists are capable of doing is to preach as to what is good for the country without knowing the situation in these countries. The universities of the west are propagating the ideas of the powerful and now there is critical mass available in the developing world that are properly brain washed to take these obsolete technologies and then to surrender to the west and its dictates. Dissent that one sees amongst the economists is merely playing their particular turf. They are incapable of making any substantial improvements in the life of the people of the developing world. There is political dissent coming up as well and that is because of the globalization factor. The developed world and the G-7 were very keen to open up the markets of the developing world and then to make consumerism work there. The shine of developed country products is immense and yet can any balance supply and demand. Keynes was probably in his elements when he wrote his General theory of Equilibrium. The books of economics write of elasticity of demand. It's an element that is not workable in real life. When they want to fit in practice then starts a lot of massaging of data. Is the free market concept a juvenile attempt to circumvent decency? The answers seem to be in the affirmative. The fact that neither system works what works is what should be applicable. That means not necessarily with the theories of economics but with the adaptation of such matters as is possible to implement. Our forefathers lived well and within their means and there was no economic theory and no WB and no IMF in sight. So where did we go wrong. What is the way to get a sure grasp of economics? The questions that economists must answer: 1. What do we need to know about the economy? 2. What must be done in order that the economy better serve human, social and environmental needs? These questions become difficult to answer if the person has not been in the field. Drawing room economics is not needed. Out in the field the sweating farmer is waiting for better days. The economist with a better assessment of his theory never wants to go in to the field. Worse comes forward when governments see these very policies as their rationale for harming the people of their country. Just examine this in the light of what is going on in Islamabad these days. A physical infrastructure is created and then within a year it is demolished. The plans and the blue print of Doxiades the Greek architect are in ruins. We have made sure that the only planned city in this country shall suffer at the hands of morons. One has replaced another and surely one more will replace another one. Is economics then to be applied without a scathing analysis? Are there at least a few that can be upheld as radical economist and see what they have to say? Suffice it to say that homegrown economists or home grown rational individuals whose heart is in the right place would better serve Pakistan. Let me take you to John Ruskin whose work influenced Gandhi and Mao. His four lectures titled 'Unto this last' [based on Christ's Sermon on the Mound] are a piece of literature. He was a Professor of Fine Arts at Cambridge. Those lectures - four of them written in 1860's still stand the most vigorous scrutiny. Adam Smith was professor of Moral Philosophy and his original lectures are treat to read and he was there in the 1770's. What does this tell us? It tells us that ethics and moral values are essential for the countries to survive. Veblen was right when he said ' to be an economist is to have developed a trained incapacity to comprehend the vital elements of the socio-economic process. Today's economic theorists are even more ignorant than when Veblen was alive. Is economics then floating pleasantly unconnected to social reality? Is the budget really for the people? Or does it serve the needs of the rich and the powerful? The country is ours and we have to do well by it. It's a tall order-this doing well by the country. Yet it has to be done. Take care of those to whom we owe a duty of care? It's meaningless if we by our stupidities receive another shock? Life can be so energizing and so exponentially exciting. Money and economists must take a back seat and if possible keep them there.
