Hi Vam. I've pretty much always been a fan of capitalism -- at least since I found out what it was. It's made us all wealthier. A man in poverty today is a hell of a lot better off than a man in poverty a hundred years ago, and even more so for a woman.
But the real question is how do we get people to behave better. Marx predicted that capitalism would self-destruct because of the well- known propensity of human beings to behave badly. For many years I believed democracy would become known as the noble experiment that failed for the same reason. I now know different. We are growing into democracy, not failing it. Mark Twain is long attributed with saying that people justly get the sort of government they deserve. I would say the same thing holds true for economics. We get the sort of economy we deserve. And given the number of fingers in the pie, I'd say we have exactly what we deserve at the moment. The trick will be to learn from this experience. In a broader perspective I see no reason we cannot have a healthy capitalist free-market system that fulfills it's social obligations to all its members because it is wealth and profitable enough to do so. There's a movement afoot that I'm very much in favor of seeing grow. It's the recognition and development of our spiritual and emotional intelligence in addition to those abilities measured by the various IQ tests. See Wikipedia for a quick overview of spiritual intelligence. Spiritual intelligence requires no religion. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_intelligence) The basic principles of spiritual intelligence are as follows: * Self-awareness: Knowing what I believe in and value, and what deeply motivates me * Spontaneity: Living in and being responsive to the moment * Being vision- and value-led: Acting from principles and deep beliefs, and living accordingly * Holism: Seeing larger patterns, relationships, and connections; having a sense of belonging * Compassion: Having the quality of "feeling-with" and deep empathy * Celebration of diversity: Valuing other people for their differences, not despite them * Field independence: Standing against the crowd and having one's own convictions * Humility: Having the sense of being a player in a larger drama, of one's true place in the world * Tendency to ask fundamental "Why?" questions: Needing to understand things and get to the bottom of them * Ability to reframe: Standing back from a situation or problem and seeing the bigger picture; seeing problems in a wider context * Positive use of adversity: Learning and growing from mistakes, setbacks, and suffering * Sense of vocation: Feeling called upon to serve, to give something back We need to be raised up in these area while at the same time raising our next generation. We achieved our first global prominence by sheer and oftentimes brutal force. To regain prominence we must now learn to finesse. We can do this. We have it in us. As a attendant benefit, once achieved these qualities, even to a small degree, we will see more leaders with the same qualities which will in turn lead to a moral society, government and economy. But then I'm an incurable optimist. /e On Jun 10, 10:56 pm, vamadevananda <[email protected]> wrote: > Hey, Gruff, great to hear you espouse " moral profit " and healthy > capitalism. Welcome back ! > > Depending upon the times and the state of environment, I could opt for > either capitalism or socialism, as it suits, if there are no other > choices. But there are choices galore, as in how could we go forward > hereon. A capitalist structure and philosophy, regulated for immoral > and unhealthy practices, would be our best bet now. It would not be > sheer capitalism and definitely not socialism. > > Your apparent satisfaction at offloading the drab on to the emerging > economies has the same drawbacks as closing company financials after a > 12 - month period. When actually, matters do not just end there. They > rebound, disperse, proliferate, complicate, vitiate, and have global > and long time - scale ( destructive and undesirable ) effects ! > > For profits to be moral and practices to be healthy, the power of > capital is to be heavily moderated by our concern for the good of all > everywhere, and as far into the future as we can visualise. Until, > such concerns come to pervade the human consciousness by and large, > corporate thinking, management philosophy, regulatory systems, > political and judicial institutions, and the like. > > The fact is : the destructive and undesirable effects are unavoidable. > But we could all work to keep it to a minimum. And, we must ! > > On Jun 11, 7:56 am, gruff <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Guess you're the only one gabby. Good to read you too. Zoe's fine > > and I'm fair to middlin' ... Thanks for asking. > > > /e > > > On Jun 4, 1:43 am, gabbydott <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Hey, gruff! Good to see you back. I hope you and Zoe have been doing > > > fine in the meantime. > > > > On 4 Jun., 04:09, gruff <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > On Jun 2, 3:24 pm, ornamentalmind <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc&feature=channel > > > > > > So much for capitalism! > > > > > Capitalism is very much a provider in this situation. Only with > > > > sufficient profits can a company fund such an endeavor until it starts > > > > producing a return. Management may be magnanimous but the CEOs and > > > > Board Members, sole ownerships and modified partnerships have to be > > > > profit motivated. I think all this trend -- and hopefully the > > > > principles symbolized in the video are a trend -- will lead to perhaps > > > > such a thing as a moral profit. > > > > > Nor don't see this perspective on motivation as a new discovery. Some > > > > companies knew the benefits of less money and more creativity a long > > > > time ago. It's quite possible that IBM -- which is the company where > > > > I first saw it in action -- may have been among the first to put it > > > > into action. I had occasion to both work for IBM in the capacity of a > > > > contracted employee doing drone work and at another unconnected time > > > > roommated with two IBM software engineers. IBM builds many of it's > > > > plants -- especially when they are think tanks -- in small communities > > > > and encourages its employees to socialize together. They also gave > > > > their employees broad latitude to work on their own ideas which, of > > > > course, IBM owns should they become successful. Obviously a number of > > > > them have so become. > > > > > From what I hear and read, Google's another as is Apple. There are > > > > quite a number of them and not surprisingly I think most are in other > > > > developed nations. We're more or less laggards in this arena. > > > > > What boggles me is the huge number of companies less successful than > > > > they might be and yet ignoring the principles and dynamics of more > > > > successful companies. It's like saying, here's a more productive and > > > > satisfying means of making greater profits and have a happy, loyal, > > > > dependable cadre of employees and a response that is a sub-order of > > > > magnitude of duh, gimme da monkey wrench dude. > > > > > There has always been a higher self in each of us that is not lured by > > > > money as much as it is by progress, achievement and the resulting > > > > personal satisfaction. It's like being blessed. And now we have the > > > > chance to truly achieve that state of mind. > > > > > Most of the grunt work, the suffocation of doing the same boring task > > > > day and day out till you can retire type of work, is now -- and has > > > > been for some time -- migrating to emerging economies that are not > > > > unionized and can do that sort of work better and cheaper. This is > > > > not going to suffocate the U.S. economy nor that of any other > > > > developed nation. > > > > > In fact, I believe the opposite will happen. The migration of grunt > > > > jobs to other nations will usher in a period of creative destruction > > > > (or destructive creation, your choice) where we will have no choice > > > > but to mature our educational system to produce more creative thinkers > > > > than grunts. > > > > > Some might say the unions destroyed manufacturing in America and > > > > within the parameters of blame they deserve a part, but to a greater > > > > sense I see it as a maturing of our economy and hopefully our > > > > society. Sophistication if nothing else will drive us there > > > > eventually but it's nice to see some who have started on their own. > > > > > Insightful presentation, Orn. Nice find.
