Capitalist’s immorality
By R.V. Madhuri
“When morality comes up against profit, it is seldom that profit loses.”
- Shirley Chisholm
True to the words of Shirley Chisholm, history provides us with many examples where the hunt
for profit and extreme wealth has always overlooked the welfare of the society. People who have
lived before us have witnessed many crisis of capitalists which have included global suffering.
Napoleon Bonaparte once famously quoted “The hand that gives is among the hand that takes.
Money has no fatherland; finances are without patriotism and without decency, and their sole
object is gain.” Money, in one form or the other has always allured our ancestors but
what exactly gave it a boost of this extend?
It traces back to the industrial revolution which began in England in the second half of
the eighteenth century, which soon changed the economies from agriculture to industry and
commerce. This turned the artisans who made the hand-made goods obsolete. As the goods
reached from the manufacturer to merchants and the market place, the prices of goods kept
increasing. Off course the burden of increased price rate was borne by the consumer. Whereas
in this case, it's the average person. This is capitalism.
Though capitalism provides a platform for talent to climb, its economic benefits have not trickled
down to every section of the society as it thought it would. Even though capitalism has proved to
be beneficial to some developed countries like USA its impact on developing and under
developed countries are still modest. Over the years, intellectuals all over the world have been
critical about the morality of a capitalist or free market (Laissez Faire) with negligible laws
to withhold them from becoming absolute.
Ayn Rand, who has been a supporter of capitalism, felt the capitalism would lead to
individualism. She perceived that the industrialists can be controlled by the market forces and
the competition between them would give people the power to choose. But she failed to
understand the situation as industrial production cannot be merely controlled by persons by
choosing beans or peas at the grocery. It's been part of the human race since times immemorial to
form closely knitted groups to keep outsiders at bay in a competition. Thus resulting in
stagnation of wealth in few hands widening the ever growing gap between the rich and the poor.
Crisis in India –Crony capitalism is at work
I’m sure most of us heard about the story of the two poles which was once told by Milton
Friedman in a conference. In that story, the two poles met one another and one pole said to the
other, tell me the difference between capitalism and socialism. The second pole said I don’t
know the difference. Then the first pole said, well you know under capitalism, man exploits man.
The second pole said “Well under socialism, it’s vice-versa.”
Though it’s been 66 years since India got independence from its colonial ruler and became it’s
own crown jewel, still there has been only considerable progress in the country. Having the
world’s largest democracy, it is still viewed as a country ridden with poverty than progress.
India has a mixed economy: socio capitalist economy. One cannot say how much it is beneficial
to the country of 1.2 billion people who are already divided on the basis of religion, caste,
language and regions cohered by corruption.
Scams like coal gate, Satyam and 2 G spectrum drained the country of its wealth and natural
resources. A report by Global Financial Integrity (GFI) in 2010 said that India is among the
top 10 developing countries in the world with black money outflow of $1.6 billion. It’s a
paradox that the world’s 32.7 % of poor population reside alongside India’s 100 richest people
who own more than one fourth of GDP. Why is there such a social divide between the people?
The GDP growth rate is showing a declining trend in India and it is not an accurate indicator of
the well being of the people in the country.
The answer is simple. It’s the nexus between the government and the business sector who
have been busy pursuing their vested interests than that of the country. We will take a look at a
particular incident in the country to add further perspective to our case.
Bellary mining scam
It is one among the series of scams which rocked India in the recent years. Karnataka is one of
the richest source of iron ore in India as well as in the world. Rising global iron-ore prices
driven by Chinese demand resulted in major violations , systemic corruption in mining in
Bellary, including encroachment in forest area and massive underpayment of state mining
royalties to the market price of iron ore and systematic starvation of government mining entities.
Excessive mining destroyed the ecosystem of the region as the land has become arid and
infertile, driving away the animals and changing the rain pattern in the area. The irony is that the
company owner responsible for this is the minister of state.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. All this was due to the collusion of officials and politicians in
permitting illegal mining. Sanctioning of licenses without even cross checking the applications
made the officials get Profit (bribe) from the billions acquired by the factory owners, which
unfortunately has become a habit in India. This virtuous cycle seems to always rotate and
continue as corporations continuously strive for profits, which then “tends to become
concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among capitalists, and partly because
of the technological development” (Einstein, 1949). If we do not start challenging the status quo,
and just leave capitalism as it is, we can predict continuous concentration of profits “in few
hands”. (1)
Is capitalism humane?
The first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru once said to the people of India to sacrifice
for the growth of the country but ever since, it's only the poor and the underprivileged who are
Sacrificing. Be it the construction of dams like Narmada river water dams or Nandi gram or
nuclear projects like in Kudankulam, which received wide opposition from the people belonging
to the vicinity of the plant and other voluntary groups. People are forced to evacuate the areas
and are left to the mercy of nature. They often lose their only source of income and starve under
the harsh weather. As I recollect these things; I remember the famous quote by
Mahatma Gandhi -“There is enough for everybody’s need but not enough for anybody’s greed.”
With this marriage of socialism, capitalism and democracy it has only made things worse. It is
an added fuel to the already greedy industrialists and corporate companies who get their work
done by the existing corrupt governments. Capitalism has even infected the retail sector in India
through FDI (Foreign direct investment) which is crippling the economies of several hundred
small time businessmen and the local markets. With their market strategy and tactics to attract
the consumers, it leads to monopoly and hoarding denying people of their basic essentials for
survival. Whereas on the other hand, warehouses are swelling with goods meant to be distributed
among the poor under PDS (Public Distribution system) are locked away to rot. Greed has
and is affecting the morals of humanity and the human habitat.
Earlier, I used the word global suffering to explain the effects of capitalism on our world. This
affects our present society, which we can observe by looking at the recent economic crisis in
2008. Globalization made the entire world a global village. Recession at one place has it’s
repercussions on the parts of the world impeding the growth. How can one forget the great
depression of 1929 in a capitalist USA which led the war torn world into further turmoil? If
the hunger for unlimited profit continues in the present scenario, as the world is limited, it would
lead to the economic crash which the world may never recover from resulting in an unorganized
society.
It’s understood that capitalism and profit are two sides of the same coin. Few of its
ill effects are-the excessive consumption that exists today is mostly based on the
consumerism of North Americans and Europeans, but many developing countries also now have
a rising “Consumer class” that is increasingly adopting the same patterns of excessive
consumption (Leonard, 2010). The rich who are just a small percentage in the country consume
more than the middle-class and the poor population (majority) combined. The world is already
suffering from the capitalist economy through the production of large electronic goods which use
harmful material for their production. Thus this increased Carbon footprint has led to climate
change which is threatening the very existence of the Earth.
Conclusion
Being a predominant part of our global society, capitalism is affecting the world
through it’s negative effects. But one needs to remember that capitalism is just a means, not the
ends. Moral values are relations between the people. It is more on an individual level rather than
collective level. Ethics have to be practiced in all the sectors rather than just being part of the
theory. It’s said, “Power corrupts ; absolute power corrupts absolutely.“
Furthermore, with this decline in the moral climate, man has to be reminded of his moral
behavior and the socioeconomic society they are living in. The people’s indifference towards
what people are doing to the planet and what they are doing to themselves needs to be tackled. It
is our social, political, environmental and personal importance to resolve the issues of immoral
capitalism and develop a more humane society for our own existence by constantly
reminding ourselves that “ we don’t have nine more earth’s to live.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Negative Impact of Capitalism on the Global Society Tobias René Wilczek SOC101Y
(online source)
http://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/WorldEconomy/Black-Money-India-ranked-8among-150-countries/Article1-974147.aspx
The Wall Street journal, India http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/06/04/indias-economiccrisis-by-the-numbers/
http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/capitalism.html
Milton Friedman–Capitalism and morality (Lecture)
Capitalism in India-The legacy of Ratan Tata (the economist)
Einstein, Albert. (1949).Why socialism?
Quotes-good reads.
Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_scam_in_India.
Crony capitalism-a plan out to be.Times of India