The Death of Capitalism

With huge companies going to the wall; there have recently been calls for more regulation and state intervention in the money markets. So has Monetarism (the idea, popularised by Thatcher, of not interfering with the markets) run its course? Is absolute Capitalism now dead?

What, or indeed who, is to blame? Is it purely down to irresponsible lending and trading? Is it down to the bonus culture in the financial institutions (which causes traders to take huge risks)?

Or is it the inevitable result of unrestricted capitalism and the policy of survival of the fittest?

Whatever the answers to these questions the end result is the same; it's the man on the street that ultimately pays the price. The people in the financial institutions certainly aren't being held to account. In the UK the government will ultimately loose power but they certainly won't be struggling to pay their food and energy bills. The inevitable scapegoats will be Muslims and the unemployed, despite the fact that they have very little effect on the finances of the average worker. David Cameron certainly knows that appearing to be tough on immigration and unemployment is the way to win the election.

The question is Why? Why? Why? Is the majority of the country so ignorant and uneducated as to actually believe all the countries problems are down to immigrants and the unemployed? Or is it just easier to blame the weakest groups in society rather than the seemingly untouchable powerful people in government and big business?

In 1917 the Russian peasants (as they queued, hour after hour, for bread) looked enviably across at their rulers who were clearly out of touch and obviously exploiting them. Conditions effectively forced their hand; they couldn't carry on like that so they instigated a revolution. Whatever you think of the merits of communism you surely have to admit that this action is much fairer, and indeed more positive, than blaming minority groups (which, by the way, is what Hitler did and look how that turned out). Whilst I am not advocating a full-scale communist revolution I am suggesting positive action to ensure a fairer distribution of wealth. I would like to see 3 basic principles adhered to.

1 A limit of around £5 million to personal fortunes (more than enough to ensure lifelong financial security for even the largest of families)

2 Less of an income gap. Good/fair wages for all full time jobs.

People undertake careers based on their skills and personality rather than for purely financial reasons. People's connections, or indeed lack of them, shouldn't have a massive influence on career choice.

3 Full Employment (or as near as viably possible) and regulation of big businesses to ensure they act responsibility

In a capitalist society, most see remuneration as the only real reward. There are other ways that we can be rewarded, Social status being the main one. In our current society; those that work hard without reaping financial benefits are unfairly branded “mugs”.

The banks and the media should remain independent but should operate as public services, and should therefore be regulated (by independent groups) to prevent irresponsible behaviour. In the case of the media I am torn; I am a believer in freedom of speech but the gutter press have been extremely irresponsible and are concerned solely with profit.

For those that believe this is idealistic pie in the sky, it's worth remembering that it is only in the last 200 or so years that money has been seen as the main motivator. For thousands of years before that religion was seen as the biggest motivator (certainly for the vast majority of the population). In reality though; it has always been social status that we crave. A few hundred years ago it was the “good Christian” who was held in high regard, more recently it has been the “success story”. We could evolve in to a society that values those that make the biggest contribution, the people that make a positive difference. Certain groups and certain individuals already think like this.

Capitalism, in its purest form, isn't good for the man on the street. Our happiness and stability is out of our hands, too dependent on the actions, fortune and behaviour of big business. In many ways the biggest barrier to a fairer system isn't in convincing the man on the street that capitalism isn't fair. The biggest problem comes in trying to persuade people there is a viable alternative. Communism hasn't worked in the past because people have exploited the system. The average person ended up more powerless than those under capitalist regimes as they were denied the opportunity to vote.

Socialism, the compromise between capitalism and communism that I myself favour, has shown mixed results. In the post war period, right up until the early seventies, a version of it worked. O.K it wasn't perfect but there were less social problems and certainly less divisions in society. The main reason socialism was seen to fail in the seventies was that the workers were still receiving poor wages. Both labour and conservative governments had adhered to certain socialist principles. Education and healthcare became more universal. The mega rich were heavily taxed; both in an attempt to decrease the income gap and to improve public services. The government adhered to Keynesian economics, placing restrictions on business in order to control the money supply and maintain near full employment. The problems came mainly as a result of global market/trading conditions. As a result the government struggled to meet union demands as regards to wages. The vast majority of workers didn't feel rich, most didn't even feel comfortable and strikes became a regular occurrence.

It can be argued that there isn't a workable, one-size fits all, political system. There will always be people that want more and when Thatcher came on the scene claiming we had “the right to be above average” it was what many people wanted to hear. Thirty years later and the country has been run in to the ground by “monetarism”. A small percentage of individuals got very rich. The big businesses have acted without any sense of morality; they think nothing of effectively spying on us by collecting information, usually without our full knowledge or consent. They then use this information to “persuade” us to buy their products, they prey upon vulnerable people who struggle to put their foot down and say no. The rest of us haven't benefited, not in the long run.

Under socialist principles, problems such as homelessness were rare. The so called “underclass” (people who remain state dependent from the cradle to the grave) only truly emerged under Thatcher. Socialist writer James Taylor wrote that an “obsession with the inessential” was the biggest problem in society. He claimed that an unsuccessful pursuit of material luxuries invariably leads to depression, despondency and withdrawal from mainstream society. He said that people need to make a positive contribution to society in order to feel fulfilment. Taylor wrote his most significant work in the late seventies and in many ways it was a prophecy. Capitalism, in its current form, has alienated a generation. It has left us vulnerable and too many have been left behind.