Sometimes you want to go reading through the thoughts of others and then you find yourself carrying a bit too much for comfort and want to drop some of it for others to carry on. This is one of those times. I am wondering what is happiness and why we all want it. It appears the answer is peeping out of the question itself. It is actualizations of our desires. Desires are plenty and hardly one can satisfy all of them. But the pursuit of the same and the walk on the course is a favorite life work for most. Our desires are most pressing when they concern our physical entity and most of us keep on accumulating objects of desire in a wanton manner without so much as thinking of testing it. Possibly acquiring itself becomes the desirable object and not so much as getting to use it. Once we own something we mostly assure ourselves that now that we have it we may get something else as we can always use the thing in our possession at anytime. This constant desire to accumulate makes us to be on look out for new possessions always. By the time we pause, out of exhaustion and tiredness, to look at our possessions we find ourselves incapable of using them or may be our taste for them has died. This brings us to frustration and unhappiness. The pursuit ends in failure.
This reminds me of the beautiful story I read somewhere in which the God allows two good men to his beautiful orchard with the condition that they have the full day to themselves to enjoy themselves in it. One of them went on searching for the most tasteful fruit and by the end of the day returned without tasting a single fruit as he was always looking for the more tasty one when the evening came. The other one tasted whatever came his way and ate only the ones he felt like taking. By evening he had a belly full and was more than satisfied.
Does it tell us to make the best of the available opportunities life presents us without worrying for hypothetical better opportunities ? Or does it tell us to live in present ? To embrace now here lest we end up no where ? I do not know. Look for yourself.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
GLOBALISATION
In a uni-polar world gradually all the countries barring very few like Cuba are integrating the capitalist economic models with the country specific political models. It is an often quoted comment that the world has enough to cater to the needs of its inhabitants but not enough to provide for the greed. Greed can be attributed to the insecurity prevalent in the society which drives people to seek security in accumulation. This is a characteristic feature of the capitalist economic model as it propagates a free for all competition without creating any distinction between the players on the basis of there inherent strengths. The categories made in the boxing and wrestling competitions provide some amount of level playing field by insisting on having categories on the basis of body weight. However there is no such protection for small players in the capitalist economic model which proclaims the savage principle of big fish eats the small fish as model conduct. To conceal this savagery invariably the proponents highlight it as free and equal without showing the inequality ingrained in this equality. As such the big fish grow bigger while eating the small fishes. Unfortunately unlike with the fishes where once the big fish eats the small fish it reduces the number of the small fishes and the story ends, the destroyed economic activities of the small players increase the number of the poor while creating a small number of extremely rich people. Hence it is in built in this type of model for the rich to become richer and the poor to become poorer. This inevitably strains the social fabric and create rebellious and violent forces destabilizing the polity. This has been witnessed in all the capitalist countries in the past where the established political structure is overwhelmed with the economic disparities every now and then. Political stability could only come to these countries when they subjugated and exploited other countries by force to provide enough to there deprived class of citizens so that they do not rebel even when they are poor as they are richer than the citizens of the subjugated and exploited countries. This also gives a hegemonistic power to these people as there countries ensured better terms of business for them in international trade by virtue of there power and ability to influence the norms of trade. This is an essential and substantial disadvantage to the countries who became independent after years of foreign rule.In the international trade every body is equal but some are more equal than others. This explains the recent nationalistic fervour seen in the capitalist countries for creating protectionist barriers against free trade and free movement of goods and services. it is likely to grow in coming days in view of the nature of economic model of these countries.
The economic power of these extremely rich people of these countries give them an insormountable advantage and rarely if ever a David comes up to challenge these Goliaths.The competition becomes even more lop sided as the Goliaths as a class gang up against the David. The only way is the David's way that is new and better technology. This shows why these countries have ruled the economic world save when other countries have challenged them with better innovation, better assimilation and better processing structure in production. In the knowledge world it is a relay race and the next generation starts from where this generation stops.However increasing threats of challenges have driven these countries to create barriers in free flow of knoweledge in the form of intelectual property rights, so that the backward and developing countries can never challenge the supremacy of these entrenched powers as they will not get the frontline technology and even when they get it they will have to pay out of their hard earned wealth a share to these countries as royalty. This way they can continue to keep there poor at a reasonable level of poverty reducing there potential to create disturbances in the political structure.
These countries used the natural resources of the world indiscriminately for a century to produce goods for there conspicous consumption in a brazen display of political and economic power they enjoyed. This made the earth poorer and the natural resources got depleted. This inevitably has culminated in the developing countries not getting adequate inputs for there economic growth as they started late. These inputs have also become dearer because of the limitation of availability. Not satisfied with this much of hurdles these countries now shout from the roof top that the use of these resources should now be curtaled by fiat concealed in agreements so that the economic hegemony of the powerful countries can be protected for another century at least.
These resources provide for the basic needs of the people in poor countries like food material, drinking water, inputs for residential structure and clean air. The food and inputs for construction of residential accomodations were available at a localised price earlier making it affordable. Now in a globalised scenario these poor people will have to compete with the money bags "freely" which will increase the prices and take it above their reach. Even when they will get it they will have to pay through their nose for these basic needs. I do not want to forecast any thing about a time when people will have to pay for drinking water and clean air in these countries. This will inevitably affect the savings and investment and capital formation of these people and their countries.
However the introduction of capitalist models in these countries will make the powerful rich of these countries to adopt the methods of profit maximisation by reducing employment and reducing the payment for labour per hour. The common people will have to work for longer hours per day to feed to the greed of the capitalists of there own country. In fact these economically powerful group will overpower the corrupt political and bureucratic set up of these countries and formulate laws and actions in there favour as the economically powerful countries have done in the international arena. They may also add nationalistic fervour to these to befool and exploit the common man. They will pretend to carry the pride of the nation. This phenomenon is already visible in the Nano- Singur episode.
This scenario can only make the rich in these countries richer and the poor poorer. The signs of the same is already visible in the world bank statistics which says that India houses one third of the worlds poor. This will become only worse leading to violent upheavals and social strife, which has already shown its face to some extent.
The economic power of these extremely rich people of these countries give them an insormountable advantage and rarely if ever a David comes up to challenge these Goliaths.The competition becomes even more lop sided as the Goliaths as a class gang up against the David. The only way is the David's way that is new and better technology. This shows why these countries have ruled the economic world save when other countries have challenged them with better innovation, better assimilation and better processing structure in production. In the knowledge world it is a relay race and the next generation starts from where this generation stops.However increasing threats of challenges have driven these countries to create barriers in free flow of knoweledge in the form of intelectual property rights, so that the backward and developing countries can never challenge the supremacy of these entrenched powers as they will not get the frontline technology and even when they get it they will have to pay out of their hard earned wealth a share to these countries as royalty. This way they can continue to keep there poor at a reasonable level of poverty reducing there potential to create disturbances in the political structure.
These countries used the natural resources of the world indiscriminately for a century to produce goods for there conspicous consumption in a brazen display of political and economic power they enjoyed. This made the earth poorer and the natural resources got depleted. This inevitably has culminated in the developing countries not getting adequate inputs for there economic growth as they started late. These inputs have also become dearer because of the limitation of availability. Not satisfied with this much of hurdles these countries now shout from the roof top that the use of these resources should now be curtaled by fiat concealed in agreements so that the economic hegemony of the powerful countries can be protected for another century at least.
These resources provide for the basic needs of the people in poor countries like food material, drinking water, inputs for residential structure and clean air. The food and inputs for construction of residential accomodations were available at a localised price earlier making it affordable. Now in a globalised scenario these poor people will have to compete with the money bags "freely" which will increase the prices and take it above their reach. Even when they will get it they will have to pay through their nose for these basic needs. I do not want to forecast any thing about a time when people will have to pay for drinking water and clean air in these countries. This will inevitably affect the savings and investment and capital formation of these people and their countries.
However the introduction of capitalist models in these countries will make the powerful rich of these countries to adopt the methods of profit maximisation by reducing employment and reducing the payment for labour per hour. The common people will have to work for longer hours per day to feed to the greed of the capitalists of there own country. In fact these economically powerful group will overpower the corrupt political and bureucratic set up of these countries and formulate laws and actions in there favour as the economically powerful countries have done in the international arena. They may also add nationalistic fervour to these to befool and exploit the common man. They will pretend to carry the pride of the nation. This phenomenon is already visible in the Nano- Singur episode.
This scenario can only make the rich in these countries richer and the poor poorer. The signs of the same is already visible in the world bank statistics which says that India houses one third of the worlds poor. This will become only worse leading to violent upheavals and social strife, which has already shown its face to some extent.
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