Illusions of Capitalism
Our post industrial revolution mindset of wanting to have more than the other is giving us wrong results.
The only thing about life is that once it begins, you have to win it, against all odds that you're thrown at. There is no state of non-being for it is even far worse off. While some crave for fame, money, power, social statuses, and all sorts of external validations that capitalistic systems offer, others toil for survival. Life at the bottom is an unpredictable circus, messy, and beyond our control. You are drawn to all wrong things; bad politics, poor economy, conflicts, inflation, near starvation, local dynamics etc. While capitalism has brought us many sustainable gains, we have no control over what they unleash to us for it has evolved in the opposite direction, ditching us into land of near impossibilities.
Our post industrial revolution mindset of wanting to have more than the other is giving us wrong results. We want to live like social monarchs and control properties and people. You had a strong conviction that joy and satisfaction will be in abundance. But, you have paid the price by dehumanizing yourself; empty soul, depressed mind, large homes with broken hearts, loneliness, confusion, a mountain of debt, and meaningless work are unfortunately the default aftermath.
A capitalistic system is run on the premise that for one to win, another must lose. So far, most goods and services we have seen are extractive, materialistic, and less of life-enhancing products like arts. We have recently witnessed the influence of nonproductive financial deals; stock rarely reflect the growth of the economy but it is still highly emphasized and reported. Not that stock is bad but it is more good when it is more decentralized and not manipulated. Gambling in developing economies is a menace; they profit from our human flaws; greed, fear, and panic. This only works for those with more to lose. For youth struggling to fix their finances, their future has been robbed in exchange of hallucinations.
Matatu in the public transport sector is a billion-worth industry but only for the select few. While the sector is highly cashed, matatu saccos who rarely own any vehicle reap millions. Everyday, matatu owners start their day less 2 trips because saccos mandate that they pay a daily fee close to $20. Drivers strive for more and more trips to compensate for the lost time and fees expensed to saccos. The result? Chaos, traffic, overspeeding, and accidents on the road. Factoring in the cost of fuel, maintenance and repairs, unforeseen accidents, and other burdens, saccos rake in millions while matatu owners struggle to break even. While it is within the capitalistic right for the saccos to own parking space and charge fees, their value to the matatu/whole industry is way too little or doesn't exist. We would expect their value to be commensurate with what they claim to be but their role is evident; maximize profit for the few.
Saving and investing money at the bottom under the weight of uncontrollable externalities is sometimes a recipe for misery. While we don't aim for favors, capitalism rarely account for human factors that come into play. We are not resources, as claimed by the capitalists. When the unforseen things like diseases storm us, we are more likely to panic and put our overall financial strategy into dissaray. Thinking of insurance cover to shield us from the uncertainties of life might be the least of our concerns because it adds more financial misery to us. The only surety is stepping into the unknowns while hoping for a few manageable storms.
Understand this; capitalism has impaired our everyday life. It had left us with a trail of burnout selves. Our brains fried, emotions tanked, our minds exhausted..name them. We are more discontented and fearful than before. While we may not be concerned with paying the price by toiling longer than expected and getting pay that's not commensurate with our value, it has led to all sorts of absurdities tamping us down. The wealthy tax cuts, corrupt politicians, profit-optimizing pharmaceutical firms, and other privileged influence our wallet. I am not against those with capitalistic powers, but there are limits towards what's tolerable.
Going forward, if capitalism is to be redesigned beyond hegemonic culture, it should prioritize more of public interest and less of private interests, place spiritually-improving activities above material and extraction, help people feed themselves in lieu of being helped, and purpose productive activities like education, health, and arts and less of gambling, militarization, and stock manipulation. The premise should be when we set our long-term benefits for all, we all win together. But, this can only be possible when the playing field is levelled. The only starting point is to be human-led.
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We badly need to have a sense of upward mobility - the idea that the people at the bottom can make their lives better through a reasonably fair process involving innovation, hard work, and luck.
When that stops working, pitchforks start coming out. They're out now. There's just so much wealth inequality that the upward component for those at the bottom is virtually nonexistent. This leads to all sorts of bad outcomes like the loss of the rule of law (if there's no hope in improving your status, why bother following the rules of the system?) and a lack of voting. Severe wealth inequality is very, very bad.
Good post, Edwin. Too many people do not understand that any economy ONLY works when regulated toward fairness for all persons in the sphere. Adam Smith, in his "Wealth of Nations" published in 1776, while stating that capitalism was the best economic system for prosperity stated it must be regulated and those regulations enforced to prevent the greed of a few to obstruct the good of the many. In America, the two Roosevelt cousins understood this and used the legal system to break up monopolies, strengthen the right of labor so we have had periods where life for the vast majority of Americans was pretty darned good. Then little by little greed raises its ugly head. Con men step in and we return to monopolistic oligarchy. The thing for citizens such as yourself to do is keep asking for laws to prevent the fat cats sitting at the top to accumulate all the wealth, leaving only the dregs for the rest of you citizenry.