 “Socialism
is Illogical and Irrational”
Free-market capitalism, left to its own
chaotic and predatory
devices would self-destruct in very short order.
I’ve been told this on a number of occasions when attempting to discuss
the pros and cons of socialism and capitalism . . . not that the
proponents of that view can offer any evidence that the present system
of free-market capitalism is either rational or logical. Theirs is the
response of the semi-secure, semi-comfortable, and semi-informed; they
sit within the bubble that the system allows them, observing the world
through the reversed telescope of capital’s media machine. What they
see, hear and read “informs” them and shapes their world-view. When
compared with much of the rest of the world their semi-existence looks
infinitely better than that of the vast majority of humankind. Better
not to rock the boat, better not to question, better to be satisfied
with one’s lot, better to follow the advice of our leadership, after
all, didn’t we elect them to take the difficult decisions in our name?
Following the crisis of “9/11” didn’t Bush suggest that the best
contribution the citizenry could make was to kick-start the economy
back into top gear? Don’t think, don’t question – consume!
The capitalist system is rather like an onion. At the centre sits the
elite controlling the system and drawing to themselves the fruits of
the labours of the rest of us. From this centre each skin or layer gets
progressively bigger with those nearest the centre being granted the
largest share of the remunerations and benefits that form a part of the
“overhead costs” that capital incurs, and those at the outside who are
deemed to be totally non-productive by the elites, receiving nothing –
not even the right to exist.
Whilst those who are near to the centre refuse to see the faults and
failures of the system, there are two groupings who recognise the
failings only too well – those on the outside who are robbed of
everything, often even their lives, and those at the centre – the
thieves and murderers themselves, aka the elites.
We are conditioned to believe that the free-market capitalist system
has always been around and because it’s the only system that actually
works, will always be around. First, it actually doesn’t work.
Free-market capitalism, left to its own chaotic and predatory devices
would self-destruct in very short order. Second, there really is no
free-market capitalist system in the developed world – the
“free-market” is reserved for the rest of the world, the people and
resources that are there to be exploited and plundered.
In the developed world the elites have established a system of
protectionism and state intervention through subsidies that pass as
government contracts; the defence industry with its associated
satellite firms is perhaps the definitive example. Through these and
similar routes the elites can regulate their economies in an attempt to
balance the short-termism that is inherent in the
“maximum-profit-now-regardless-of-consequences” free-market. Whilst
scorning “big government” in public the capitalists are creaming off
vast amounts of money from the so-called public purse through
government contracts and through bail-outs for “vital” industries where
greed, fraud and ineptitude has resulted in the likely collapse of part
of the capitalist’s empire. Witness the revolving door that allows the
so-called Captains of Industry or key managers within the bureaucracy
to be “fired”, handed huge severance payments and then immediately
rehired somewhere else on even higher remunerations. Could there be a
better indicator that the elites recognise that there really is no
skill in “working” the system, only chance. As long as you are a
paid-up member of the free-market masonic club there will be warm hand
shakes and even warmer hand-outs as you head off for your next
boardroom appointment.
The logic and rationale of socialism is that at its heart lies the
principle, not of maximising profits for the few, but of meeting the
needs of everybody on the planet. From that it follows that exploiting
people or the environment upon which they depend for the short-term
benefit of a few chosen individuals is purely illogical and irrational.
Witness that illogicality, that irrationality of capitalism in the
following comment by Noam Chomsky in conversation with David Barsamian,
“Keeping the Rabble in Line” on a news item in the business section of
the New York Times (7 February 1992) about a report prepared by
Lawrence Summers, chief liberal economist at Harvard, for the World
Bank setting out its position for the Rio conference in June that year:
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