The need to change economic values

Murray Dobbin published an article in Rabble that was republished by Common Dreams yesterday called “Imagine: Prosperity without Growth” that brings up an old, old reflection: how to socialize the economy without jeopardizing civil rights and the possibility of personal liberties like owning things.

There are all sorts of theoretical issues involved like the need to preserve the impetus that Capitalism has given science, invention, industry, and other forms of production. It is possible that all this has just been a medium-term loan from fossil energy sources, but the system of manufacture, distribution, and in general “entitlement” that this economic arrangement has provided has been indeed dynamic and fruitful.

One thing we cannot do is think that things will go on just as they have for the last century. The Left has to get busy and invent alternatives, or we will fall into dictatorships such as the world has never known, together with massive migrations and starvation. Maybe a few of the very rich will find islands or mountain tops to hide on, but most of us will not.

It is amusing when people talk about how we will save ourselves by migrating to new oxygen-based colonies under pressurized geodesic domes on Mars. The image comes to mind of the pictures of people fighting to be included on one of the escaping helicopters leaving the roof of the American Embassy in Saigon way back when: even if these colonies were to be constructed, do all these people from Grand Rapids, Omaha and Little Rock think they will be invited along for the trip?

We have very few answers yet. The Right is bereft of ideas that aren’t dreams of reproducing the good-old-days. Mr. Dobbin said:

“The magnitude of the moral crisis of the political right is staggering. The greed, dishonesty, hubris and psychopathic disregard for the public good renders the whole business elite utterly unfit to pronounce on anything -- not even on the economy, but certainly not democracy or how we run our collective affairs."

I remember reading Paul Sweezy’s and Paul Baran’s book in the 1960´s, “Monopoly Capital: An Essay on the American Economic and Social Order” that was written from a Marxist point of view about how present-day Capitalism must grow to stay alive. The viability of that underlying requirement was also challenged by the “Club of Rome” some years ago when the participants questioned our Planet’s capacity to continue to supply the necessary energy and raw materials on a long-term basis.

One thing is clear: we do not want to repeat the mistakes of the Old Socialisms like the Soviet Union and Cuba. Even China, that calls itself "Communist", is in reality, and from an ecological point of view, an unchained, uncontrolled Capitalist Frankenstein's monster. While the dangers are great, and the threats of famine and political unrest are terrifying, we have, perhaps, time to create another way to live together.

Mr. Dobbin says that we should look toward how the Canadians have solved some health and environmental issues. And he offers an Internet link to a page created by the Sustainable Development Commission. We need to reconsider quality-of-life, peaceful coexistence, health, prosperity and, in general, satisfaction.

Will our Homo-Sapian genes permit us to do this?

References:

Murray Dobbin (Published on Monday, June 22, 2009 by Rabble (Canada). “Imagine: Prosperity without Growth”, available on Common Dreams at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/22-8

Sustainable Development Commission, available at: http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/pages/prosperity-without-growth-background.html

Image in cartoon taken from Microsoft pop art option in PowerPoint.