--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" <curtisdeltabl...@...>
wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, tartbrain <no_reply@> wrote:
>
> > What we have and are increasingly getting is cronyistic elitist statism --
> > which has NOTHING to do with free markets, particularly free markets at the
> > at the mom and pop micro level.
>
> Right on!
> >
> > I recently finished, and highly recommend, "Banker to the Poor" by the guy
> > who won the Nobel prize for his work in implementing and promoting
> > micro-finance for the world's poor. Its a breakthrough position, in my view
> > -
>
>
> Thanks for the book tip. I just put it on hold at my local "socialist"
> library! Guys like this are IMO, the true "spiritual" leaders of the world.
>
He and his message are quite amazing. The book starts with Bangladesh (his
birth place) claiming its own nationhood and his part of the struggle to free
from Pakistan -- which is interesting and inspiring. And goes on to his from
scratch, sustained effort, to lend small amounts of capital (yes capital, its
not a dirty word) to gut wrenching poor -- mostly women. And the success and
transformation of the lowest (economically) 10% of the world. He is quite the
deeply felt advocate for the world's poor. And he is scathing regarding
traditional banks, businesses, government programs. He is no mouthpiece for the
power-elites. Yet he firmly comes out in favor of market-based, small business
and job creation as the solution to world poverty NOT most government programs.
Very pro NGO, very anti World Development Bank / IMF.
While there are some critiques of micro-finance, some valid, some perhaps not
so much, this heart in this guy is huge and very inspirational. (And he is
Muslim -- which is an interesting side story -- given the sometimes rabid press
and invective thrown at Muslims.)
>
> >
> >
> > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues"
> > <curtisdeltablues@> wrote:
> > >
> > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, nablusoss1008 <no_reply@> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXDRNeCFxKQ&NR=1
> > >
> > > I understand that you are linking his themes with the Maharishi quote
> > > Nabby. But I see it a little differently.
> > >
> > > It isn't capitalism that Patel is targeting as much as free market
> > > dominant capitalism. All markets have a continuum of regulation and
> > > freedom. One of our biggest problems in the US is that our system of
> > > regulations is corrupted by special interest corporate lobbying. This
> > > allows some of our biggest corporations to act in a way that doesn't
> > > serve the public good and can even cause disasters like our credit
> > > markets.
> > >
> > > And yet the incentives created by freedom in markets are a fantastic way
> > > to get people moving, to create systems of profit that can end up
> > > benefiting society through job creation.
> >
> >
> > Excellent distinction. There is a tendency (or thinking below our full
> > potential) to generalize Captitalism (or is it Kapitalism,) with all
> > markets. Often there is actually little corellation.
> >
> > What we have and are increasingly getting is cronyistic elitist statism --
> > which has NOTHING to do with free markets, particularly free markets at the
> > at the mom and pop micro level.
> >
> > I recently finished, and highly recommend, "Banker to the Poor" by the guy
> > who won the Nobel prize for his work in implementing and promoting
> > micro-finance for the world's poor. Its a breakthrough position, in my view
> > -- giving copious red meat (ok red lentils) to both the right and left (a
> > defunct set of terms, in my view - how can politics and world view, world
> > and individual solutions be limited to one dimension?) Ending world poverty
> > by enabling the 10% of the population to create and grow their open
> > businesses -- getting out from under the hand of exploitative statist
> > mini-Kapitalists who control local politics and markets (an oxymoron -- who
> > control controlled transactions among unfree participants)and enabling the
> > disadvantaged to creatie wealth, dignity, skill base, and a much more
> > textured and robust economy.
> >
> > And then once again regulations assist so that an employer doesn't exploit
> > workers, which has not worked in all of our industries but has helped in
> > some. Looking at working conditions at the turn of the last century we can
> > see that some progress have been made.
> >
> > >
> > > For example we become shortsighted when we don't include our illegal
> > > alien workforce in our agro-business essentially thinking of them as not
> > > humans that we need to care about because they are not legally Americans.
> > > But we participate in the exploitation by buying food that is
> > > artificially cheap with no regard to the lives we are crushing with our
> > > food system. The same is true of our addiction to cheep clothes and
> > > other products made by countries with no worker protections.
> > >
> > > I believe that capitalism itself is not the problem but the way we have
> > > allowed it to function in our society needs adjustment. The people who
> > > argue for totally free markets as well as the people calling to an end of
> > > capitalism need to get closer together on the continuum of regulation and
> > > freedom which is the way our society works. No longer can we embrace
> > > extreme ideology on either side, because we have evidence that neither of
> > > them work.
> > >
> > > What I find compelling about the little I know about Patel's perspective
> > > (thanks to you) is that he seems to be approaching this with a reasoned
> > > appreciation of the virtues and limitations of both parts of the system.
> > > We need to make a more carefully reasoned choice about how we are going
> > > to mix these two concepts in our society rather than the random and
> > > corporate bullying style that has gotten us into trouble.
> > >
> > > America needs to change, but we also can't forget that people come to our
> > > country from all over the world because of our emphasis on free markets.
> > > Even if in practice we have not found the best balance to sustain us as a
> > > society yet.
> > >
> > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
