The Isms.

Monday, October 27, 2008

I was going through my book in which I recorded quotes of various authors that interested me as I read their books. I call the book collection of thoughts. This I have been maintaining for close to four decades.

Following the recent financial melt down, as they call it, there have been talks of capitalism coming to an end, and socialism being revived etc., etc., my friend Bobster posted an interesting blog- We have always been a socialist nation - (referring to America) in the Austin American-Statesman. His blog received as many as 27 comments as of writing this blog of mine. They were all interesting to read.

This reminded me the quotes of famous trial Lawyer, Late Louis Nizer, who summed up all the Isms in a humourous way in his book - Between you and me. Here they go:

Socialism: If you have two cows, you give one to your neighbour.

Communism: If you have two cows, you give them to the Government, and the government then gives you some milk.

Fascism: If you have two cows, you keep the cows; give the milk to the government, and then the government sells you some milk.

Nazism: If you have two cows, the government shoots you and keeps the cows.

Capitalism: If you have two cows, you sell one and buy a bull.

That BULL took a beating at the Wall Street, and similar ilk tumbled the world over.

Here is a lesson to be learnt. No one ISM lasts longer. Since World War II, the above mentioned Isms hitherto followed by different countries fell down as each surged ahead with its own developmental plans that did not stand with the passage of time.

As we all know that in modern times, the economy of a country determines its status as a developed or a developing country. That course of economy is largely influenced by the type of governance a country adopts. In other words, there is always a remote control that steers the economy. We have all seen the chaotic conditions the American economy is now in due to forces of market economy that went unregulated. The government had to step in with a bail out package.

The HINDU in its print edition of 25^th October, 2008 reported that Alan Greenspan, The former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman opined that the global financial crisis has exposed a mistake in the free market ideology. He admitted to a congressional committee saying I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms.

I still feel free market ideology is preferable as it brings forth innovation, competitiveness, entrepreneurship and efficiency. But, it needs constant supervision and periodical checks in the form of regulations with government assuming the role of a watchdog. In other words Systems have to be strong.

So, a combination of Isms is required to make a strong economy. What Ism is to be applied depends upon each segment of the economy. The finance sector needs to be operated under strict supervision and regulations. I would call this tightfistism.

Viewed at a micro level, we all run our house affairs with those well defined isms. Think calmly, and I hope you agree with my views.