miércoles, 2 de diciembre de 2009

The essence of Capitalism might change, political economy theory

The financial system is the core of the Capitalism. Money is the God of the system.

The wealth is the money and not the material resources that stay in second place. This is the cause of the crisis and also the cause of the solution of the crisis.

The Capitalism fixes all its problems through a formula: the creation of money. With money you can buy anything. Everybody accepts money. But ---the evolution of the facts during the last years--- are demonstrating that perhaps those concepts ---that are the essence of Capitalism--- might change at mid term because of a new reality: the natural resources crisis.

Water, food and petroleum have begun to be scarce goods and during the year 2008 signs that confirmed those trends emerged.

By the year 2008 the price of those vital goods reached unbelievable averages and this contributed to accelerate the global recession. There is, then, a direct relation between the commodities price increase and the recession as was demonstrated during 2008.

The availability or the scarcity of natural resources will have an expression in their prices. Nevertheless, a moment might arrive when the money would not be enough for buying the scarce goods. In history there have been moments like these before. For example, during the Second World War, for people in Europe a small amount of salt, a potato, or a piece of bread had no price. Money had no value. True wealth was the food and the peasant was the richest. I know it because I had the testimony of European persons that lived that reality.

Will these situations repeat again?

If the financial system continues their failure and the economies continue their disdain for the real economy, the radicalization of the economic crisis might be a reality in the future, changing the essence of the capitalism.

The capitalism will survive, because its leaders resort to socialism measures when the system is in peril. The best examples are the policies applied by the governments of the United States and Western Europe to attack the financial crisis of the years 2008 and 2009.

But, it is possible that in the future the consequences for the capitalist regime would be different: the participation of the State in the rescued companies perhaps will remain ---creating a new form of Capitalism of State--- and a more effective system of the benefit distributions.

The crisis of 2008-2009 has demonstrated a new reality: that at long term, the private sector can not survive alone without the help of the State.
Other important lesson is that the State has the duty of exert a severe control over the private sector, especially over the financial system.

In the future a free capitalism without the participation and control of the State will not be possible. This fact will represent a total change of the political and economic concepts that have survived until now.

So far, the lovers of the free market can not explain and justify their thesis.
The reality ---the economic failures of the 20 century and the 21st century--- has proven that the free market has an insurmountable difficulty: the human being avidity for wealth; and that the participation and control of the State is necessary for guarantee the economic development of the society.

In practice, the financial system of the main developed countries is in the hands of the States that have given the necessary money for their survival. This reveals once more the failure of the free market policy.

Many leaders do not want recognize that failure and insist in maintaining the free market policy. But the reality is above all wishes and the truth is evident: the free market concepts can not be sustained without the support and the help of the States.

The free market is utopian. Even Adam Smith recognized that from a meeting of merchandisers can not result anything different than a conspiracy to enhance the prices.

The avarice does not have limits. The avarice is in contradiction with the global wellbeing of the society. For this reason the capitalism system must be reformed and must establish limits to the unlimited accumulation of wealth of some few groups in detrimental of the majority.

The leaders of the twenty most developed countries have recognized this reality and in the Summit of April 2, 2009 they expressed the necessity of adopting measures to exert a most severe control over the financial system in their countries, among other actions.

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