Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Radical Solutions for Difficult Times

12th-century icon of Archangel Gabriel from No...Image via WikipediaLexcen is always keen to offer his advice to leaders in government. My ideas are invaluable as they are free.
We are all aware of the economic demise that has struck the world economy.
We are all aware that climate change threatens our very existence.
We know that world poverty is unacceptable and must be addressed.

Here is where the radical solutions for difficult times comes to the fore.

In a dazzling moment of revelation to equal that of the archangel Gabriel speaking to that illiterate gigolo in the land of camel jockeys and towel heads comes the revelation of Lexcen.

When the blindfold was removed and the brilliance of the light of a thousand suns overwhelmed him, Lexcen was struck dumb with the idea that had the power to change the world.
In a word, the word was PRIVATIZATION.

And it came to pass that Lexcen would walk amongst the poor and the powerful as an equal and preach the word nay the gospel of PRIVATIZATION.

It was time for governments all around the world to sit up and take note. Privatize the economy.If privatization was good, then too much privatization was not enough.
And the people cried hail Lexcen, for the word of the invisible hand has been spoken through the prophet Lexcen.
Privatization of all economies would be our savior. Privatization would end world poverty and repair the sub-prime crisis. Hail Lexcen.
Privatization would take care of the environment and reduce greenhouse gases. Hail Lexcen.
Privatization would cause an end to world conflict and nations would co-operate like never before in the spirit that is the invisible hand.

Hail Lexcen, for the message has been revealed and in the words of the other great prophet, "for the times they are a changing".
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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

...and this addresses the problem of world poverty how? Shouldn't we all wallow in the impoverished state of the least common denominator by eliminating the concept of property and holding all our possessions in common? How can the Rawlsian man live with himself knowing that there's no "social justice" in privatization unless certain pre-conditions have been met (see the 2nd principle)?

Change. Yes we can. Believe, hon!

Lexcen said...

alice, if the invisible hand is to be believed, then the trickle down effect of economic growth will take care of the poor. As the capitalists pursue their profits, the trickle down effects will create opportunities for the poor through employment to improve their lives.
I don't believe in communism. I also don't believe in the invisible hand. My opinions aren't embedded in any ideological bias. I do wonder at the paradox of governments that subscribe to the invisible hand belief, advocate privatization while they legislate incessantly and interfere in the natural course of the economy.
As for social justice, it reeks of overtones of socialism.

Anonymous said...

You say that you don't believe in the "invisible hand" yet you rely upon it to take care of the poor (trickle down). How can that be?

Lexcen said...

alice, I'm merely stating what the ideology encompasses. For example, privatization is supposed to be more efficient than a government owned organization. Do I believe that? Not necessarily. In Australia we have private toll roads that depend on government regulations to make them profitable. It's called public/private enterprise. To me it's either black or white. If you believe in the invisible hand, then WTF is government doing interfering in international trade with trade restrictions,tariffs,farming subsidies etc.? If you believe in the invisible hand then you should let General Motors collapse under its own weight and allow the market to distribute resources efficiently - probably allowing the Japanese motor industry to rule the world. If you believe in the invisible hand, then the sub-prime crisis should never have happened because the government should not have been interfering in the mortgage loan market.
If you believe in the free market then you should welcome recession as a market correction and do nothing to boost the economy. Therefore I say, privatize the economy and be done with it. If your concerns are social justice, then certainly address that issue but leave the economy to run itself. That is the belief of the free market advocate, not my personal belief.

Anonymous said...

What is your personal belief, then?

I personally believe that an admixture of public and private actors is a good thing, provided the public sphere can resist the temptation to constantly meddle around the edges so as to pick individual winners and losers in the game (as they were trying to do w/subprimes and as they do with minority set-aside contracts).

In other words, I think the invisible hand works fine so long as the public sphere keeps it simple AND keeps it's damn thumbs off the scales trying to tilt the playing field and create specific economic outcomes for individual private players by constantly changing the rules of the game in mid-play.

The invisible hand, as it functions today, is a protean shape shifter who's constantly building procrustean beds, selecting and tying down specific victims, sawing off their limbs and then reattaching those limbs to a favored corporate hecatoncheire burning the bed, and then repeating the process.

Lexcen said...

FJ, I agree with you. But, government and business working towards the same objective separately is good whilst public/private enterprise usually cloaked in secrecy is open to corruption.

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