New Ideas ; Capitalism for Positive and Social Development
Okay, before I start, I want to acknowledge and state that my words here are not necessarily meant to imply the full existence of factual evidence of the hopes for a positive future I believe market-capitalism will be heir to. My words are based partly in naive optimism, as well as in good faith in the people ( don’t scold me realists and data-driven presenters !! Haha ).
To begin, I will simply define market-capitalism as interpreted and understood by the common person, and then describe a theoretical application of its fundamental principles toward the achievement of social, charitable and community/individual enhancement. These ideas, in general, will be fundamentally enhanced by new legislation and standards that are ( already ) coming in to enhance the social responsibility of corporations ( CSR, B/Benefit Corporation , JOBS act to enable crowd-funded equity and donation with a limit cap ) — of course these legislations and standards do not come without their own set of debated ideas and principles.
Market-capitalism, in its simple form, is a system and forum a government provides its citizens to perform business transactions with limited restriction and regulation ( laissez faire ), with the stated goal for the system’s participants to maximize individual, employee and shareholder profit and net revenue. In its complex form, market-capitalism becomes the agent of both the economic and political operation of a country , since capital and wealth inevitably flow toward and influence positions of bureaucratic and plutocratic power.
If left unchecked, the flaw of laissez faire market-capitalism is that it has no stated promise to the welfare of the labour / unemployed / impoverished class of people. In essence, the interests of the wealthy ( who on the surface level interpret themselves as the “job-creators”, since they control the market ) override the interests of the labour and poor class. This override is only possible if the wealthy class has a physical, psychological, biological, emotional and monetary means of oppressing the labour and poor class — in general it is the case the wealthy class possess at least a portion of these means — and this power dynamic dramatically exposes the flaw of unchecked market-based economies as it relates to the poor and labour class.
In its benevolent form, market-capitalism is meant to encourage the positive and moral aspects of business and business development — strong wages for the middle and poor class, employment security and safety, donation and charity programs to community development initiatives, and shareholder participation in the public forum of business ideas and social endeavors. Of course, the benevolent form of market-capitalism becomes the symbol of the theoretical application of market-capitalism’s fundamental principles toward the achievement of social, charitable and community/individual enhancement.
Residing on the theoretical moral conscience and good faith of the people, the principles of market-capitalism can be applied toward the positive and social development of the world. In a practical setting, however, it seems that the principles of market-capitalism alone are insufficient to form a practical basis and outcome of a humane agenda. — which is why Marxist principles of collective, social and labour equality become important to hold a structural check on the abusive power and nature of loosely regulated capitalist institutions and forums.
More to come in future posts.
