Who is to blame for the mess we are in?
The politicians?
Big business?
Both?
Or its all our own fault?
Mad is not the man who eats two cabbage pies,
but mad is the one who gives them to the man.
Bulgarian wisdom (don't count on it's relevance, but ignore it on your own risk)
The Tea (for lack of beer) Party will blame big government and unaccountability and they are to a great extent right. The OWS will blame big business and they too have a point. But it is like blaming the GPS if you don't know where you want to go. If your goal is clear then the deficiencies of the instruments to get you there would be more obvious. The main problem with government is not lack of efficiency but lack of effectiveness. It's no use to blame someone for wastefulness if you don't know the final goal. You cannot allocate resources if you don't have priorities, you cannot find the way if you don't know the destination. Once you know that you are looking for the Wizard of Oz the Yellow Brick Road becomes visible clearer than before.
Less regulation may seem like more freedom to its advocates by they should remember that free markets are impossible without a government guaranteeing private property and the critics of capitalism while right about the negative consequences from breathtaking inequality should keep in mind that when private property is compromised even worse inequality (Chinese, Cuban or North Korean style) emerges inevitably. The above are simple laws of how society works. By simple I do not imply insignificant but basic and solid to the extent that further attempt to disprove them will be rightfully considered waste of time. I will restate them:
1. There is no democracy without free markets.
2. There is no free market economy without democracy.
3. There is no freedom without both of the above being in place.
But if the goal setting is the most important part of the politico/economic process how do we go about setting them?
Here the answer cannot be simple because the goals must incorporate the interests of each and every citizen. Market and Politics work differently. When buying or selling it is the customer peculiar preferences that come to the surface. In a democracy on the other hand it is the same peculiar, individual, pesonal interests that are most important but they are negotiated in a manner appealing to some common, overarching interest. That has let some to believe that this commont interest is above personal interest and that is the worst political error with the gravest consequences as has been proven by the actions of Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot among others. Private, individual interest always has the priority and only by protecting and respecting it is possible to formulate and protect a common course of action that wouldn't turn against those who it is supposed to benefit.
Therefore it is not politicians and big business who are to blame. It's me and you – equally. Perhaps to a certain extent it's more my fault than yours. Think about it. Tell me what you think.
