Wednesday, April 21, 2010Op-Ed by MP'Capitalism creates private wealth, but generates public squalor', wrote Karl Marx. We have seen so far, both communism and capitalism put to practice in their most extreme, violent brands in Cambodia.
It is imperative that public taxation system is introduced to counter some of the side effects of the ‘free market’ starting with corporate tax scheme of some sort which should be progressive and proportionate to corporate wealth and income. It is true that the country is trying to make itself attractive to foreign investors, but without a minimal public revenue system or trust with which to moderate the increased social polarisation between the haves and haves-not, it is unrealistic to hope for lasting stability and therefore securing long term investment needed for sustained growth and development. Further, it would be a grave mistake to try to enforce stability through violence; a practice the country has had since the conclusion of the civil war in the early 1990s.
I do not believe that most well to do folk and businesses really mind putting a fraction of their wealth back into society, provided their contribution goes towards combating social inequities and strengthening or fortifying an ordered, balanced environment based upon the Rule of law conducive to free legal market activity and all other manners of civic pursuit.
Free enterprise, like most things in life, can be a blessing to some, but a handicap to others. As Karl Marx's mother once noted, her son who wrote at great length on capital was unable to acquire any! Because some men are more adept than most at the art of making money, this does not necessarily follow that poverty is a result of idleness, lack of industry or personal malfunction in any way. 'Poverty' after all, describes more than man's material condition and should thus be more broadly defined to remind us all of our shortcomings.
With wealth comes the tendency to be ostentatious, the need to finance a life style driven by a perpetual compulsion to enhance one's social standing and club-ability by means of yet more material success and increased command of personal power through social stake or patronage. However, where rules are selectively applied and the playing field is inherently uneven, individuals, groups and associations do not compete for resources and opportunities on fair or equal terms, leaving much room for frictions to arise leading to abuses of bought power that could inevitably adversely impact on social harmony and stability, without which society can be said to exist in a state of genuine poverty, irrespective of the presence of the haves and haves-not.
Whether one looks to the past for guidance or to the future for inspiration, what still confronts society and pricks its conscience in between in the form of extreme want and deprivation ought not to be left to the whim of official indifference and inertia. Rather this state of affair should be a rallying point for all concerned to come together with a view to devising due and timely contingency plans for everyone's sake.
MP
