THE HYBRID OPTION

The concept of full employment through capitalism was always little more than a barely concealed lie.

Full communism is a nice idea in which everyone owns everything and shares the benefit, but you need perfect people for that.

Capitalism was always destined to see wealth rise to the top through continual pressure to keep costs down and profits up. The biggest costs by far to any business is its staffing costs, its labor. There have been capitalists who saw the benefits accruing through keeping their workers happy by providing a decent wage and other benefits, but they were few and far between.

On the subject of capitalism with a social conscience I recommend an hour’s research at least on each of the men below and their achievements in this respect:

Tomas Bata, Zlin, Czechoslovakia
David Dale, New Lanark, Scotland
George Cadbury, Bournville, England

These three men showed how you could make decent profits from good products while at the same time providing a decent life and income for your workforce.

On the whole though capitalism has not provided the engine for universal well being claimed for it by those who advocate its use independent of all other economic systems such as socialism.

However, the achievements of modern capitalism have been substantial in areas such as the provision of affordable devices that make life in the home far easier than was previously the case. This was especially true in the period around the time of the First and Second World Wars.

In addition to the above capitalism has steadily increased mobility, access to information and a plethora of reasonably efficient products and services. Capitalism has clearly produced increased wealth for an increasing number of people, particularly in relatively modern societies.

But I’d argue that the number of people provided a decent living through gainful work in a fully capitalist system will never approach 100%, and never even come close. Full employment is a pipe dream and this is increasingly obvious. The world will struggle to maintain present employment levels in the face of a rising world population and increase in use of artificial intelligence.

A report published this week by the World Economic Forum estimates that 87 million jobs will be lost forever during the next five years alone. It estimated that 97 million jobs “may emerge” to more than replace them. I do wonder where they found the optimism for the latter statement.

Capitalism without a universal basic income to provide a bedrock foundation for life is going to fail us. Resistance to the idea of a basic income for everyone (given to both those in work and those without) is clear. Though the idea has come of age in recent years and is talked about much more than when I considered it a vital solution some 25 years ago (which was not at all) it will have a tough time becoming reality.

In the meantime I would urge moving from the capitalist system we have now (and the hyper-capitalist system of the USA) to much more of a balanced mix of strictly regulated ethical capitalism and democratic socialism.

I have seen how in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos with socialist governments in charge have resisted the temptation to move from the family business model toward large corporations. If you travel through these countries you cannot help but notice how the basis of employment is oriented toward family businesses. The fact that Buddhism plays a large part in these societies also contributes to the feeling that there is greater stability, continuity and general well being there, albeit at a lower standard of consumer discretionary income, than in the West.

In China too where I have now traveled twice you can see the results of decade upon decade of central planning whereby millions have been lifted from poverty year by year.

‘The dramatic progress in reducing poverty over the past three decades in China is well known. According to the World Bank, more than 850 million Chinese people have been lifted out of extreme poverty; China's poverty rate fell from 88 percent in 1981 to 0.7 percent in 2015.’ (Wikipedia)

In my view, left to its own devices the capitalist system as it is generally understood now, will fail ever more dramatically in terms of:

Failure to provide jobs which have conditions allowing a satisfactory life to be lived (in the view of those employed).

Inability to provide an environment where reasonably contented citizens work together through cooperative and stable relationships with one another.

Fueling highly artificial and increasingly stressful and atomized societies where dissent rises inexorably producing violent blowback.

I see no chance of the kind of societies I believe people in their heart of hearts wish for, societies where cooperation is key and human to human interaction to better conditions is a natural part of everyday life. The exigencies of the modern workplace create stresses which obviate these possibilities in terms of time. Inclination is to focus the time you have on family matters or isolated pleasures. Not all problems associated with extreme individualism and isolation would be solved by moving to a hybrid economic system... there would also have to be a concurrent shift in emphasis from having to being and this would have to be embraced at every level from the topmost political elites to those on street level.

Striving always for more thinking “happiness” lies in the next purchase or the one after that, or the next pay rise, job offer or house sale is, I would say, an exercise in futility. The greatest joy in life, in my opinion, comes in interaction with others and the pursuit of positive goals together in an atmosphere totally outwith any financial considerations.
The Soviet Union was an attempt to resolve the questions surrounding wealth and poverty, elitism and penury, the haves and the have-nots, the 'Us and Them’ society that has plagued humankind since societies were first formed. Its failures were many and ultimately it collapsed out of internal contradictions and the weight of interminable pressure from a capitalist world that despised all it stood for.

We should not try to recreate the Soviet Union in the form it ultimately became nor even the way it was in its most ideal state in the early days of great national enthusiasm. Nationalization of everything from industries to farmlands did not effect the goals that this universal panacea system was designed for. Though there are a great many aspects of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact  that were indeed wonderful, hugely inspiring and successful ultimately their evolution was truncated through all the means, internal and external alluded to above.

A hybrid economic and political system would look something like this in my view:

A universal basic income would be provided to every adult individual irrespective of whether they were in employment or not.

Capitalist enterprises would be funded by a single state bank.

Capitalist enterprises would have to prove they are ethical through completely open accounting systems or be shut down temporarily for investigation.

There would be no speculators, only fully responsible company owners/directors and investors.

All utilities that provide essential services such as water, electricity, gas, healthcare, public transport and education would be in the hands of the state, never in private hands.

A ‘Be-All-You-Can-Be’ ethos would permeate all levels of government. This emphasis, away from requiring ever more economic growth, would gradually bring about a solid-state sustainable environment where being, not having was the constant motivating factor.

Emphasis would be placed on consuming less and living more. Low maintenance lifestyles would be advocated at all levels releasing citizens from the stresses of always earning more and buying more without limit in the hope of achieving “happiness”.

Emphasis would be placed on sharing resources across communities and of interactive help without reference to financial gain.

Emphasis would be placed on using the resources we have, never wasting them, always repairing, rarely renewing and recycling to the maximum.

Media would have a greater emphasis on education while retaining a high entertainment content. Violence would be reduced while the human body celebrated in an atmosphere devoid of prudery but also free of pornography.

Corruption of all kinds would be mercilessly dealt with in the knowledge that it by itself could destroy all the benefits found in a society built on cooperation and trust in others’ integrity.

A global vision of worldwide community would be fostered including all species and the preservation of the environments needed for the preservation of natural modes of life and culture.

A sharing of cultures worldwide devoid of prejudice, racism or xenophobia in the expectancy and promotion as a high priority of a universal basic income planet-wide.

This I recommend to you in a spirit of hope as the option open to us going forward as all other doors to the future we wish to see begin to close.