By Vader (Rommel R. Ortega) / rommelortega@gmail.com
Adam Smith’s (Author of the book Wealth of Nations) insights into Capitalism gave the Capitalists solid theoretical foundations for their “gospel” since 1776. As far as I could remember, he observed that daily meals are served on our tables not because vendors are altruists, but because of their concern for their well being. In short, for the profits they will have by serving food to us.
The impression, at first glance, was correct. But as a student of human interactions, economics, sociology, community, and faith (among many disciplines); I came to a conclusion that what Adam Smith observed was a visible human hand and not an invisible one. What he probably could have written better was the invisible mind.
The invisible mind is a phenomenon that none could have truly said to have seen, touched, smelt, heard or tasted. Perceived could be the closest to validating the existence of the invisible mind. My piece here, though, is not to dwell into the philosophical arguments about the existence or non-existence of the mind. Though for the benefit of my writing as well, I assumed the existence of the mind. And not only of the mind, but of the Universal Mind. (The prayerful will like what I am writing about).
Having written that, let us put the mind into work in economics. Supposing a person’s eyes have seen the lack of taxis in the Philippines. For example, a person visited our place while there was a typhoon, he experienced the shortage of taxis, since many drivers opted to have their rest. So the visitor thought there was a scarcity of taxis in the country – of which his assumption proved him correct after he invested in a taxi company: the returns to his investments were substantial.
Could we say that they were the invisible eyes or the invisible mind of the person?
My piece should say that it was the invisible mind. The entrepreneurial mind perceived the lack of taxis, what the eyes saw were the roads empty of taxis, but the economic decision was of the mind. It would also follow with what Adam Smith perceived. The visible eyes and hands are not without usages though. The management book The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business, gave us the perspective of the usages of superior brain and excellent dexterity. The book could not have written about superior brain or dexterous hands but they are my take on Management – it requires them.
I’ll give a context to this, when Adam Smith proposed or saw the division of labor, he observed the most economical way of producing things thus far during his time. He knew that both economics and mathematics would revolutionize the production of many things in the world through division of labor. Production surely increased but the efficiency that owners and managers were looking for was increased even more by the insights of Frederick Taylor – the Father of Scientific Management Thought and Movement.
What I want to say is that Capitalism was fueled by thinkers and their disciples who put their thoughts into down-to-earth actions: the Mind Over Matter truth. From these perspectives, I could continue to write that the United States was and remains a good soil for these types of ideas and innovations – they are very practical and pragmatic. In a glimpse of their history, they do not have a “Revolution” but an Independence Movement and the American Civil War. The ideas (of Smith and Taylor) though were only effective and would provide improvements when nurtured in a conducive environment that has sufficient freedom to express and articulate themselves.
In contrast to the Socialists, let me name Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and the Kim family of North Korea. There could be freedom in their domains but it was not enough to debate eccentric ideas and articulate them to produce a Supercomputer or a Quantum Computer. They would say, but China has them. Yes, she has but on the historically known borrowings of ideas and technologies from the United States. Again, Hitler for example, the Nazi (National Socialists) Germans thought that the atomic bomb was not doable. The Americans beat them to it. Why? Because ideas could be debated and articulated in the American realms. In fact, Einstein was a German-Jew who fled Germany and so many other German-Jew scientists who had eccentric ideas. Of course, because of the US resources too.
I knew of a person, very dear to me, who has socialist leanings and I told her: “We can make solar farms in the Metro.” She replied, “We don’t have enough land to make that in the city.” Without listening, she considers me a special case of a nut. My idea is to put solar panels on rooftops of qualified houses in the metro and make the panels produce energy then distribute them to the electrical grids.
In conclusion to this part, it would be hard on me to judge the socialists so far as they always have arguments; but for the time being, let us enjoy Capitalism and make it produce the envisioned Green Commune. Also, is Socialism the inevitable end of Capitalism? Probably if not most likely. Another one, the US is a case, from my perspective, of “incremental revolutions” toward collectivized living.
***A friend told me that Cuba and North Korea are heavily sanctioned countries and therefore cannot grow like South Korea, Singapore or Taiwan.
More on American Capitalism in the series.
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