by Naresh Jotwani
The dominant feature of the current version of ‘capitalism’ is limitless greed (see the post here). From intellectual curiosity, and of course also in one’s interest, one needs to study the ‘macro-behaviour’ of this beast in an objective, dispassionate manner. This post is such an attempted study.
Limitless greed – which is the exact opposite of contentment – is an overpowering affliction of the mind. Minds afflicted in this manner seek to maximize their ‘return on capital’ through all possible means — financial tricks, legal and semi-legal acts, false ideologies, hyped narratives, favourable legislation, armed conflict, bribery, cronyism, blackmail, dubious enterprises … and more. Anything goes, because the beast is, quite literally, out of control.
To a mind consumed with greed, a human being is only a potential source of profit, no different from a head of cattle (see Note 1). Conveniently constructed false narratives prevail at every moment. Life as a whole becomes only a false narrative – and truth an obstacle to be overcome.
Limitless greed does not ever admit any responsibility or obligation to others, and therefore it erodes trust and cohesion. However, the majority of people in any society do prefer to live with trust and cohesion. This clear contradiction implies that there cannot ever be a society comprising only of the greedy. The greedy can only survive as parasites on a functioning host society (see Note 2).
In the Indian context, one can imagine a village in which a greedy money-lender is cleverly plying his trade; but one cannot imagine a village made up solely of money-lenders! Whom would they entrap and cheat?😉
In the prevailing hype of ‘capitalism‘, however, being obsessively greedy is seen as being ‘smart’ – and also as somehow enriching the society. This false aura of ‘smartness’ is cleverly promoted. Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell moved in the greediest and the supposedly ‘smartest’ of circles.
The wealth on which the greedy are constantly feeding comes from the host society – or societies, if one takes a global view. To survive, the host and the parasite both need sustenance – but the latter is far, far more ravenous on a per capita basis, indeed insatiably so. To satisfy the parasite’s insatiable greed, the host economy must either (a) have colonies to exploit or, (b) absent the colonies, gradually become a Ponzi scheme of internal exploitation.
Champions of ‘capitalism‘ argue that it is the only salvation for a society. They argue vehemently against ‘socialism’ – but offer only ill-defined ‘strawman’ arguments to block any attempt to discover the underlying reality.
Nonsense phrases such as ‘survival of the fittest’ make up the mumbo-jumbo which justifies greed. Such incessant hype and gaslighting serve only to confuse the host society. When it comes to bailing out cronies, the sacrosanct mantra of ‘survival of the fittest’ is conveniently memory-holed.
Is there an alternative to greed? What are the building blocks of a healthy, happy society?
Imagine a committed craftsman, farmer, artisan, engineer, doctor, teacher, manager or soldier. Can the quality of his work survive greed? Would greed not cause the person to cut every corner that he can? The creation of a valuable, excellent product or service requires a high degree of skill, hard work and patience. Greed will inevitably cause quality to be compromised.
Humanity’s most useful discoveries and inventions have been made by scientists and engineers – not financial bigwigs. The latter have generally hired and exploited the former.
USA has undergone many such these changes in recent decades. Its economy has become hugely financialized, while manufacturing has suffered. Even then, that failing country is today the most vehement champion of ‘capitalism‘ on the planet. The ideology provides an alibi to the greed.
The current POTUS flaunts his limitless greed brazenly, as indeed do all other greedy so-called ‘western elite’. To keep the Ponzi financial schemes going and milk the economy for all it is worth, many clever financial tricks are employed, such as:
• Money printing to sustain the illusion of wealth;
• Credit creation using other people’s wealth as collateral;
• Highly leveraged positions to magnify potential profit;
• Venture capital which aims to milk technology to the maximum;
• Trade wars, in futile attempts to reverse the decline;
• Armed conflicts aiming at resource grabs;
• Stock market which operates to create a fake ‘wealth effect’ and milk millions of ordinary investors;
• Health & pharma sectors which milk the captive market of patients;
• Education which exploits youngsters’ desire for a decent life;
• Huge defence budgets created after inflaming public fears.
All these characteristics in USA do not point to sustainability. ‘Back to basics’ seems to be indicated — but not likely to come about, because that life has moved far away from basics.
VERY WELL! ALRIGHT! SO WHAT? Granting all that, does this ‘study of the beast’ have any practical utility for those who are not victims of limitless greed?
The late Henry Kissinger moved in ‘the smartest’ and the greediest ‘western elite’ circles. Possibly Kissinger’s most well-known quote is this: It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be a friend is fatal.
The quote is cited by Kissinger’s admirers in the US in a tone of gushing admiration: See, how witty and smart our Henry was! Didn’t I tell you? I lived only a few blocks away from his apartment in New York! Once I actually touched his coat sleeve as he was leaving the Waldorf!
That may be alright for a gushing Kissinger fan to say – but others can draw far more useful lessons from that quote. Applying cold logic to the quote forces these conclusions upon the inquiring mind:
• A country should stop trying to be a ‘true friend’ of USA; there is no such thing.
• Instead, a country can aim to be a fake friend or a wary friend, ever mindful of the possibility of being backstabbed.
• In effect, Kissinger admits that only friends can be backstabbed, not adversaries. How can this clear implication ever be missed by anyone?
A few other conclusions follow from observations of recent history:
• Do not be eager to become ‘an insider’ of ‘western elites’; the eagerness is a vulnerability which will be coldly exploited.
• Play hard to get, not ‘an easy buy’. Raise your game.
• Watch, analyse, plan, execute, keeping all options open.
• Perform careful SWOT analysis on USA, using data in public domain.
• Swagger is not strength. Behind every swagger lies a weakness. Find the weakness behind the swagger. Warren Buffett does not swagger; Donald Trump does.
In dealing with USA, at present it seems that China has been playing its cards far more patiently and skilfully than other countries.
Games of the greedy: A financial Ponzi scheme relies on leverage. Say a person or company has clear amount X of investable funds. In search for higher returns, 4X is borrowed against equity X. The investable amount thereby increases to 5X. An asset worth 5X is purchased. The asset manager again leverages five times the invested amount of 5X, making the nett investable amount 25X. The chains of leverage can grow longer. As long as events and trends favour ‘the leveraged bet’, everyone in a leverage chain makes easy money.
When tens of millions of people play the game of leverage, the financial structure is a Ponzi scheme, or house of cards. It is in the nature of a Ponzi scheme that it must grow. But when growth slows, problems occur. Equity ratios on leveraged positions must be maintained against falling prices. If defaults occur, the house of cards comes crashing down. We know what happens next. Well-connected ‘elites’ are bailed out. They are politically ‘the fittest’, you see!😉
Note 1: A bit of psychological analysis suggests that even the greedy person’s self-perception is that of only ‘an instrument for generating ever more wealth’. That is, the fact of being only an instrument is not hidden from the person. In effect, greed has chained the guy to the ever-running treadmill of making more and more wealth.
Note 2: Internationally famous economist Prof. Michael Hudson has written a book with the title Killing the Host. The sub-title is: How Financial Parasites and Debt Destroy the Global Economy. Prof. Hudson has been, and might still be, an economic advisor to the Chinese government.
seeker-of-root-causes 