I
heard an interesting BBC podcast today, featuring Michael Sandel, a
political philosopher at Harvard. The good professor has written a
book entitled What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets. In
this he warns that giving free rein to markets, even if
they do deliver the material goods, comes at the cost of giving up a
part of our soul. "We have", he says, “drifted from
having a market economy to
being a market
society”. Putting this another way - "The
most fateful change that unfolded in the last three decades was not
an increase in greed. It was the expansion of markets, and of market
values, into spheres of life where they don't belong." As Sandel
concludes: "The question of markets is really a question about
how we want to live together. Do we want a society where everything
is up for sale? Or are there certain moral and civic goods that
markets do not honour and money cannot buy?" The
Guardian's review of the book can be
found here. By the way, Prof. Sandel is not a socialist.
As
if to point up the accuracy of Sandel's thesis, on the day I heard the podcast I read that people who'd been honoured with the
opportunity to carry the Olympic flame a couple of hundred metres in
the UK were selling on eBay the torches they'd been able to buy
cheaply. In one or two cases, at prices in excess of 100,000 pounds.
Why, when there are dozens of them up for grabs???
Well,
I did predict that Mr Sandwich wouldn't last very long. And,
sure enough, there was a closure this week. Except it wasn't Mr
Sandwich but the noodle place called Wokon (almost) next
door.
Another
thing I enjoyed today was a podcast on Spain which included a positive
assessment of the Spanish economy. From a British economist. The only
real serious problem, he insisted, was the troubled and opaque banking
industry, creating the risk the banks would need to be bailed out.
However, he saw the ECB as capable of rising to the challenge. There was mention
of corruption, nepotism and croneyism as factors which hold back the
growth of the economy. But, somehow, I can't see Sr Rajoy appearing
on TV to pledge that his government will stimulate meritocratic growth by cracking
down on - if not totally eliminating - all three of these. There was
also reference to Spain's bloated civil service, with its
administrations at central, regional and provincial level, all
stuffed with the PP party placemen who replaced the PSOE government's
placemen after their election victories late last year. Amusingly,
the British historian, Paul Preston, said that 13 of Spain's 17
Regions ('Autonomous Communities') have no historical validity. But, again, I can't see any of them disappearing, however much they've overshot their budgets and run up colossal debts.
Talking
of corruption . . . The President of Bancaja resigned suddenly
yesterday and was immediately replaced by someone who's been charged
with fraud and corruption after running the Banco
de Valencia into the ground.
Only in Spain?
Just
going back to commercial excess - I heard a TV ad last night which
seemed determined to convince us that women are strong. As a prelude
to telling us that, therefore, they sweat. Just like all those men who
used to be strong but have now been quashed by the legions of Amazons
that now dominate us.
Finally
. . . I'd just like you to know that: We are not old; we are
recycled teenagers. Don't know who coined this. But, thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment