WORDS, WORDS and MORE WORDS

One of the good things about the present economic turmoil is the way one is forced, in the midst of the gloom, to come to grips with the operations of the holy of holies of the economic temple. For the uninitiated this is like a painful journey through a difficult maze. For the jargons are as numerous as they are mind-boggling in terms of a lay-person trying to make sense out of the intricacies of the operation our economic life.

Hence, we read of the “flight of capital”, the “dissipation of confidence”, “loss of faith”, “emerging economies”, “seizure in the credit market”, “globalised finance”, “economic fallout” “asset prices decline”, “asset bubbles”, “public debt”, “credit growth” and many more jargons and coded language. The bottom line however, is that as confidence dissipates there is costly pain all around, with the smaller and poorer nation (and poor people within nations) being the most vulnerable. In this situation it is not uncommon for the survival of the fittest to become the order of the day.

Indeed, the economy and our economic lives are in intensive care – though for those who have been affected the reality is more morgue-like. Neo-liberal capitalism and privatisation, we are told operate on the premise of profits for stakeholders. Yet, a most ironical fact is that it is public funds (that is, the money of tax payers) now being used to bail out private adventurers! And this is only one example of how public funds are used to fund private ventures. No wonder the word “private” in the Latin root has among its meanings that of “stolen”!

As the full impact of economic thievery continues to be revealed daily, we now hear, as one news report suggests, that the “R” word is on the lips and hearts of people who dictate our economies. And that “R” word is recession, as economies take a downturn.

There are, of course, other related “R” words that should also feature. There is “redundancy” as many lose their jobs, houses and much more. Regret is yet to genuinely flow forth from any of the lips. Responses of government can at best be likened to that of confused, dysfunctional and overprotective parents trying to pamper spoilt children by creating more bubbles in the bubble bath to cool down panic, divert attention and cloud reality. And the greatest challenge remains that of radically rethinking our economic lives so that the common good will be more than good: it will be just!

© copyright Jagessar November 2nd, 2008

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