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Is the current economic system inherently corrupt? If so, how do we go about dismantling it? by Glen |
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by Kamal Boullata | 0 votes | 
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Kigge Hvid: I have to pose another question? Is it corrupt, how do you find it corrupt, and which economic system are you discussing? Is it the system of South Africa? Is it the system of the States? Is it the Danish system where I come from? Or, is it in fact the global system you are talking about? If it’s a global system, I think what you're aiming at as corruption is the fact that people are not equally rich around the world or have their basic needs covered in the same way around the world. If this is what you are aiming at and you are asking how should we dismantle that, I think it's a question of new thinking, of new planning. So, how do we do that? We engage people around the world. Basically, there is no one else than people,; there is no one else than us to find out how to solve these problems. Right now, I see a lot of new thinking in the world. I see a lot of very very skilled people from very different fields of professional skills getting together in the world to look into the very big problems. So, one thing we could do is that if you read the UN 2050 Millennium Goals, look into them. They are the voices of 190 or something states leaders of around the world put by them to be the biggest problem in the world. Look into them, look into how you could, how your community could, how the people you work with, how your university, how your job could help solve these problems. I sincerely believe that we have the knowledge to solve the problems and to find other and very much better systems. The only thing that’s needed now is that all the good voices of the world, all the good thinking of the world comes together and look into these problems. So, take care -- no, take part, take care and just start it. by Kigge Hvid |
Kurt Weidemann: Bribery is an illegal consequence of the human claim to power. This means that you are able to make better progress if you grant advantages to those who can help you to reach power, wealth or whatever. These advantages make them submissive. This is an attitude, which is damaging to competition. This attitude is connected to the character of the person who has not enough consistency, who has not enough pride to use the means of competition. Instead they are trying to reach their goals by activities which are undesirable and which should not correspond to the dignity and the reputation of human beings. You can always stop a thing by punishment. Stop it by potential punishment. |
Lesego Rampolokeng: Living in an imperialist world means indeed we are pushing values that are inherently corrupt, that are rotten at their core. And, how we go about dismantling that is by placing a bomb right in the middle of where it sits and blowing it up which means taking ourself with it. I don’t think it’s even worth asking whether it is inherently corrupt when we throw bombs on sectors of the world in those places that we think we can get wealth out of. Is the current economic system inherently corrupt? Well, the sand is bleeding, you know. The rivers of the African Continent are forever reddened. Is the current system inherently corrupt? First of all, it was built on the belief that in order to be able to breath you need to pollute, in order to fill your coffers you need to have bones -- human bones that you can build vaults out of. The current economic system is more than just inherently corrupt. It is indeed taking on its own dying breath and it will ultimately collapse inward. I believe that it will be seriously romantic and really lacking in any alliances to think that one day we will hold hands like Martin Luther King wanted and seeing ourselves out of poverty, seeing ourselves out of denigration and dehumanization and human lack. As long as you are governed by ogres and animals that believe that the world only belongs below them and beneath their own feet and between their claws and… |
Leung Ping-Kwan: I am not so sure whether the current economic system is inherently corrupt. There are a lot of problems with the current economic system, but it is not as defective. I also see problems in just go about dismantling it. Because I think you can see that in the top issue of China or other socialist country, in order to go against capitalist, the economic system that they are proposing, the auto exchange equity that would also help us for the country and for the people as well. I always want the record to personally would be to just dismantle once itself in order to accept this and other issues. I would wonder whether revolution will be the best way or whether or not either rules have changed or we will or we back up on the problem. They think they have problem. In order to modify or just change it would not be better and just to dismantle existing system. We also see a lot of thieves in the name of correcting,dismanteling, or corruption but while in practice it could also lead to other kinds of problems. So, I have doubts about dismantling one’s system and illegitimately replacing with a new system. I think the best way would be to review the present system and actually identify what are the corrupt or the problems or the [reasons] and not to modify or to change it. |
Lijun Fang: After people have fresh food, the food becomes decaying excrement in a short time. Then, the society is like an enlargement of a human body. Since the excrement and the decaying are supposed to be parts of the human's natural behaviour, why do we need to dismantle the corruption? Probably, our more important responsibility is how to make such corruption more beneficial to the whole society and lead it into a healthy order. by Lijun Fang |
Lillian Holt: Essentially, yes I would say. The current economic system and we're all caught up in it aren't we? And I do see and I do believe that it is corrupt in some way when you have the haves and the have-nots. I mean in Australia, where I come from, it's a first world country and yet there's still poverty there. There is certainly poverty among the indigenous people but I'm not just talking about indigenous people. There are poor working class people. So the economic system it always seems to me about a hierarchy and within that is incorporated the haves and the have-nots. How can we go about dismantling it? Well, as Einstein said and I reiterate the quote before that I said about him. He said the language they used to build the system will not be the language that we will use to dismantle it. In terms of dismantling, how can we help? I know a friend of mine who's just given up a big house because her family has grown up and she's chosen to go into a smaller. She said my way of not participating in what she sees as a corrupt system and she's talked about the economic and political system, especially the political socio economic system, is not to partake of it or to participate in it only to the extent that she had to survive and I really admire that person for that because she wasn't into consumerism. She wasn't supporting it and by living more simple she just refuses to participate in it and I think that's what we have to do. You know, we can say hey enough is enough. by Lillian Holt |
Livingstone Maluleke: Yes, the current economic system that was inherited mostly in South Africa is corrupt. It is corrupt because this economic base was only focusing on individuals of the same, or which of course is in the minority. Only the minority with capitalistic-incident countries and; therefore, in South Africa for an example, after the change of the many laws governing the country, there is what we called the BEA (which is the Black Economic Approach), which is an approach focusing to embrace as much people in the majority as possible. And, it is for that reason that this system of the majority inclusion in the economic empowerment is imperative. That is the only way in which we can be able to dismantle the former system. Thank you. |
Mae-Wan Ho: The current economic system is not only corrupt, it is basically wrong and misguided. And, it is the most damaging thing on earth today. That’s what leads to the over consumption of the earth’s resources that has brought on climate change. Of course, it needs a bit of assistance from science and technology. But, with this kind of mindset guiding economics, then science and technology become powerful instruments of exploitation and devastation and which is the situation we have today. Well, how do we go about dismantling it? I suggest that what we should do is to grow our own food, consume locally, trade services locally, use local currency, and just get out of the corporate machine. And, what we have to have is a system of global exchange of information, of knowledge, free exchange of resource with -- of intellectual resources in order to enable us to maximize investing in the local economy and in the local circular economy. And that’s how we can overcome this current economic system. by Mae-Wan Ho |
Mahsa Shekarloo: Which current economic system, and what corruption? Morally corrupt? Is it legally corrupt? It’s certainly morally corrupt. -- How do you dismantle it? Well, one way you do it is you don’t buy their products. Refuse. -- This is what the consumer can do. Refuse. Boycott. |
Mark Benecke: Every structure made by human beings centers around gathering and protecting goods. Now if you define corruption as finding shortcuts to retaining whatever you collected, then corruption is an evolutionary trait. Because initially, especially higher animals, vertebrates, but also other animals, but mostly vertebrates, they will take care of their family and their kin and their relatives first. Now corruption is the same thing. It means you are trying to find quick paths and shortcuts with people you know. So, usually, you are bribing somebody not just to get something done, but also in the end to build up a network structure and it's a buddy system between buddies. So every system made by human beings will always fall for corruption if you don't socially control it a lot. Now, for social control, there has to be a need, so first corrupt structures have to damage something. They have to damage a structure. Very obviously, once a structure is really damaged by corruption, this will be corrected automatically, because then the corruption will be found and eliminated. That’s an evolution process. Many corrupt structures were actively built, like organized crime structures, and they were built in many cases like the Mafia structures, with the knowledge of the people in power. They were part of the system by either just knowing it or not doing anything against it or profiting from it. So, I guess corruption will always take place and it's not a basic problem as long as somebody will really take care of it. by Mark Benecke |
Martin Almada: Yes, capitalism based on human exploitation by humans, leads to the corrupt character of the economic system, besides that the system is inherently corrupt. There can be and there must a fairer and more solidary version of the model. For example, an ethnic code should be introduced for the multinational companies that take up residence in the third world countries. Because they are societies creating lobbies and they succeed in establishing in our countries corrupting our civil servants. For this reason it is very important to draft a juster and more solidary model for the third world countries. |
Masami Saionji: Will structure of current economy be the thing which really collapses? Certainly if this goes as it is, I think it will surely collapse. If we don't know the most important truth of human nature, then those of people with wealth, power, rich country, and a country having a nuclear will be stronger and stronger following their insatiable desire, and then a difference with the rich and powerful countries and the poor and powerless countries widens. Then conflicts between people occurs, and economy gets in the similar situation, it breaks down and gets worse and worse. Therefore because current economic system pursues profits, the winner gets the profit in his hand and loser becomes poorer. And in the present economical system, every global environment sacrifices itself for people's insatiable desire. To sell a lot of products every factory produces waste and poison, which violates our viewpoint, and then we loses ourselves, our life itself, and the fact of living itself. Therefore such an economic system gradually dismantles itself. So from now on, the economy should be the one which is a really good environmental economy for the earth. |
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by Masuma Bibi Russel | 0 votes |
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Mayank Mehta: Current economic system, I don’t think we have just one economic system. We have many economic systems. We have several economic systems in small countries. We have different economic systems in terms of corporations. And then, we have the world forum. So, perhaps, what you mean if I understand you right, is the world trade organization, which is perhaps the only global system that we can talk about in this context instead of many different ones. Yes, the world trade organization has many problems. It is governed by a couple of countries, a handful of them, which are very powerful and wealthy. The health and prosperity of a handful of country or rather a handful of corporations, and interest groups, in those handful of countries are taking the precedence over the global health of people in the world. And I don’t think that, yes it is true. In that sense, there is a fair amount of corruption or everybody’s interest is not being taken into account. Having said that, I don’t think the solution is to dismantle it, because the best thing should be to modify it, to keep the good things of this and get rid of the bad things. Most likely, and again I don’t know this, if this will work or not, the solution would be for us, all of us to get involved, educate, voice overviews peacefully, and let people know that it’s not okay for the [promise subsidies] in one country to hurt, a huge number of people in other countries. And that’ll be a good thing to let everybody live, really truly in an open economic system. by Mayank Mehta |
Michael E. Tigar: Yes, it is; and you in Cape Town probably understand better than many the ways in which it is corrupt and must be changed. I spent a great deal of time in South Africa, both during the apartheid period and after the release of Nelson Mandela from prison. And I have been impressed by the ways in which social struggle in South Africa to bring a greater measure of equality and non corruption has been progressing, although I must say that you see, and because I do from a distance, the dangers that lurk there. The system is corrupt because it is not expressly designed to serve the needs of the people who depend upon it. When the World Bank or International Monetary Fund extend credit accommodations to Third World countries, they condition it upon the dismantling of systems, of social welfare. When major, private corporations acquire control of parts of any economy, they act to break down organizations of workers. The World Trade Organization, the NAFTA, our own North American so called free trade area, the European Union; all of them seek as a part of their mission to break down localized controls, localized protections of the rights of workers, the rights of women, the rights of the disabled. For me, I have listened to my comrades in the African National Congress and I believe that the answer lies in socialism. I think that it is time to address fundamentally the distortions that have occurred as a result of the private ownership of the means of production, including in the Third World particularly, the domination and distortion of the potentially very rich and bountiful economies of Third World countries in the interest of corporate chieftains in the first world. So, that is our common interest. |
Michael Laitman: We must reveal the egoism present in each of us as the source of all evil, we must come to desire to use everything that we have from nature only in order to come to good, and we must understand that the good depends on our society. Through globalization, we see how much we depend on each other. This will still become more revealed in the close future: how much every one of us depends on everyone else, down to the fact that if other people, who are not under my control, will not want to be benevolent towards me, then I will not have the right to exist. If I and each one of us will understand this to such a degree, then of course we will want to correct ourselves. If each person will know that he depends on everyone else, then he will want everyone else to be kind to him. In addition, he will know that others will express kindness towards him only on the condition that he expresses kindness towards them. If we succeed in understanding this mutuality—called the law of the mutual guarantee—then we will be able to arrange our life in such a way that our economic system will also change and begin providing everything for us in the best and most effective way. Then all of our interactions, including economic ones, will change in such a way that they will transform to benefit humanity. This depends only on one condition: for us to open our eyes and see that in nature, there exists a law of equality between everyone. Just like the physical and chemical laws of the still level of nature, or the biological and genetic laws of the animate level of nature, so in the nature of humanity there exists the law of life—the law of altruism. The cells of our body merit life only on the condition that every cell rejects itself and lives together with the whole body, providing it with everything necessary—in the same way, a person in society must, like a cell, provide everything for society. |
Michael P. Totten: I don’t think there is one economic system, and certainly it’s not inherently corrupt. It’s imperfect, it’s constantly evolving. There is constant feedback going on as new technological innovations can tap into new ways of developing resources and turning them into products and creating differential pockets of power that then accelerate and cause even more imbalances. We’ve certainly seen historically that when technology gets way out ahead of our social institutions and values it can cause severe disruptions, if we think back. I am obviously in favor of what is economically justified and it’s a sad stain on our humanity that we still have tens of millions of people worldwide who are enslaved. But for the most part, we’ve changed and evolved our economic systems, as we recognize that there is a moral imperative to do so. We are a long way from all of the changes that are necessary, and I am not sure we will ever reach anything like an optimal economic system. There will always be the potential for it to run into a negative pathway, as technological innovations continue to make some parts of society more powerful than others, and if those parts of society do not have a strong moral fiber, then they could use their wealth and power to continue to exploit their own desires and satisfactions and wants to the detriment of large parts of the world population. Again, I come back to the fact that we live at this venture for the first time in a globally connected society. The collapsing cost of computers and the connectivity that globally allows voices to be heard in virtually all countries now, even in rural villages where only a stand-alone, photovoltaic solar cell connected by satellite can have a breakdown. We can challenge many of these detrimental patterns--[Audio Ends] |
Mohammed Arkoun: It is corrupted for sure, Corruption has reached absolutely all societies, including the most democratic societies where the political control on the world of the economy and the manipulation of fortunes, of money, is very developed. And we encountered manipulations precisely within big businesses that correspond to a generalized despoliation of those who, for example, put their savings in stock markets, and then were told one day that the business completely underwent bankruptcy for reasons due to corruption. So there is something, a considerable danger that has grown in all socities. In the rich societies on a big scale as well as in poor societies which corruption makes even much poorer, and where the population is considerably weakened and cannot defend themselves since they don't have the political and legal rights that fully-fledged citizens in democratic countries can have while contesting, while posing the problem before the justice etc. They don't have any help. That's why corruption is the absolute bad matter of the century that made, alas, considerable damages and that even dismantles mentalities, because it discourages citizens and prevents them from developing hope to participate in equal opportunities, to be able to reach a decent life in societies, because of corruption. There are numerous countries that I know personally where one cannot even get for example a passport without paying money at all levels, from the guard who lets you enter a town hall or a police station. |
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