What do we want to see emerge from this greatest crisis of capitalism in 70 years?

Excerpts from a recent article published in Guardian, UK by Timothy Garton Ash ...

"What do we want to see emerge from the greatest crisis of capitalism for 70 years? If I had to answer in a single phrase, I would say: new models for a sustainable social market economy. This requires us to change as well as our states.

Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, has observed that today's big private banks are global in life but national in death. When it comes to the bailout, it's the national government most directly concerned that takes the lead. And that means us, national taxpayers, picking up the bill.

Yet all this talk of states and systems is only half the story. It was the conduct of individual human beings that led us into this mess, and it is the behaviour of individuals as well as the structuring of systems that has to change.

Bottom line :

"More than 30 years ago, Daniel Bell explored in his Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism the paradox that the dynamism of capitalism depends on individuals living by somewhat different values in their personal lives as producer and as consumer.

Extending Max Weber's famous argument about the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, he suggested that the production side depends on people harking to values such as hard work, punctuality, discipline and a readiness to accept deferred gratification.

The demand side, by contrast, depends on them being self-indulgent, expansive, pleasure-seeking and given to living in the now. Add to this the new constraint that the planet will not sustain more than 6 billion people enjoying constantly rising living standards achieved by the methods of production and consumption so far used. Complicate matters further by the moral argument that the world's rich have no right to deny the world's poor a materially better life, which would still be a fraction of the affluence we ourselves enjoy.

What you end up with is not just a systemic conundrum but also a personal challenge to every one of us. The challenge is to find a new balance in our double-lives as producers and consumers, at the same time consciously contributing to a larger set of new international balances between economy and environment, oversaving east and overspending west, rich north and poor south. That, too, is what I mean by a sustainable social market economy."

3.5M Kids Under 5 On Verge Of Going Hungry

Normally this headline would have been generally associated with a thrid-world country in Asia, Africa.. no big deal right, not exactly.. it is quite shocking to find that this is recent statistic for US.

The not-for-profit advocacy group Feeding America based its findings on 2005-2007 data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Agriculture Department. The study, released Thursday, May 7, 2009 is the first to look at these numbers for children under the age of 5, according to the group.

The study also shows that in 11 states, more than 20 percent of children under 5 are at risk of going hungry. Louisiana has the highest rate, with just under a quarter of children at risk, followed by North Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Idaho and Arkansas.

According to the Agriculture Department, 11 percent of households lacked enough food for an active, healthy life, before the economy worsened late last year.

The U.S. study coincides with a U.N. statement claiming, the number of hungry people in the world could soon hit a record 1 billion, despite a recent drop in food prices.

Deglobalization

Regulators in Britain have started asking U.S. banks selling bonds there to provide hundreds of pages of proof that the mighty U.S. government, which is backing the bonds, could actually repay them.

Tens of thousands of burned investors around the world complaining loudly that they were sold toxic bonds that were supposed to be safe. In street demonstrations from Hong Kong to Hamburg, protesters are demanding that their governments do something to get their money back.

Now there's a growing fear among economists, policymakers, and business groups that in the name of protecting their citizens from global financial institutions, governments could slow the flow of capital between countries—at a time when the world economy is already contracting. "We're looking at a period of, at best, a pause of globalization, and more likely a period of 'de-globalization,' "

In India, a Grass-Roots Shift

"Are you fed up with the same old faces in Indian elections? The same old choices between thugs or thieves?" Mona Shah, an eye surgeon-turned-politician, raised her bullhorn as she weaved and ducked among the slippery nooks and narrow alleys of a slum in this mega-city.

Model Minority - Myth or Reality ?

Interesting article in USA Today on how the changing admissions rules in California Univerisities causing angst among Asian-Americans that it will effect them negatively. Briefly the CA Univeristies were relaxing the rules around the SAT subject courses which were mandatory before, and to primarily encourage participation from other minorities such as African and Hispanic Americans.

This was second in recent times that I have seen and wondering about the myth vs reality of this controversial topic on "whether the elite US universities are some what Biased in their admissions policy against Asian Americans" ? So it was interesting to read public comments on web from general community on this topic.

Comment 1. "is this a left wing looney liberal policiy to punish those who are the smartest and work the hardest ?"

Comment 2. "Neither gender, race, or ethnic background should come into play when it comes to being accepted by a college. Take all this information off of the college applications and accept applicants based on their SAT score, High School GPA, and extra curriculum activities. This way no one party can complain about being discriminated against."

Comment 3. "There is an unhealthy cloud hanging over the asian population if education is the only avenue you should be concerned about while growing up and/or going to college. There is a thing called "living" that one needs to experience along the way of education. I think from my observation, alot of asian kids here in southern california don't get that cause they are being driven face first into their school work by their 1st generation parents! What do you think?"

Comment 4. "It's a myth that all Asians work hard because it's in our culture, but it's because the people who could afford to immigrate to America from Asia and India are already successful, so it's more likely that their kids would be successful. It's called the 'Myth of the Model Minority'. It is a self-selecting group of high achievers who emigrate from one place and come to America as a higher socio-economic group than the average of where they came from. There may be some special cases where the barrier to immigration here is different, but in general the self-selection trends to the higher strata individuals/families."

Comment 5. "Asian parents can give their children a more European name, which will help their kids in other aspects of their lives too."

Comment 6."So you study hard, do your homework, do plenty of community service and graduate at the top of your class BUT because of your ethnicity, you get denied a college education. When did common sense die?"

Comment 7."Hey! If we're lowering the standards on education to increase diversity, does this mean that major corporations (eg Microsoft, Cisco, Pfizer, etc) will lower their standards too? Is Lower education standard=more jobs being outsourced? Are we saying that Bill Gates is an idiot when he made the comment, "We need to strengthen our education system compared to other countries?"

It does feel like the much-acclaimed Oscar winning 2005 movie "Crash" (which by the way I loved watching !), and shows clash of cultures and races as we struggle with skewed prejudices associated.

Ofcourse while researching this, I did find interesting concept "Model Minority", which is most commonly used to label one ethnic minority achieving higher than another ethnic minority.

In the United States, the term has usually been associated with East Asian Americans and Indian Americans. Intend to explore this further... here are some related links if you are interested to follow along.


Link1 Link2 Link3 MIT Princeton Invesigration

Finally, these topics are as controversial as the subject of 'racism' and 'reservations a.k.a affirmative action' itself, and would love to hear your opinion too. Please feel free to send or post your comments... Adios