Trending this week: Capitalism is a joke.
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A leading economist has likened the nation’s acceptance of free-market capitalism to that of the brainwashed characters in the film The Matrix, unwitting pawns in a fake reality. In a controversial new book, the Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang debunks received wisdom on everything from the importance of the internet to the idea that people in the United States enjoy the highest standard of living in the world; an iconoclastic attitude that has won him fans such as Bob Geldof and Noam Chomsky.
Dr Chang’s 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism is one of a spate of tomes published in recent weeks that question the future of the current system, including Capitalism 4.0 by Anatole Kaletsky, and Ian Bremmer’s The End of the Free Market. Economists are keen to tap into the market for popular books on seemingly impenetrable subjects – highlighted by the runaway success of Freakonomics, which has sold more than four million copies since it was published in 2005 and is about to be made into a film.
South-Korean born Dr Chang aims to disprove what he sees as economic myths, including the idea that people are paid what they are worth, that the “trickle down” effect of increasing wealth among the rich helps the poor, and that education makes countries more prosperous.
One of the modern idols Dr Chang seeks to bring down is the internet. He claims that we overestimate the importance of new technologies compared to older inventions – such as the washing machine – and criticises the way in which internet access has been seen as key to countries’ development.
“If you had everything, then I’m in favour of it. But when children don’t have safe drinking water and free school meals, is it really important?” he said. “We have a fascination with the new, and we have to be careful not to project our own vision on to other people’s lives.”
read more @
http://mattovermatter.com/2010/10/08/trending-the-week-capitalism-is-a-joke/
Dr Chang’s 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism is one of a spate of tomes published in recent weeks that question the future of the current system, including Capitalism 4.0 by Anatole Kaletsky, and Ian Bremmer’s The End of the Free Market. Economists are keen to tap into the market for popular books on seemingly impenetrable subjects – highlighted by the runaway success of Freakonomics, which has sold more than four million copies since it was published in 2005 and is about to be made into a film.
South-Korean born Dr Chang aims to disprove what he sees as economic myths, including the idea that people are paid what they are worth, that the “trickle down” effect of increasing wealth among the rich helps the poor, and that education makes countries more prosperous.
One of the modern idols Dr Chang seeks to bring down is the internet. He claims that we overestimate the importance of new technologies compared to older inventions – such as the washing machine – and criticises the way in which internet access has been seen as key to countries’ development.
“If you had everything, then I’m in favour of it. But when children don’t have safe drinking water and free school meals, is it really important?” he said. “We have a fascination with the new, and we have to be careful not to project our own vision on to other people’s lives.”
read more @
http://mattovermatter.com/2010/10/08/trending-the-week-capitalism-is-a-joke/
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