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Despite the variegated notions of economic progress
played up by politicians and the popular media, increased productivity or more
production are not the keys to true and lasting prosperity. The Keynesian and
capitalist concept of maximizing output at all costs is a patent hoax foisted
on the emerging industrial cultures of developing countries in the hope that
the additional output, or economic surplus, will accrue to the industrialized
North at rock bottom prices.
The campaign to export (the economic surplus) orchestrated by leading public figures in the Third World and elsewhere is not an agreeable or native mindset.
It has been imposed on developing countries by the industrialized North through a very subtle brainwashing of indigenous leaders via a Westernized education. “Export away poverty” is more and more the dominant element in the cult of prosperity and progress being sold by the North to the South community of nations.
The importance and urgency of the export trade has become a chronic compulsion of the Third World psychology and character. Within the scale of its economic achievements, it is a visible and telling sore that saps the energies and health of the labor force. Workers now have to work longer hours in order to increase productivity without any additional recompense.
Export production, when discontinued due to the vagaries of the international market, releases a large corps of discontented workers into the Third World economy who in time become a political bloc to be reckoned with. The transformation of this political bloc into a public interest group will prove to be a detrimental factor in reviving the Third World economy.
The problem of increased productivity is in part a measure of the compulsion in the export psychosis gripping the South community of nations. Perhaps it is safe to suggest that the labor force is recruited en masse to obtain practical benefits such as foreign exchange reserves as opposed to forging a coherent national ideology or cultural
consciousness.
Hence, it is on the movement of men and materials that stress is placed — not on salvaging the Third World’s true economic interests. Moreover, the increase in the resulting employment is largely marginal in benefit to the labor class and no tangible gains such as enhanced economic self-sufficiency can accrue to any country or its proletariat.
Increased productivity by itself cannot ensure true prosperity for those who believe in it. This belief is a huge gamble insofar as labor is treated as a genuine factor of production. Obviously, fixed assets such as land and capital will yield output that is predictable and quantifiable because they are legitimate factors of the production process.
On the other hand, labor cannot be rightly treated as a fixed and unchanging factor of production until it is put on par with its own aspirations and capabilities. Until such time labor particularly in the Third World, must be viewed skeptically as a permanent asset.
Increased productivity can lead to lasting prosperity only if it is ruled by a genuine national ideology that would respect the economic basis of the good life and the psychological and social cost of increased production.
Today, in the context of the globalization sweeping across the nation, most people’s lives are ruled by the wish to become more efficient, more innovative, more imaginative, but never truly creative. Consequently, they ladle out dubious goods and spurious technologies that will fail in the long run when their economic needs are no longer the central goal of their lifestyles.
Already many people who work are beginning to fear the economic gains from more production and increased productivity because the competing needs for attaining true selfhood and genuine self-sufficiency are not being met by the liberalization and globalization of Third World economies.
Hence people struggle with their minds and bodies at work in the quest for obtaining better productivity, but they suffer endless pangs of remorse and regret from the social and psychological price of more production in the form of psychological stress and social isolation.
The quest for more productivity is virtually endless as in the North and many people may sicken and die because their real selves have been undermined by the necessity to produce more and increase productivity.
Put simply, they do not want to work so hard because they get nothing from it. Thus labor and laborers can rightly be seen as finite economic factors in the production process.
Third World leaders profess to increase productivity and enhance distributive justice. These goals are held up as the ultimate social and economic ideals but no thought has been given to any ideology or cultural consciousness that would make them truly worthy pursuits. In fact, false ideologies have sprung up and appeared in the media that give people a glimpse of better-spent and more useful lifestyles.
Consequently, most people spend their waking hours in mounting efficiency drives and anti-wastage campaigns. This tale has a bitter end — in the consumer North nations — where wastage is wanton, widespread, and flaunted as a social necessity.
In reality, the cult of efficiency is merely gamesmanship that is adopted by the North to taunt and tease the South community of nations. Purchase and transfer of technologies follow from the North to the South to reward the Asian or African nations that are caught up in such efficiency drives. The advent of IT products and call centers in India are a case in point.
The idea of increased or forced productivity as being the basis and future of South prosperity is a patently false notion. It will only end the Third World’s “uselessness” to other nations and we may well become slaves to those cultures that pretend to have a “superior” morality.
Possibly, they may well become clerks and “cyber coolies” serving the North countries. It is imperative that the Third World nations avoid the subjection of their people’s minds and bodies to increased production and save their cultural heritages in the bargain. Without vibrant national cultures, Third World economic conditions may worsen and lie in ruins.
The battle now being waged by the South community is to restore psychological sanity among its peoples because the demands made on the workforce have shifted the locus of attention away from the national economy to the international markets. This is the inevitable consequence of globalization and liberalization of South nation economies.
Asian and African minds in the South community are rich repositories of ancient national cultures. These minds and their perceptions are being distorted by the quest for greater production and increased productivity whose benefits can only go to the powerful and industrialized North.
Ultimately, the largesse generated by more production and increased productivity will disturb and rock the peace and tranquility of South community of nations and undermine existing economic arrangements.
Additional output squeezed out by increased productivity will press upon and sap the energies of the work force.
The notion of more efficient production as the only true path towards prosperity is a false and ancient paradigm. Its advocates are brittle humanists whose views on economic reality are dictated by practical necessity.
Therefore, the task of any viable economic policy is to restrict and curtail all production goals until they can be attained without adopting any false postures, sloganeering or commandeering.
The paymaster will always be parsimonious toward the producers. ●
The campaign to export (the economic surplus) orchestrated by leading public figures in the Third World and elsewhere is not an agreeable or native mindset.
It has been imposed on developing countries by the industrialized North through a very subtle brainwashing of indigenous leaders via a Westernized education. “Export away poverty” is more and more the dominant element in the cult of prosperity and progress being sold by the North to the South community of nations.
The importance and urgency of the export trade has become a chronic compulsion of the Third World psychology and character. Within the scale of its economic achievements, it is a visible and telling sore that saps the energies and health of the labor force. Workers now have to work longer hours in order to increase productivity without any additional recompense.
Export production, when discontinued due to the vagaries of the international market, releases a large corps of discontented workers into the Third World economy who in time become a political bloc to be reckoned with. The transformation of this political bloc into a public interest group will prove to be a detrimental factor in reviving the Third World economy.
The problem of increased productivity is in part a measure of the compulsion in the export psychosis gripping the South community of nations. Perhaps it is safe to suggest that the labor force is recruited en masse to obtain practical benefits such as foreign exchange reserves as opposed to forging a coherent national ideology or cultural
consciousness.
Hence, it is on the movement of men and materials that stress is placed — not on salvaging the Third World’s true economic interests. Moreover, the increase in the resulting employment is largely marginal in benefit to the labor class and no tangible gains such as enhanced economic self-sufficiency can accrue to any country or its proletariat.
Increased productivity by itself cannot ensure true prosperity for those who believe in it. This belief is a huge gamble insofar as labor is treated as a genuine factor of production. Obviously, fixed assets such as land and capital will yield output that is predictable and quantifiable because they are legitimate factors of the production process.
On the other hand, labor cannot be rightly treated as a fixed and unchanging factor of production until it is put on par with its own aspirations and capabilities. Until such time labor particularly in the Third World, must be viewed skeptically as a permanent asset.
Increased productivity can lead to lasting prosperity only if it is ruled by a genuine national ideology that would respect the economic basis of the good life and the psychological and social cost of increased production.
Today, in the context of the globalization sweeping across the nation, most people’s lives are ruled by the wish to become more efficient, more innovative, more imaginative, but never truly creative. Consequently, they ladle out dubious goods and spurious technologies that will fail in the long run when their economic needs are no longer the central goal of their lifestyles.
Already many people who work are beginning to fear the economic gains from more production and increased productivity because the competing needs for attaining true selfhood and genuine self-sufficiency are not being met by the liberalization and globalization of Third World economies.
Hence people struggle with their minds and bodies at work in the quest for obtaining better productivity, but they suffer endless pangs of remorse and regret from the social and psychological price of more production in the form of psychological stress and social isolation.
The quest for more productivity is virtually endless as in the North and many people may sicken and die because their real selves have been undermined by the necessity to produce more and increase productivity.
Put simply, they do not want to work so hard because they get nothing from it. Thus labor and laborers can rightly be seen as finite economic factors in the production process.
Third World leaders profess to increase productivity and enhance distributive justice. These goals are held up as the ultimate social and economic ideals but no thought has been given to any ideology or cultural consciousness that would make them truly worthy pursuits. In fact, false ideologies have sprung up and appeared in the media that give people a glimpse of better-spent and more useful lifestyles.
Consequently, most people spend their waking hours in mounting efficiency drives and anti-wastage campaigns. This tale has a bitter end — in the consumer North nations — where wastage is wanton, widespread, and flaunted as a social necessity.
In reality, the cult of efficiency is merely gamesmanship that is adopted by the North to taunt and tease the South community of nations. Purchase and transfer of technologies follow from the North to the South to reward the Asian or African nations that are caught up in such efficiency drives. The advent of IT products and call centers in India are a case in point.
The idea of increased or forced productivity as being the basis and future of South prosperity is a patently false notion. It will only end the Third World’s “uselessness” to other nations and we may well become slaves to those cultures that pretend to have a “superior” morality.
Possibly, they may well become clerks and “cyber coolies” serving the North countries. It is imperative that the Third World nations avoid the subjection of their people’s minds and bodies to increased production and save their cultural heritages in the bargain. Without vibrant national cultures, Third World economic conditions may worsen and lie in ruins.
The battle now being waged by the South community is to restore psychological sanity among its peoples because the demands made on the workforce have shifted the locus of attention away from the national economy to the international markets. This is the inevitable consequence of globalization and liberalization of South nation economies.
Asian and African minds in the South community are rich repositories of ancient national cultures. These minds and their perceptions are being distorted by the quest for greater production and increased productivity whose benefits can only go to the powerful and industrialized North.
Ultimately, the largesse generated by more production and increased productivity will disturb and rock the peace and tranquility of South community of nations and undermine existing economic arrangements.
Additional output squeezed out by increased productivity will press upon and sap the energies of the work force.
The notion of more efficient production as the only true path towards prosperity is a false and ancient paradigm. Its advocates are brittle humanists whose views on economic reality are dictated by practical necessity.
Therefore, the task of any viable economic policy is to restrict and curtail all production goals until they can be attained without adopting any false postures, sloganeering or commandeering.
The paymaster will always be parsimonious toward the producers. ●
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