Raj Patel talks about the west exporting free markets as if "they are the natural houses of liberty ad freedom." He quotes a very interesting thought experiment from Jerry Cohen
Imagine a world where everyone is given little tickets and on those tickets are freedoms or rights; say the right to visit your ailing aunt, drive a red sports car, the right to good health insurance. You don't have to use those tickets, but you cannot exercise a right unless you own a ticket that says it. In the world we live in, Jerry Cohen suggests, those tickets are replaced by dollar bills. In a free market, the more money we have, the more rights we have.
Freedom therefore, is a function of wealth. This is a very astute observation and is indeed the model that the modern day communist party in China has discovered. You can setup a free market and not offer political rights.
Some other interesting points:
- If african american women in the United States were a country, their mortality rates would be worse than Uzbekistan.
- There are systems of development and models of governance in developing countries that are much more sustainable than those that are advocated by free markets.
- We need to recognize that we are not consumers of democracy, but its citizens.
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1 comment:
so you went to the talk about his book?
so free market as opposed to what? govt controlled businesses?
the mortality rates of african american women..is it 'cos of their lack of access to healthcare 'cos of money..in that case..shouldn't we be looking at poor vs rich? or was it genetic
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