It was stated in the last article that the free market was a disaster. Questions were raised as to the nature and kind [s] of free markets. In pursuing the thought further, one sees that the liberal economy can ill-afford to have a free market mechanism. If any one is under the illusion that the free market systems prevail in the developed economies, the person should be sent to a shrink.
The mind then has to be re-educated in the understanding of the game of life. Was it the free market assertion that led to the entire USA community of decision-maker strengthens the cause of an American company selling cottonseed with one of the provincial governments asked to come in with a subsidy of millions of dollars? They had sought the same from the federal government. This is a new kind of assertion where a developed country's corporate sector is seeking handouts from the developing countries. The West is imperialistic in its approach to developing countries and has the ability and they do it so with such finesse that their hidden hand is not visible to any one but themselves. They then coin new words and seduce the decision-makers with visits. The Kerry-Lugar (K-L) bill is a case in point. Junket tours were organised for the officials and the politicians. Nothing has come out of it all these visits to USA, to Turkey and to Qatar. What has the K-L to do with Qatar and Turkey? They have left their henchmen in Pakistan and one of them has ingrained himself into the system by a systematic abuse of the system - posing as the bedroom visitor to Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz and the mightiest educator that has ever lived on earth and then to the current lot through the US system. He was nearly lynched in KPK for perverted behaviour. Some of the leading institutions of this country were bribed by giving an honorarium to the head of the field institution. Any takers? The truth can be asserted and proved for there are no free markets just free loaders in an economy.
The reasons for and the pretence for getting into the market system and interfering with it are well-known, the eurozone is a case in point? Ask me to justify rape and murder and it can be done. Is the West not doing so by killing innocent people in the name of war against terrorism? They would be better off if they stayed indoors and within their own country(s). Every one else is a scoundrel except themselves. After Raymond Davis what happened to the 3,500 Blackwater and other scoundrels that were loitering around here? Were they furthering the free market or disturbing whatever peace there was in the country. Will the West tolerate this in their own country(s)? Today if the immigrant population is with them then that is the payment for colonialism. They should have understood the unintended consequences of what they were doing then. The half-gods of this earth did not realise what they were up to.
So what they were saying in fact was, do not look at us and at what we are doing but you must do what we tell you to do? We know better. The free market has run out of all options. The WB and the ADB the handmaidens of the West have also run out of urban policies that would help the West set up a demand structure for their goods, especially heavy machinery. The WTO was not a ploy for better free markets, but a means to set up demand for their products. Since then the West and its agencies are busy destroying the comparative advantage that may have been there as a result of some home-grown natural resources. The textile industry, for instance, is given access to the developed world's markets and then at some appropriate time, the lifeline is cut effectively strangulating the industry.
In the Ayub era, Pakistan was recipient to Boston and Stanford Universities great economists. One of our own did his PhD from Boston and with one of the most unscrupulous of economists that was exposed by Ruth First, the editor of the 'Old Mole', she had in fact printed a letter written by this economist to the State Department stating that the economy of Pakistan was and will always be dependent on the state. What and how was this translated in real life? In real life, the first oil extraction unit was sold by the USA to a leading Pakistani and the cost of the machinery was Rs 1,760 million. The same machinery was discussed with the French public-private company CDFDT (French Acronym) and they were surprised, for somehow, the processing did not require all that machinery. The upshot was that by the time we finished with this sector, the investment cost was reduced to 7.6 million rupees. The free market concept has been turned around by the West so many times that it is laughable. The West has always tried to make the developing world's economy subservient to their economy. Imperialism has its advantages. They have now run out of wisdom of that kind. The state in which the West finds itself is a result of intentional mens rea or criminal intent. A trust that the developing country had, was lost by them over these many years. The arrogance has not played itself out as yet. The West is going to be subject to more pains.
The market failure that the armchair economists talk of is different from the failure that the developing country visualises. The gods of the West are different from the truthful wisdom of the East. They will talk of social framework of marketing and they will talk in the abstract. Let insular policies prevail and let the developing world be responsible for itself. After the entire world survived before 1946 and if we were to go to the same state these and other countries will survive. The Western states during colonialism siphoned off the natural resources from the developing world and left wounds that do not heal easily. In the case of Pakistan why were policies changes/d at the last minute and why were the recommendations of the Cripps Commission changed? Why leave a bleeding wound? India and Pakistan were not responsible for what happened. It is the snake that eats its own and that is what these carnivorous countries are doing. The Iran-Iraq war - the Soviet expulsion from Afghanistan and the role of the religious factions that ousted the Soviets for all that has changed and the friends of the past are now enemies of the present and the future.
Social corporate responsibility and the way the economy has been captured by the FDIs only indicate another pattern of Western imperialism. Why should the WB/ADB/IMF further FDIs? What business is it of theirs? Go through the debt of the developing world and that has been created by the toadies and elites that were let loose on and in the developing world. It is time to give up liberal policies and to be involved in the market place, where the only policy required is that the policies should be for the many and not for the few.
The lessons of the past were found in a document in a church that read as follows - 'our days are the happiest of the 18th C emperors, kings, princes descended benevolently from their awe-inspiring heights forsake splendour and pomp and become their peoples father, friend and confidant...the arts and sciences prosper and our eyes look deep into nature's workshop. Artisans and artists approach perfection useful knowledge germinates in all estates. This is the faithful picture of our times' [18th C].
Is there any faithful picture of our times that we can leave for the future generations? Can you in the West acknowledge the strength of this ancient document? Have we not been engulfed by the most monstrous tyranny of all times? Who is the tyrant and who is creating this war on terror? Which are the countries that have killed more people by whatever means? Weapons of mass destruction are different and the case for the poor developing countries is different. Why play second fiddle? Play no fiddle at all and make your way in this world. Remember the 18th C edict. God be with you in your strengths and in your weaknesses. Amen.