The Karma of Capitalism
The article ‘Emerging Super Powers’ by James O’Leary raises some interesting points on how the balance of power seems to be shifting from the West, and identifies India and China as being the nations most likely to become super-powers. When we identify what it takes to become a super-power the most obvious attribute seems to be sheer landmass – something that America, China and India all have (as did the U.S.S.R.). When Britain was at it’s height of power it had control of one of the largest empires the world had ever known, and essentially it’s power came from claiming the GDP of all the nations within their empire – including (ironically) India. Now that the age of empires (in the traditional sense) has passed, Europe is paying the price of reliance on empires to accrue wealth; not to mention their essential self-destruction during two world wars. However, to be worried about China and India’s growing prominence as financial powers is hypocrisy in the extreme. India spent years as the jewel in the British Empire and was significantly modernised with the creation of the railway network by the British, and in many important ways the British attempt to modernise India simply gave it all the tools to become fully independent.
Large companies in Britain who have recently taken advantage of cheap (and well educated) Indian labour to move the majority of their call centres abroad, saving money and increasing profit margins, have taken advantage of the fundamental principles of capitalism. No outcry was raised then at the loss of jobs, nor has it been constantly pointed out that most large manufacturers in Europe and America produce most of their goods in countries where the labour is cheapest. Now it seems that the real threat raised by India and China is that they will use their own labour forces for their own profit, rather than for the profit of Western companies abusing their labour force. For America and Britain, both champions of the global liberalisation of trade, to call for action to prevent local manufacturing jobs falling prey to perfectly legal capitalism is complete hypocrisy. Much rumour has abounded that America is considering a conflict at some stage with China, simply because they are increasing their wealth and sphere of influence, is staggering. America have for years done everything they can to make money, as has most of Europe; in the pursuit of wealth and influence they have fought countless wars. America and Britain in particular (but not alone) have supported/installed countless regimes, and privatised industries in poor countries under the evil influence of the criminal organisations of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
America and Britain have abused capitalism for as long as they have existed, and they will continue doing so, without morals for as long as the world lasts (another 50 years maybe?). Their real concern is not the loss of a few jobs in Europe or America, but the loss of a cheap labour force, as independent nations employ their own citizens for their own profit – rather than simply working to line the pockets of a few rich westerners. To state that ‘from 1880 to 1914, the world experienced a golden age of free trade’ is to imply that the rich British and French empires, along with America, profiteering from slavery and repression of entire races and nations; was somehow good. From 1880-1914 the West had a golden age, built as usual on violent opportunism, along with inhuman slavery and Imperialism, but the world experienced the same inhumanity and injustice as any other period in time.
If you want to predict a reaction from America this time to a threat to their control of world wealth, then you just need to look at their reactions over the last 50 years; where any threat to profit has been met with military force, staggering hypocrisy, and crusading zeal.