The economic crisis which has plaguing the world for the past few months has exposed certain aspects of our life for a rational public debate. Looking at the broad spectrum of issues which have deeper linkage with this financial meltdown. As we all know that the extant theory of capitalism is predicated upon the belief that all our economic activities are money-centric and the maximization of profits is the principal mantra for all our economic drives and initiatives. This kind of postulates reduces human beings – the supreme of all creations- to the status of money-making machines . There lies a very fundamental flaw in this theory.
There is not an iota of doubt that selfishness forms an essential part of our being but it does not extend to the whole part. To put it more aptly we can spot selfishness and selflessness in the same individual depending on the situation. A particular individual exhibiting extreme selfishness in his private matters may cease to be so in relation to public matters. As the economist strictly keep the selfless attribute out of the subject. There lies a very big anomaly.
If our financial and economic systems operate according to the demands of maximum profit-making to the exclusion of other social objectives, even before overcoming the present one we may face another.
All we know that our economic activities guide and influence activities in other fields of life and when the very basis of the activities relating business, commerce and trade are founded on this untenable logic of maximization of profits, it brings in chaos and tension in other spheres too. Today if we look at the nature of our crises, be it food, energy, health or environment, all these have their roots in the flawed primacy given to our mono-dimensional pursuit of more profits. If the world is to guard against the kind of financial crisis in future, it is necessary to reorient the objectives of our economic activities on more pragmatic lines.