Put the blame again on capitalism

Who is responsible for creating such a serious crisis and for not finding a sound solution to stop a worldwide recession? The majority of the people who suffer most during an economic crisis generally incline first to accuse governments, some institutions, banks, etc., and then social, political and economic systems or regimes and also assumed founders of them, without taking into consideration human mistakes and guilt. As a historical figure this time Adam Smith was announced as the main culprit who was responsible for every evil of capitalism. However, to be just, it must also be remembered that Adam Smith emphasized that the negligence of ethical rules was the biggest enemy of the market mechanism, which has been the core element of Western capitalism.

Unfortunately he did not mention other enemies of the system such as ignorance, inability, selfishness, short sightedness, etc., etc. During the last 80 years, all these negative elements played important roles to create serious economic crises. It is inevitable now to think that this problem is not only an economic but also an ideological crisis of Western capitalism after observing the inability to solve the problems both in Europe and in the United States.

The last crisis proved that Adam Smith was right to emphasize ethical rules for the smooth operation of the market mechanism. The problem is whether those ethical rules are realistic. This crisis indicated it is not possible to force irresponsible managers, CEOs, presidents of even very big, important and well known corporations, banks, etc. to obey ethical rules. Then is it an ideological crisis of Western capitalism? If it is, how can it be dealt with? It is easy to ask, but difficult to answer.

For example, when there is a deep ideological rift between Democrats and Republicans, it is not wise to expect reasonable cooperation in Congress to construct new rules of ‘’capitalism.’’ And even if there is sound cooperation for new rules, it is also not wise to expect that these new rules will solve every problem that hampers the smooth operation of the market mechanism.

In Europe almost all governments, politicians, institutions, banks, etc. are responsible for creating such a big crisis and not sincerely trying to bring a sound solution to prevent not only the default of a single country but collapse of the whole system. The German economy comparatively is still healthy; however, it does not have enough power for a new role of the locomotive of the whole European economy. And there is a question that is in everybody’s mind but still is not openly pronounced: When some European countries have been borrowing heavily in an irresponsible manner, why were some other countries that accuse them now not aware that a serious debt crisis was coming ? Jose Barroso, the head of the European Commission, urged more cooperation to find a feasible solution for survival of the euro. However, the European financial problem needs more integration besides cooperation. The problem is how to convince the European people that their future prosperity rests on the survival of the euro.

In spite of all these deficiencies, it must be accepted that capitalism will continue to live, as it historically had after every crisis, for it is the only system that is compatible with human nature. Other systems were tried in some countries during the last century but could not offer more than Western capitalism provided for mankind. In short, instead of putting the blame on capitalism as a system, it is better to look for who spoiled the rules of the system. It is easy to accuse a system for every problem, but not practical. Even if it is difficult to identify and to punish the human mistakes of ignorance and guilt, the result might be more fruitful