Market fundamentalism destroys more human lives than any other simply because it cuts across all national, cultural, geographic, religious and other boundaries. It's as much at home in Moscow as in Mumbai or Minnesota. A South Africa -- whose advances in the early 1990s thrills the world -- moved swiftly from apartheid to neo-liberalism. It sits as easily in Hindu, Islamic of Christian societies. And it contributes angry, despairing recruits to the armies of all religious fundamentalisms.
Based on the premise that the market is the solution to all the problems of the human race, it is, too, a very religious fundamentalism. It has its own Gospel: The Gospel of St. Growth, of St. Choice...
Never mind that growth for growth's sake, as Edward Abbey put it, has proved to be the ideology of the cancer cell. (Years of jobless growth in many societies have shown us that.) Never mind that choices is a dubious candidate for sainthood. If the 1.2 billion very hungry people on the planet had a choice, I suspect they would choose to eat. That they do not suggests that the market gives you a choice only if you have money. The more money you have the greater the choice you enjoy.
But mere facts do not challenge a great faith.
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Palagummi SainathThe white, shadowed text on the light green background makes it too hard for me to read. I figured others might have same issue. My apologies for any typos.
edit to fix one typo
= new reply since forum marked as read
