Thursday 27 August 2015

"Kings" Of LAI$$EZ-FAIR€: Lovers Of MON£¥?...Well, Lovers Of MANKIND!














































                                                 The foremost step 

                                                  In DECODING -
                                                 The Material WORLD;

                                                  Is SEEING PAST -
                                                 The Material WORLD itself.

                                                                ( Todd Stiles )









                                                What I care about is The WAY,
                                                Which goes beyond Skill.


                                                When I first began cutting up oxen,
                                                All I could see was the ox itself.

                                                After...
                                                I no longer saw the whole ox.

                                                And now -

                                                Now I go at it By SPIRIT,
                                                And don't look with my eyes.

                                                Perception and understanding
                                                Have come to a stop;

                                                And SPIRIT moves where it wants.

                                                                      ( Chuang-Tzu )









LAISSEZ-FAIRE, to begin with, is a System of Thought.
It begins with The Individual,the Basic Unit of Society.

"Laissez-nous faire", the full version, is interpreted to mean "Let us DO IT" or "Let us BE".
In popular folklore, it is said to be the " Shinning Secret of Midas".

And he whose pocket is well-lined by the "Invisible Hand"(?), is lucky to have The Midas Touch.

Adam Smith is the author of the "Economist's Bible", popularly called: The Wealth of Nations.
And more importantly, a key factor in his Theory of Moral Sentiments, is "The Invisible Hand (?)

This is the Story of Capitalism..."The Love of Money" (?)





Well, there's Money qua Money.
If you don't mind, "Old Money".

This sort of money bears no special interest to the holder; because it is there "for the taking".
And more so for The Entrepreneur, because it does NOT require "chasing after"!

Buckingham Palace, is an example.

The British Monarchy is the archetype of the Old World; it is "respectable money", without doubt.
But it is largely "inherited money"; not the reward of direct labour or independent enterprise.

To the Pilgrim Fathers, the custodians of the Pioneering Spirit or Work Ethic, this "Old Money"
seems divested of R-e-a-l Adventure:

Dreams!

At least not the kind of money, the product of targeted LABOUR or the reward of independent ENTERPRISE, as is the case in the New West.

Accumulated wealth, "from the fresh green breast of the New World" as F. Scott Fitzgerald 
would put it, is Profit indeed.

To hold "New Money" is to hold profitable money.
It is A Dream Come True.

Because, unlike Old Money, it is something earned out of your comfort zone.
If you really understand!

But the question is, does being rich - Money qua Money or Nouveau Riche - make a man:
"A More Sympathetic Man"?





F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the American Classic, The Great Gatsby.
Speaking of his heroine, Daisy, he confesses: "Her voice was full of m-o-n-e-y".

He captures, to all intents and purposes, that elusive Craze of the Material World.

Like it or not, Money is the tangible medium of exchange ( in whatever form ); the reward
or prima facies evidence of Work.

Work, that's cool.
"But by what E-t-h-i-c"?






                                                That was it,
                                                 I had never understood it before.

                                               "It was Full of Money" -  

                                                That was the irresistible charm
                                                That rose and fell with it,

                                                 The Jingle of It,
                                                 The Cymbal Song of It...

                                                 High in A White Palace.

                                                       ( F. Scott Fitzgerald )








The point here is simple: M-o-n-e-y creates sensation.
Without doubt, it affects human sensibilities.

In point of fact, F. Scott Fitzgerald talks about "olfactory money".
In other words, "money that smells"!

You can't pretend about it; that's "the lure of the Capitalist mind".
And the reward of independent enterprise.

Today, as much as yesterday, the World is "Big Capital".
And Man is a "Venture Capitalist", permit me this expression.

We the People therefore, irrespective of Country or Race, are an "Enterprise-in-Progress",
believe it or not.




                                            
                                            
                                               Have you seen A MAN,
                                               -Diligent in his WORK?

                                               He shall
                                              - Stand before KINGS;

                                                And not before mean men.

                                                       (The Holy Bible )








"New Money" is good, at least it is the profit of Enterprise.

Now the dilemma comes...

The question of The Entrepreneur is NOT Success per se; at least the World is filled with 
plenty of dollars and cents.

The problem is, can we marry his "financial i-n-t-e-g-r-i-t-y" with his "work e-t-h-i-c"?
Is his work done in "good taste"?

Would his "money" be reckoned with, on the high-scale of probity, in the long run?

Does it measure well, cater-is paribus, with Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments or 
"The Invisible Hand"(?)

"For the Love of Money is the root of all evil", says the Holy Bible.

Big Money. 
It is indeed, olfactory money.

No doubt, it is the kind of money that smells!

But, but...
Should F. Scott Fitzgerald be present, would your "stash" or your "money" smell Right?




Adams Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations (1776).
Up until today, it stands as a metaphor for Enterprise, like it or not.

Honey-comb "smells" of  A Heap of Honey; the reward of the busy bee.

But cow-dung is the exact opposite.
It reeks, and it'd putrefy our olfactory sense.

How's your Work E-t-h-i-c?
Does your M-o-n-e-y Smell R-i-g-h-t?

Besides, what're you gonna do with your heap?
Would you WORSHIP GOD or MAMMON? 

Would you rather CREATE a lasting "sensation" or LEGACY with your FORTUNE -
If you're so-blessed?

MONEY is vulgar, no doubt whatsoever.

But...
LOVE is a dream.

Are you vulgar? 
If you're a dreamer, then what's your greatest love?

Materialism or Humanism?
Which of them Smells Right?




Laissez-faire is...A Spirit.
It is the spirit of democratic Capitalism or free Enterprise.

It is Business "As You Like It", or "What You Will".

Anything to the extreme is simply Much Ado About Nothing, as Shakespeare would have it.
Laissez-faire entails "the least of policy restrictions", speaking fundamentally as an Economist.

Besides, The Spirit stresses the idea of "Moral Sentiments".
And beyond that, "The Invisible Hand"(?)

Unlike Monarchy, Capitalism is a fancy word for Labour.

And it is the operative economic principle of The New West -
Where rugged individualism or risk-bearing behaviour is a favoured quality.

But Ruthless Capitalism is a different ball game.
It is the fete or even the fetish of the so-called "Robber Barons".

We know that Social Evolution or Darwinism is a tough principle -
It stresses the "survival of the fittest".

Nevertheless, ruthless capitalism is an extreme explanation for Business Survival.
And it is NOT an acceptable interpretation of The Origin Of The Species.

At least NOT the human species!

Ruthless capitalism smells of "corruption", smirks of conflicts, and smoulders the world in wars.
It is purely the love of money. For its own sake.

It surely goes against the grain of Laissez-faire or the true economics of Adams Smith.
For it clearly defies "Moral Sentiments"; not to mention "The Invisible Hand"(?)

Ruthless Capitalism: is it not bonafide "Robin Hood"?

If it is, it CANNOT create "The Wealth of Nations", which is our ultimate goal.




Laissez-nous faire, says  "Let us DO IT" or "Let us BE".

It is the true Spirit of Enterprise or Competitive Individualism.
More like, " Let us Go TO WORK" or "Let us BECOME".

Laissez-faire is the Free Spirit of Competition; the interaction of Labour and Market Forces, 
undeterred by undesirable "political" sanctions.

To a great extent, the outcome is left to the influence of Darwinian forces;
Natural Selection or the so-called, "Survival of the Fittest".

Laissez-faire Capitalism is the "Rat Race", alright; but it is NOT "Cut-throat" capitalism, 
by any means.

It is very much unlike Ruthless Capitalism.
Laissez-nous faire is NOT saying, "Let us DO ITby any-means-necessary!

We're talking about the smell of "Sound Money", because we don't want to smell like "Stolen Money".

And we do have it on record -
The Spirit of Laissez-faire bred the likes of Rockefeller, not Robin Hood.

Laissez-faire is the story of the hero, not the Anti-Hero!





Spirit of Laissez-faire:

" 'Let it be' - that should be the motto of public powers, since the world is civilized...", 
says Rene de Voyer, a French Minister and Champion of Free TRADE.

"That we cannot grow except by lowering our neighbours, is a detestable notion

"Only malice and malignity of heart is satisfied by such a principle, and our ( national interest ) 
is opposed to it.

"Let it be, for HEAVEN'S SAKE, Let it be", he reiterates.

 A Marquis d'Argenson article ( 1751); "Laissez-nous faire" first appeared here ]



                                          

JOHN DAVISON ROCKEFELLER followed his father's advice, "TRADE dishes for platters"!

The greatest asset of any Business, and the prime agent of Progress in any Society is 
HUMAN CAPITAL.

Particularly, in a Capitalist enclave with Laissez-faire to boot.

But the "catch-22" is this: human capital is supposed to thrive on Enlightenment.
And Laissez-faire happens to have been conceived in the Age of Enlightenment.

Therefore the enlightened individual, as it were, approaches Business with a Laissez-faire attitude.

He recognizes the first principles of neo-classical economics:
"The Invisible Hand" (?) and "Moral Sentiments".

Like Adam Smith, he recognizes that Capitalism - in an Age of Enlightenment - is NOT MERELY economic "Self-interest".

BUT, suggests economic "Self-Organization".




Beginning from the Organized Self, John D. Rockefeller rose to an American Business Icon.
And he "delighted in all the methods and systems of The Office".

Early on, he understood the thin line between ego and confidence, and dismissed any "puffed up"
thoughts about himself.

"I believe in the dignity of Labour, whether head or hand; that the world owes no man a living, but that it owes every man an Opportunity to make a Living", he says.

Rockefeller, with the approach of Laissez-faire, held the strong opinion that Competitive Capitalism was inevitably "a working out of the Laws of Nature".

Like Adam Smith, he recognized that the growth of Big Business was the reward of Natural Selection or "Survival of the fittest".




MANKIND has long struggled for PROGRESS since the Dark Ages.

That is the draw of Labour -
Progress is the Seductiveness of Enterprise...and...Profit.

"Man was NOT created with an instinct for his own degradation; but from the lower, he had risen to the higher forms. 

"Nor is there any conceivable end to his march to perfection", agrees Andrew Carnegie.

But Man's greatest battles have not been fisticuffs; but a battle of The Mind.

In the Age of Enlightenment, since Charles Darwin proposed The Origin Of The Species, the greatest battle of the mind has been: 

"Survival of the fittest"????????????

Apart from genetics and adaptation, what CHOICES does a Man have to CREATE?

Is it not Capitalism, or Laissez-faire?
What about Moral Sentiments, or The Invisible Hand?

I think John D. Rockefeller has a mind-boggling answer: "GOD gave me MONEY".
And he refused to apologize for it.



Rockefeller embraced Capitalism and Laissez-faire plus The Invisible Hand(?) 
to create the first great U.S Business Trust, the Standard Oil Conglomerate.

But the man was NOT ONLY "Anointed With Oil", as one biographer extolled.

In gratitude to The Invisible Hand(?), Rockefeller ran with the Theory Of Moral Sentiments, re-
distributing his Wealth.

"Because you've got a start, you think you're quite a merchant; look out, or you'll lose your head -
Go steady.

"Are you going to let this money puff you up? Keep your eyes open, don't lose your balance", he
 enjoins.
                                                                                                                                                                                                       
In the process, he defined the structure of MODERN PHILANTHROPY - a systematic allocation of
resources to targeted human ends like Food, Education, Health, Environment, Civil Society, e.t.c. 
 
After all, the ultimate end of "The Invisible Hand" was to promote the "General Welfare".

"I know of nothing more despicable and pathetic than a man who devotes all the hours of the
waking day to the making of money - for money's sake", Rockefeller concludes.

Lest we forget, the "best charity" enables the beneficiary to become self-sufficient.







{ Honour Roll }



John D. Rockefeller                                   - ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION 

Andrew Carnegie                                       - CARNEGIE FOUNDATION 

Henry Ford                                                 - FORD FOUNDATION 

Bill Gates                                                   - BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION 

Will Keith Kellogg                                     - W. K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION 

Andrew William Mellon                            - ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION 

Willard Garfield Weston                          - GARFIELD WESTON FOUNDATION 

Emmett D. Carson etal                            - SILICON VALLEY COMMUNTY FOUNDATION 

Michael R. Bloomberg                           - BLOOMBERG PHILANTHROPIES

John Paul Getty                                     - J. PAUL GETTY TRUST

Sir Henry Wellcome                               - WELLCOME TRUST

J. Howard Pew etal                                THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS

Church of England                                - The Church Commissioners for England  


And all the numerous Entrepreneurial Giants and Charities ALL OVER THE WORLD.






Finally, the goal of Capitalism or Laissez-faire is The GOOD LIFE.
But as Successful Entrepreneurs, we must define our Profit:  M-O-N-E-Y.

To what end: GOD or MAMMON?

I pray we choose the former!
Only then can we fully embrace: "THE W-E-A-L-T-H Of N-A-T-I-O-N-S"

And with the likes of John Davison Rockefeller, we could become NOT merely Lovers of Money.
But "Kings" of Laissez-faire , Lovers of MANKIND!



Ever to carry well-forgotten dreams, from age to age.





                                                I was early taught 
                                                To WORK as well as Play.

                                                My Life has been one happy holiday,
                                                Full of Work and full of Play.

                                                And GOD was good to me everyday.

                                                             (John D. Rockefeller )








{ P.S: This piece is in honour of the Human Enterprising Spirit, the world over. 
And the U.S Labour Day, auspiciously ( sept. 7, 2015 ) }