Over the past half century or so, there has been a definite
increase in the reach of free markets and in its vociferous proponents. More
and more things have come to be ruled by the power of the market. There are
indeed only a few things money can’t buy. That sounds bad, but really what’s so
wrong with it?
Economics of time
When more and more things are governed by the ‘free market’,
essentially more and more can be bought by money. The result is that money becomes
more and more important and one starts measuring every activity in economic or
monetary terms. For instance, it makes economic sense for me to take a cab
rather than drive, if the work that I can do in the cab in the time that I would
have spent driving myself is worth more than the extra cost of the cab as
compared to driving my own car. The risk of this direction of thinking is that
it dissuades people from performing any daily chores that are typically mindless
and can be outsourced at little cost, such as cleaning the house, washing utensils
and now even arranging one’s own cupboard. The very fact that there is such a
profession as wardrobe arrangers tells, apart from the obvious hypothesis that
we have become lazier than ever before, the extent to which we are now so taken
over by the idea of making every waking moment useful.
An unequal society
These activities, as mindless as they may seem can be a
break for our brains. And more importantly, I think they are levelers when
everyone has to do them. They ensure that people respect all jobs and consequently
respect the people who do those for them. People are strong and weak, rich and
poor, educated and illiterate but there need to be some things that remind them
that they are all human, all members of the same society and there are some
things they have an equal right to. So when, everyone has to go out and throw
their own garbage in the trash chute (imagine it is something that can’t be
outsourced, you can’t ask your maid to do it) it’s an equalizer.
The growing divide
When everything is determined by money, ones whole quality
of life is determined only by how much money one has. The amount of money one
begins one’s life with is a matter, of course, of pure chance and that now determines
the quality of ones upbringing to an increasing degree. This will then go on to
determine how much money this individual has in his or her life, leading to a
vicious or virtuous cycle depending on which side of the average you were born
in.
How can we break this cycle?
One way is to work towards giving everyone a similar
upbringing irrespective of where one is born. This means ensuring that every
child has access to quality education, adequate healthcare, sufficient and
healthy food, and a healthy and nurturing home. Now no one would argue with
that, right? Of course, every child deserves all this. However, this can’t
happen if the best schools in our country are private schools and the best
hospitals are private hospitals and are consequently governed by the principles
free markets.
I am not against the idea of free markets. They have worked
in a lot of places and have resulted in efficiency and self- regulation, but
let’s be wary of how far we extend their reach. Let's take a moment and think about who and what we leave behind as we praise the freedom and efficiency that the free market promises.
