I didn’t think we were allowed to mention 5 and 10 year plans: aren’t they something associated with socialist systems? But perhaps now that those systems no longer exist we can talk of such plans without the Cold War political implications. If even the BCA can be talking about 10 year government plans, then there is a case that business recognises that the market cannot provide everything that makes the market work. Governments still have a key role and should be fulfilling that role, not simply dreaming (as our current government does) that the market is capable of doing everything ‘better’ and more efficiently. Without that ‘10 Year Plan’, the BCA is well aware that efficiency and productivity may become historical constructs that we can only recall with fond memory. (It is also of more than passing interest that Bill Shorten’s emphasis on science, technology and maths education in his Budget Reply speech is exactly what the BCA asked for.) 

The Greek situation has, in my mind, brought this tension between capitalism and democracy into sharper focus. But governments are in thrall to the big capitalists and the financial institutions and are yet to acknowledge it. They will not recognise it while they remain blinded by the ‘free market’ philosophy of neo-liberalism, and refuse to see that it is not only the market but also governments and communities (as Eva Cox said) that have a role in ensuring a country gets the goods and services it needs and wants. 

Is it time that ‘democracy’ sought a divorce from this domineering and aggressive ‘capitalism’ so that governments again understand that the ‘demos’ in democracy means ‘the people’, not markets and money? 

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Who is really running the nation? The government or the bankers and capitalists? And where do we, ‘the people’, fit in that? While Syriza in Greece is trying to redefine and reassert the government’s role in the economy, and a similar party, Podemos, is gaining popularity in Spain, should the people of Australia, as Ken suggests, also be demanding a change? Or are most Australians too apathetic to care? Is Labor offering an alternative or not? Ken’s piece raises many questions and we will be pleased to share your views on those questions. Ken Wolff

http://www.thepoliticalsword.com/post/the-unhappy-marriage-of-democracy-and-capitalism

You can answer here or there... Or are most Australians too apathetic to care?... The mass media is making sure of that...