No, Minister
Greed is not working
The trouble is, Johnson is turning to greedy capitalism when there is a global movement to free capitalism from greed and make it more compassionate. He is out of sync with the times.
GREED is dead, thought John Kay, a British economist. Not so says, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who appears to want controversy come his way. One surely did on Tuesday, when he reportedly told his Conservative Party backbenchers, known as the 1922 Committee, that Britain’s vaccine rollout was a success because of “greed” and “capitalism”. And he had to pick the day of Britain’s lockdown anniversary, of all days, to puncture the morale of the people who had given their all to make jab rollout a success. Instead of honouring them, he singled out the Gordon Gekkos of Britain for praise. Big pharmas were elated. So were other avarice-ridden corporate types. Never mind if Gekko of Wall Street-fame was based on the shady character of Ivan Boesky, who was fined US$100 million for fraudulent trading. No. 10 Downing Street is now Wall Street. Gekkos are most welcome. We are not surprised that Johnson is most hospitable to the idea that “greed is good” and “greed is right”. He revealed as much in his 2013 Margaret Thatcher Lecture on Nov 27 when he was mayor of London. The worry is not that he is turning Britain into a nation of greedy capitalists. His mentor Thatcher had done that already, paving the way for him to put the finishing touches as the new tenant of 10 Downing Street.
The trouble is, Johnson is turning to greedy capitalism when there is a global movement to free capitalism from greed and make it more compassionate. He is out of sync with the times. And his ideas are dangerous, not only for Britain, but also for the rest of the world. Here is why. Firstly, to Johnson, greed makes capitalism work. No, says Oxford-teaching economist Kay in Greed is Dead, the book that he co-authored with Paul Collier, another Oxford don. It is not a good way to do business nor politics, they say. We agree. Secondly, to Johnson, inequality is necessary for success. Look around, he seems to say, there is so much of it. We just can’t be rid of it. As an idea, it is both silly and insane. Inequality is a purpose-built enterprise of greed-based capitalism. Get rid of the avarice that wants more than it needs, we can build a better and more equal world. Only in this way Britain will deserve the moniker “Great”.
Finally, Johnson wants to perpetuate inequality in a geopolitical way, too. One Johnson boast in the 2013 Thatcher lecture is telling. There, after running out of praises for Thatcher, he urges on the audience the glory days of Britain’s past, signalling a possible recreation of the empire: “Of the 193 present members of the UN, we have conquered or at least invaded 171 — that is 90 per cent. The only countries that seem to have escaped were places like Andorra and the Vatican City. In the period 1750 to 1865, we were by far the most politically and economically powerful country on Earth.” Johnson’s defence strategy review, “Global Britain in a Competitive Age”, presented recently in Parliament, can perhaps be subtitled: The British Empire Strikes Back. Johnson needs to be told this isn’t going to happen. The world has changed. To invade one country, let alone 171, isn’t as easy as it was in the 18th or 19th century. Afghanistan and Iraq are lessons enough. Wars in the 21st century don’t have a start and an end date. They are forever wars. Tony Blair missed this lesson. Johnson mustn’t.