Cool capitalism
| AN OUTSIDERS VIEW |
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| Ken Fuller |
Last week, I took friendly issue with a column by Conrado de Quiros which asserted that capitalists don’t have to exploit their labor force in order to thrive. By providing an alternative, strictly economic, definition of the word “exploitation” we can see that exploitation — the creation of a value over and above that needed to recreate the worker’s labor power — is essential to capitalism. No surplus value, no capitalism.
Given the moral emphasis De Quiros places on the questions of outsourcing and “exploitation,” it comes as no surprise when he suggests for his alternative model of capitalism the enterprise called Human Nature, which he says is owned by Gawad Kalinga (GK), founded by Couples for Christ. One of GK’s aims was to rehouse members of the urban poor in 700,000 newly-built homes, establishing 7,000 GK communities. I know nothing about the economics of GK’s housing program and so I am unable to comment. According to Wikipedia, however, “the campaign failed miserably.” Nevertheless, GK has a number of environmental and social aims, and has set itself the target of lifting five million families out of poverty by 2024. GK and its founder Antonio “Tony” Meloto have been showered with honors, and GK has expanded to the USA and other countries..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111213com4.html
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