{"id":64206,"date":"2015-11-16T11:57:57","date_gmt":"2015-11-16T11:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=130bcbb9c406118b71d51cfb7520973b"},"modified":"2015-11-16T11:57:57","modified_gmt":"2015-11-16T11:57:57","slug":"speech-in-defence-of-the-c-word-why-capitalism-is-a-force-for-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=64206","title":{"rendered":"Speech: In defence of the c-word: why capitalism is a force for good"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Before I start today\u2019s talk, I\u2019d like to say a few words about the appalling terrorist acts that took place in Paris on Friday night.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure I speak for everyone here, when I say that our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families and the people of France.<\/p>\n

The days and weeks to come will be difficult beyond measure. <\/p>\n

But you will not face them alone.<\/p>\n

We will stand with you. <\/p>\n

Paris\u2019s motto translates as \u201cshe is tossed by the waves but does not sink\u201d. <\/p>\n

And I think that\u2019s an ideal we should all take to heart today.<\/p>\n

Terrorists seek to instil in us a state of fear.<\/p>\n

But we will not be afraid.<\/p>\n

They seek to divide us.<\/p>\n

But we will not be divided.<\/p>\n

Our society may continue to be tossed by their waves of hatred and violence. <\/p>\n

But we will not sink. <\/p>\n

And now, if I may, I\u2019ll turn to the subject of today\u2019s talk.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a proud capitalist. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s not something you\u2019ll hear a lot of people saying in this country. Certainly not politicians. <\/p>\n

But it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

And why wouldn\u2019t I be proud of it?<\/p>\n

For hundreds of years, capitalism has been lifting people out of poverty.<\/p>\n

It has been delivering international development, and raising living standards.<\/p>\n

Over time it has been improved and refined, and helped to spread democracy around the world.<\/p>\n

Without capitalism, the UK would not be the country that it is today. <\/p>\n

Capitalism created the wealth that led to the NHS.<\/p>\n

It allows us to pay for universal education. <\/p>\n

It was the driving force behind 2 centuries of inventions and innovations.<\/p>\n

Ideas that revolutionised the way we live, we work and we communicate.<\/p>\n

Capitalism built houses and railways.<\/p>\n

It feeds our people and it allows us to feed millions more overseas. <\/p>\n

So it shouldn\u2019t be controversial to call myself a fan. <\/p>\n

Yet in 2015 capitalism is, for many, a dirty word. <\/p>\n

In fact when I was planning this speech, some people said to me;<\/p>\n

\n

Look Sajid, you should avoid using the c-word.<\/p>\n

Keep it to a minimum, stick to euphemisms like \u2018free enterprise\u2019, \u2018open markets\u2019 and \u2018private business\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s hardly surprising because, right now, capitalism is facing its gravest threat since the Cold War. <\/p>\n

But that threat doesn\u2019t come from an invading army or dictatorial leader. <\/p>\n

It comes from a force that is far more powerful.<\/p>\n

Public disillusionment. <\/p>\n

As Tim Montgomerie\u2019s excellent Legatum Institute study showed, millions of people have lost faith in capitalism across the world. <\/p>\n

They argue that big business is inevitably corrupt.<\/p>\n

That free enterprise always makes the rich richer at the expense of the poor.<\/p>\n

That protectionism is preferable to free trade. <\/p>\n

The financial crisis has left people weary and wary.<\/p>\n

And in its wake we see populist politicians at home and abroad offering easy answers.<\/p>\n

Answers that are direct challenge to capitalism itself.<\/p>\n

Now this is nothing new. <\/p>\n

There have always been oddballs and loners sitting on the sidelines and demanding a return to agrarianism or something similar.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve been there for as long as the free market has been the dominant system.<\/p>\n

But today we see such views seeping into the mainstream for the first time in decades.<\/p>\n

[Political content removed]<\/p>\n

Capitalism failed to cover itself in glory over the past decade.<\/p>\n

And now public opinion is turning against it in a big way. <\/p>\n

This matters, because no system can survive without the support from the people.<\/p>\n

And make no mistake, capitalism is at its heart just an economic system.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a construct. It\u2019s something that has been created and refined by human hand.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a dog-eat-dog, laissez-faire free-for-all \u2013 it\u2019s a system with rules. <\/p>\n

It is not the natural order of things and, left unsupported, it could quickly be lost simply through neglect. <\/p>\n

We have to consciously choose to embrace it, choose to continue its legacy.<\/p>\n

President Reagan was talking about democracy when he said that that \u201cfreedom is never more than 1 generation away from extinction\u201d. <\/p>\n

But his idea \u2013 that freedom is not passed on but must be fought for, must be protected and must be defended \u2013 applies equally to the free market. <\/p>\n

We neglect it at our peril.<\/p>\n

And if we fail to support it, it could still crumble in the face of countless tiny attacks.<\/p>\n

Or, as the second President Bush put it in slightly more succinct terms: \u201cthis sucker could go down\u201d. <\/p>\n

So why is it worth defending?<\/p>\n

Why, if the tide is turning and opinion is shifting, should we not just throw in the towel and try something different? <\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019ll tell you why.<\/p>\n

Because capitalism is a force for good.<\/p>\n

Because, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, it\u2019s not a dangerous tiger that needs to be shot, or a cow that can be milked. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a healthy horse that pulls us all forward. <\/p>\n

Just look at what it has delivered so far.<\/p>\n

In the 6,000 years to 1750, living standards in the developed world doubled.<\/p>\n

But since the industrial revolution, that doubling has occurred roughly every 50 years.<\/p>\n

Each generation has been a third better off than its predecessor. <\/p>\n

Since the 1970s, the proportion of the world population living on a dollar a day has, adjusting for inflation, fallen by 80%.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the greatest improvement in living standards ever achieved in the whole of human history.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s made an unimaginably huge difference in the lives of literally billions of people.
\nBut it wasn\u2019t delivered by a UN initiative or by the World Bank.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t happen because of a foreign aid budget, or because governments willed it to be so. <\/p>\n

It happened because of the spread of capitalism and of free trade. <\/p>\n

Just look at China.<\/p>\n

Forced collectivisation killed millions of people and left 64% of the population in poverty. <\/p>\n

It was Deng Xiaoping who realised that something had to change. <\/p>\n

Asked why he was moving China closer towards capitalism, he said that \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, sure enough, when the country finally began to embrace capitalism, the poverty rate swiftly fell to around 8%. <\/p>\n

Legatum\u2019s annual Prosperity Index repeatedly shows that the most prosperous nations on earth are those that are economically free. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, one of the biggest fallers in this year\u2019s ranking was Venezuela.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s providing a very real case study, I believe, of Lady Thatcher\u2019s maxim that all socialist governments eventually run out of other people\u2019s money.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s the people of Venezuela who are paying as a result. <\/p>\n

But the benefits of international capitalism aren\u2019t solely economic.<\/p>\n

As Nye Bevan wrote, \u201cfreedom is the by-product of economic surplus\u201d.<\/p>\n

As capitalism has spread around the world, it has taken liberal democracy with it.<\/p>\n

The 2 go hand in hand.<\/p>\n

The values and institutions you need to effectively run a capitalist market are the same one that are required for a democracy.<\/p>\n

Put simply, both rely on giving people the freedom to choose.<\/p>\n

To choose who governs them.<\/p>\n

To choose what they want to buy. <\/p>\n

In a capitalist society you can choose your career, choose your direction.<\/p>\n

Capitalism gives you the opportunity to break out of the confines of where you came from. <\/p>\n

Capitalism is colour-blind.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t care what you look like, where your parents come from or whether you have a funny-sounding name.<\/p>\n

It recognises ability, not connections.<\/p>\n

It rewards people who do well regardless of the colour of their skin. <\/p>\n

And if you don\u2019t like capitalism?<\/p>\n

If you want to drop out of the system and you want to live in the woods eating berries?<\/p>\n

Well you can choose to do that too. <\/p>\n

In a state-planned economy the opposite is true. <\/p>\n

It relies on everyone being told what to do and when to do it.<\/p>\n

On being assigned a role and then being expected to follow it.<\/p>\n

A centrally-run, government-planned economy simply doesn\u2019t work if people are allowed to choose what they want to do.<\/p>\n

The Berlin Wall was not built to stop desperate West Germans fleeing to the DDR<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

[Political content removed]<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s no doubt whatsoever that capitalism has been and continues to be a massive boon for international development, both economic and political. <\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s only of use to developing countries or those emerging from the shadow of totalitarianism. <\/p>\n

Here at home, I often hear critics of the government complaining that our long-term economic plan is driven by ideology. <\/p>\n

And you know what?<\/p>\n

They\u2019re absolutely right. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s driven by an ideology that says a strong, stable, secure economy is what Britain needs in order to thrive. <\/p>\n

That says capitalist democracy allows us to pay for schools and hospitals and defence. <\/p>\n

That recognises only capitalism provides the means to tackle those five giants of squalor, ignorance, want, idleness, and disease.<\/p>\n

Thanks to capitalism nearly every home has access to labour-saving devices from vacuum cleaners to washing machines.<\/p>\n

We can buy an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables all year round.
\nWe can take holidays, we can buy TVs, we can work flexibly.<\/p>\n

We can flick a switch and not be worried about whether the lights will come on.<\/p>\n

Our sporting success, our world-class health service, our incredible creative industries, our cultural pioneers.<\/p>\n

Almost everything we take for granted in modern Britain is only there because of capitalism. <\/p>\n

The last time this country experimented with state planning and nationalisation, we ended up with a stagnant economy.<\/p>\n

We had runaway inflation.<\/p>\n

We had rubbish piled up in the streets. <\/p>\n

And the people who suffered most then weren\u2019t the wealthiest in society.<\/p>\n

They weren\u2019t the bankers and they weren\u2019t the super-rich. <\/p>\n

The people who suffered most were the ordinary men and women.<\/p>\n

People who just wanted to work hard and provide for their families.<\/p>\n

[Political content removed]<\/p>\n

Right now we live in a country with record employment, with more private businesses than ever before.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re a prosperous nation, a thriving nation, the kind of nation I came into politics to help create and protect. <\/p>\n

So yes, my policies are driven by capitalist ideology.<\/p>\n

An ideology that has made Britain and the world freer, happier and more prosperous.<\/p>\n

An ideology that has given us the means to enjoy our lives and the time with which to do so. <\/p>\n

An ideology that I will fight tooth and nail to defend. <\/p>\n

But my passion for capitalism doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m blind to the challenges that it presents. <\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest is that of inequality.<\/p>\n

The gap between the haves and the have-nots.<\/p>\n

Of course, that gap is relative.<\/p>\n

Thanks to 2 centuries of capitalism, anyone in Britain earning an average salary is, in global terms, comfortably among \u201cthe One Per Cent\u201d. <\/p>\n

Our standard of living is considerably higher than it used to be.<\/p>\n

Yet people are still understandably aggrieved when they see a tiny handful of individuals doing exceptionally well. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the risk of exploitation.<\/p>\n

Some employers choose to maximise profits by paying low wages.<\/p>\n

They cut corners on workplace safety, and they commit irreversible environmental damage. <\/p>\n

And if the minority refuse to play by the rules, of course the majority can suffer. <\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s dumping steel on the global markets, fiddling emissions tests on new cars, or conspiring behind the scenes to fix Libor rates, a few people with bad intentions can make themselves wealthy at the expense of a great many others. <\/p>\n

These problems easily spill over into a criticism of capitalism itself. <\/p>\n

As Tim\u2019s report shows, despite everything it has delivered, most Britons do not think of capitalism as a force for good.<\/p>\n

But inequality is not a fault with capitalism itself.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a limitation of it, something it cannot fix on its own.<\/p>\n

Likewise, exploitation and illegality are not flaws in the fabric of the system.<\/p>\n

They are simply flaws in human nature.<\/p>\n

Under any system there will always be people who refuse to follow the rules, who take advantage of others to enrich themselves. <\/p>\n

Despite what the propaganda says, there are thieves in socialist societies too. <\/p>\n

Adherents of Marx think that all of the answers are contained in the Communist Manifesto.<\/p>\n

But capitalists are more pragmatic. <\/p>\n

We recognise that there\u2019s more to life than the Road to Serfdom or the Wealth of Nations. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Adam Smith started off by writing the \u2018Theory of Moral Sentiments\u2019!<\/p>\n

None of us should be afraid to say that capitalism is a work in progress.<\/p>\n

That it has been refined and improved over many years, and that the process of perfection still goes on.<\/p>\n

State-planned economies rely on doing the same thing over and over again and expecting something other than failure.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, capitalist societies recognise when something isn\u2019t working and they take action to address it.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s where the government has a role to play. <\/p>\n

In recent years it\u2019s become fashionable to bash government as an institution, to say it\u2019s inherently a bad thing.<\/p>\n

In some circles you\u2019ll find people who think the state has absolutely no role to play in business at all.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not one of those people.<\/p>\n

Government has always had an absolutely crucial role to play in improving and enhancing capitalism. <\/p>\n

Without government intervention, factories could employ child labour and force workers to endure dangerous conditions.<\/p>\n

Without government intervention, it would be perfectly legal to pay women less than men, or fire them for getting pregnant. <\/p>\n

Without government intervention, a business owner would be allowed to refuse me service because of the colour of my skin \u2013 as some did to my dad.<\/p>\n

And such interventions aren\u2019t just battles from the past.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m proud to be part of a government that\u2019s introducing the National Living Wage<\/a> and the Apprenticeship Levy<\/a>, government interventions in the free market that will help make capitalism work better.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m proud to be passing the Enterprise Bill<\/a>, protecting small business owners against late payments and making sure that everyone plays the by rules.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m proud to be a Business Secretary who is relentlessly pro-business, yet unafraid to take action when things aren\u2019t working. <\/p>\n

Continuing to improve the system is a major part of my job. <\/p>\n

And over the next few weeks and months I\u2019ll be talking a little more about what government and business need to do to in order to make that happen.<\/p>\n

To tackle abuses of the system.<\/p>\n

To make sure nobody is left behind by progress.<\/p>\n

And to help restore public confidence in capitalism. <\/p>\n

Now I started this morning by talking about how \u2018capitalism\u2019 has become something of a swear word. <\/p>\n

And in many ways, as supporters of capitalism, we have only ourselves to blame. <\/p>\n

Because over the years we\u2019ve allowed the debate to be framed in terms of left and right.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve allowed capitalism to be defined as an immoral, laissez faire free-for-all.<\/p>\n

A system that doesn\u2019t just tolerate exploitation, but actively encourages it. <\/p>\n

But things really aren\u2019t that black and white. <\/p>\n

The Rowntree and Cadbury families were capitalists who built vast business empires by selling their goods. <\/p>\n

But they also invested huge amounts in the welfare of their workforce and wider society.<\/p>\n

George Cadbury even used his fortune to buy a newspaper so that he could use it to campaign against sweatshop labour.<\/p>\n

A century later, the world\u2019s most successful capitalist is Bill Gates.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s giving away tens of billions of pounds to improve healthcare in developing nations.<\/p>\n

One survey recently named him the most popular man in the world. <\/p>\n

Being a capitalist does not make you a bad person.<\/p>\n

It is not a synonym for evil.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a capitalist, but I also believe in equality, that people shouldn\u2019t be allowed to discriminate.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a capitalist, but I don\u2019t believe we should pursue profit at all costs and destroy the planet in the process.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a capitalist, but I don\u2019t believe in exploiting workers in the UK or anywhere else.<\/p>\n

Critics of capitalism do not have a monopoly on conscience and compassion.<\/p>\n

And on the other side of the coin, capitalists are not alone in thinking that the state should allow people to do well for themselves.<\/p>\n

[Political content removed]<\/p>\n

No less a figure than William Beveridge said that:<\/p>\n

\n

The State \u2026 in establishing a national minimum \u2026 should leave room and encouragement for voluntary action by each individual to provide more than that minimum for himself and his family.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So from whichever angle you look at it, capitalism is a force for good. <\/p>\n

The challenge we face is to make that case in a compelling and convincing manner. <\/p>\n

We have to celebrate and highlight what it does well, and address problems when things go wrong.<\/p>\n

We have to be unashamed to say that we support capitalism, but unafraid to admit that it can always be improved. <\/p>\n

Above all we have to demonstrate, through words and actions, that capitalism is not an ugly necessity, something rotten that we simply have to tolerate. <\/p>\n

Capitalism is a wonderful, powerful thing. <\/p>\n

The single greatest tool we have to tackle poverty.<\/p>\n

To raise living standards.<\/p>\n

And to boost international development. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the best economic system anyone has ever devised.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s crucial that we defend it. <\/p>\n

Because capitalism is not perfect, but it can be perfected. <\/p>\n

And it falls to its supporters to do just that. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As research shows falling public support for free enterprise, Business Secretary Sajid Javid says ‘capitalist’ should be a badge of honour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64206"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64206\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}