Quote:
Originally Posted by Waves
Fair enough. Since you have read Wealth of Nations, you should note that most of the 'new jobs' you mentioned above fall into what Adam Smith in the same book complained about the unproductive labors of ‘’… some of the most frivolous professions; churchmen, lawyers, physicians, men of letters of all kind; players, buffoons, musicians, opera singers, opera dancers etc....". Just in case you missed the point, Adam Smith thinks jobs that produce a 'service' as opposed to a 'good' are frivolous. Check your post and you will realize that ALL the jobs you mentioned from Mechanic to Cinema fall into this category. This is the stage where most western Economies are. They all want to raise taxes because the economy is producing more profits than wages. T
Your Economic analysis and view on Privatisation are fine. I also use to think and write like that a decade ago. I once even forwarded the name of El Rufai as my role model. Having passed through the phase you are at the moment, I perfectly appreciate your view. Good luck.
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Adam Smith lived during the Industrial Revolution; known for the remarked improvement in the production of 'goods' which up to then had been manually produced. Now, we live in an age where the service and goods are sometimes indistinguishable and feed on each other. When we fo to the restuarant, do we pay for a service (the manner we are treated) or a good (the food we eat)? Also, demand for services ultimately lead to a deman for physical goods. MTN provides a service, but fulfilling this service requires the physical production of base stations, phones etc.
In western economies, profits (if they haven't been offshored) are also taxed. I suggest we leave this for some other day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Waves
I seem to have trouble communicating my thoughts. The central point is that Adam Smiths ideas should be studied in the light of current realities as some of his views are not in tune with the current global economy.
My advice is that whenever you come across an Economic Idea (whether western or not), try and ask some basic questions before adopting same. Can the model work in my environment? For instance, the central idea behind Privatisation (as Taipan wrote in his article), is sound. It even seems to have worked in Chile ( from where copied our current Pension Scheme). But look back at the experience of Nigeria. Has it worked? Obviously not. From Eleme, Alscon, Nitel to NICON, the story is bad. Is the problem really that of govt ownership or mismanagement. Certainly, with what we have seen in the Banks, mismanagement is not peculiar to govt. China and Singapore have shown that SOEs can work. If our problem is the 'Nigerian Factor', then make sure you carry the 'Nigerian Factor' in your plan because it is real. Whatever you do, open your mind and think. Don't just copy and paste.
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The problem is not privatisation, the problem is the manner it was handled. Let the whole process be open and transparent! If private capital mismanages its own capital, then let bankruptcy laws take over. Govt should not be bailing out private capital 'unless' absolutely necessary. In other words, failure is a by-product of evolution.
Quote:
Originally Posted by overload
This is exactly what we all have been saying..why are they not working in Nigeria? what studies have been done to seek the reasons for all these failures?
Like i have always insisted, check the bank accounts of all those that have been saddled with the responsibility of carrying out these programme...lets follow the 'money' and am sure we will get to the root of these failures!
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Exactly. We need to be addressing the causes of the failures.
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