I found myself drawn to paper that I found published on the net. It is titled ‘Why Capitalism is Good for the Soul’ by Peter Saunders. Peter Saunders is the Social Research Director at The Centre for Independent Studies in Australia. He argues pretty emphatically that capitalism has been good for mankind and certainly far better than any other market organisational system. I take his point, I think we have seen the fall of just about every other system. Capitalism is certainly the one that has outlasted and outwitted. As far as Saunders is concerned capitalism allows us to construct happy and worthwhile lives for ourselves and this is all that we can reasonably expect of any society. He says that no socio economic system can guarantee a good life. He asserts that capitalism allows us to feed and shelter ourselves and provide for our basic needs as well as for technological growth.

I have to say that he makes wonderful and clear points about why capitalism has been good for us. I cannot argue with most of them at all. I would however say that the title of the article is a misnomer as it does not argue why capitalism is good for soul but rather for the satisfying of human need. Soul, it would seem does not come into the debate at all!

There is another chap in Australia called Dr. Clive Hamilton. Hamilton is an environmentalist and was also the Executive Director of The Australia Institute over the last 14 years. He has exactly the opposite viewpoint. To quote Saunders about Hamilton’s views:

'His message, aimed mainly at a disaffected intellectual middle class, is that we have become preoccupied with the pursuit of wealth and are increasingly unhappy and unfulfilled as a result of our materialistic lifestyles. Clive believes we have broken our ‘magical relationship with the natural environment,’ and that the pursuit of money is getting in the way of our ability to reconnect with our ‘true’ selves.'

Obviously I relate well to the views of Hamilton. I found an article written by him in 2004 for the Sydney Morning Herald;

‘But there is cause for hope. Not far beneath the surface most Australians have a gnawing doubt about the value of a money-driven life. A Newspoll survey also found that 83 per cent of Australians believe that our society is "too materialistic - that is too much emphasis on money and not enough on the things that really matter".

For they suspect that the money society is at the root of the decline in values - the disposable relationships, instant gratification, moral laxity, selfishness, corporate greed and the loss of civic culture.’

Thats pretty strong verbage! Hamilton also quotes a survey that was completed by the Australia Institute in 2002 that found that 23% of Australians between the ages of 30 and 60 have taken a cut in their income to get more control of their lives, spend more time with friends and family, or achieve greater personal fulfilment. He calls this group of people downshifters.

I was a little disturbed to see this fact. I mean, here I am only the second person that I know of in my last eleven years to make this change only to find out that 23% of the Australian population has already made this same change. More than that this group of people even have a name to describe them!

I think that it is utterly fantastic that there is such a growing consciousness of the fact that money cannot be everything in our life. I am concerned that in my country we still know almost nothing about it.