Over the years, I’ve been asked a number of times: “Is it worth me doing an MBA?” I haven’t been involved in teaching MBA for very many years now, even so, I’m beginning to have my doubts, and that’s apart from my growing scepticism of academic qualifications generally.
Once upon a time we taught students to understand supposedly free markets, spot opportunities, create competitive advantage, strategic management and so on – all of the traditional business skills. I’m beginning to wonder just how relevant these skills are in a world of vast amounts of printed money, government bail-outs and a ‘too big to fail’ mentality?
Some years ago, I was talking to the daughter of a friend of mine in Sao Paulo, Brazil, she had emigrated legally to the United States. I asked her why she’d decided to emigrate. She replied: “In Brazil, if you’re born poor, you stay poor; in the US, I’ve studied, built a small but successful business and I have a nice home.”
This was quite a revelation to me. I’d always thought that I understood the difference between the first and third world, namely: polarisation. Although the difference between the haves and have nots is particularly pronounced in the third world, we here in the west are increasingly becoming more polarised.
I’ve always thought though, that there have been beggars since or before biblical times and if I could be reborn in a thousand years, there would still be the poor and beggars in the streets. It’s just the way life is; we don’t live in an ideal world.
Brazil has a varied and tumultuous political history but in recent years this has been dominated by socialism under the leadership of the likes of Lula da Silva (now in prison for corruption), later his protegé Dilma Rousseff (now impeached).
These people threw crumbs to the poor and the poor loved (and still do) them for it. They are however still to be found by the millions, sleeping in the streets and gutters in extreme poverty. After decades of socialism, little has changed in Brazil and they show no signs of doing so.
The one thing the poor will never have is opportunity. Promises are easily made and soon forgotten by politicians hungry for power. Time will tell what newly-elected President Bolsonaro brings, but if ultimately he’s any different, he has a very steep hill to climb.
Millions of illegal immigrants are constantly assaulting the southern US border. I suppose a great many of them are just after an opportunity to better their lives, an opportunity that they will never have in the third world. They are hungry for an opportunity that will only ever be afforded to them by a capitalist system.
As western politics have moved steadily to the left and increasingly towards socialism on both sides of the Atlantic, our cities have come to resemble third world slums. One of the biggest revelations to me since the 2008 financial crisis, is the realisation that we just don’t live in a free market economy.
Along with socialism has also come big governments that meddle in business and markets. It is this melding of politics, banking and business that I find particularly disturbing. After much thought, I’ve decided to call it Fascism; this may not be correct and so you can call it what you like.
By the time of the financial crisis, trillions in currencies had been printed worldwide – the numbers are getting beyond comprehension – all to bail out banks and businesses that were considered too big to fail. We the people are left to pay the interest on the debt and in the end there’ll be massive inflation, we’ll pay for this in many ways over the years but the elderly and most vulnerable in our society will be the first to suffer.
What we have in the form of socialism is a highly efficient mechanism to transfer wealth from us ordinary people to the select few. It is a system that will always deny us opportunity. This is true wherever socialism has been practised, whether it be South or Central America (Venezuela is of particular note at the moment), Africa, Asia or Europe. There is always extreme poverty that goes along with socialism. If it were so great, why are people always so desperate to escape from socialist countries?
Traditionally, under a capitalist system, businesses are like aircraft, if they’re poorly designed and constructed, they just don’t fly, but of course the socialists just can’t accept this. I’ve travelled to most of the places I’ve mentioned in the world and recognise, when I look at overcrowded cities of uneducated people and exploding populations that socialism is a lie, it can never work and it never has.
In a world of winners and losers capitalism, for all of its faults, is a much fairer way of deciding who wins and who loses, simply because we all get to play the game. We all, more than in any other system, have some opportunity. In a capitalist world, it is up to each individual whether to take the opportunities offered; not everybody will, the choice is yours.
I don’t keep in touch with my ex-students any more. After spending a few years in the academic world, I wanted to move on. Sometimes though, I look them up on the Internet, just to check up. Many of them are doing extremely well and I quietly smile. When I compare this to the times that I’ve walked through the streets of poor socialist countries, the difference is stark.
When I look into the eyes of a beggar as he stares helplessly into the middle distance I see a broken man, no hope, no opportunity, he’s long since learned to accept his lot in his socialist world and even love its leaders for his misery.
The socialist world is what we voted to leave when we voted for Brexit. This is the European Union, the United Nations and its Agenda 21/2030; this is the world that Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn are trying to keep us tied to: we need Brexit.
Ah, the MBA prior to that the DMS and now apparently a Phd. MBA from some ex ‘poly’ turned University, ten a penny and only useful keeping predominately middle aged , middle class ‘lecturers’ in nice well paid jobs. Teaching for ‘fun’ it may well have been, paying for what turned out to be left leaning claptrap in many cases was not.
The first MBA was in 1908 in the USA and the first European one in France in 1957, It took us to the late 70’s early 80’s to find what a nice little earner it was. That’s why most of them are a complete waste of money and more importantly a complete waste of time.
In the 1980’s i taught on a few MBA courses for fun. Most of the lecturers were ernest practitioners of their particular art like say Accountancy or Marketing or whatever. However all of them were basically ex managers not entrepreneurs or businessmen or even sole traders or even shopkeepers. So they were lost. Most were teachers. They were aware they didn’t know.
The pupils were without exception good 25 to 45 year olds, not particularly brilliant, but ready to learn. Every last one was ” grasshopper” and ready to do anything necessary.
They didn’t need teachers
, what they wanted and I gave them was my experience in the form of stories ( examples) to demonstrate that you can do things without knowing everything or indead anything. Thereis usually a way. And enjoy doing it. ‘Av a laff ‘ occasionally. Life is not always grim and ernest, and moneyi is not everything but it helps,, but be ready to fight. But remember Hard work is a given, but far from being everything. People who extol hard work usually want you to work for them. But there are other things as important but ignored, Trust, honesty , tidyness, quality, willingess. freindliness and other and ethical things. Astonishing things happen.
Opportunities are everywhere. I could find a dozen at a moments notice
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No need to worry aboutpunctuation or capital letters.
When the flood of financial collapse comes there will be rafts bobbing on the rough seas, full of sorry people. There will be no seats for sale.
Capitalism seems natural ‘the market forces’. Put that with Democracy, or the nearest one can get to it and then one gets Freedom of opportunity, responsibility, ownership, involvement and happiness.
“After much thought, I’ve decided to call it Fascism”, sounds about right to me! Confirmation.
Thoroughly enjoyed this article. We are on the same sheet.
This reminds me of the slogan “Socialism, making everyone equally poor since 1917”
If you can’t laugh what is the point?
The best politicians create ways for those born without opportunities to be given opportunities. Everyone aspires to a better life. Good policies can enable that aspiration to be fulfilled. Educated populations are good for everyone. Grammar schools gave opportunities to those children born without wealth to achieve better, more rewarding lives in the 1950s when there were ample grammar schools throughout Britain. Anthony Crossland and Shirley Williams.decided grammar schools must be destroyed when they realised that grammar school children were able to reach the highest levels of society, even become Prime Minister (Wilson, Heath, Thatcher). Oh dear, can’t have the hoi poloi getting above their station. Their act of destruction was an act of wicked spite. Now we have some grammar schools but not nearly enough. The proximity of a grammar school pushes up the value of housing so now only those comfortable enough to buy houses in the catchment area get their children into them. Next time you see everyone fauning over Dame Shirley Williams remember that wicked act of Spite. People seem to think socialism is for the working man – well it was once but no longer, not for a good long time. Now socialism stands for Vote for Us and we’ll ensure you remain exactly where you are, still voting for Us..
p.s. – ‘the poor are always with us’ – obviously. Take a room of 100 people and give each £100,000.
Come back in a year there will be three multi-millionaires and a hell of a lot of totally broke beggars. It isn’t the system, it’s human nature and luck.
Here in London muslim beggars are run by gangs, often Albanian, who take their cut. If I give to anyone then it will only be to an Englishman, preferably ex-service. That picture was probably taken in Oxford Street and I bet I could find the very spot within an hour. My guess that’s at Bond Street station on the north side where Crossrail works have placed a small lift. But they all look the same.
The true socialists would outlaw private (ie: non-state) capital, whereas the EU practices crony-capitalism whereby the state colludes with big business to stitch up the markets and thus to fleece the masses. Leaving the EU is the necessary step to return to a country of freedom from state oppression, freedom from state ownership, and freedom from crony capitalism, and above all, freedom from the world central banking mafia who conspire to fix all the world’s money to their own ends (The Money Mafia, Paul T Hellyer, ISBN 978-1-63424-006-2).
Well said flyer, particularly your last paragraph.
Excellent.