My Take on Populism

This is not an article per say, but more of an opinion, my personal opinion for that matter. It seems everyone is on an awe of this strange yet powerful phenomena we been witnessing in the past several years and it only seems to be growing ever stronger as the days pass by.

The Phenomena in question is the “Raise of Populism “. Populism in layman language is support for the concerns of pure ordinary people; people who are on the bottom of the ladder, people would normally trust the authority, Politician and leaders of the country to look after their affairs in a fair manner without the hint of corruption, greed and most importantly political agenda.

So why the raise all of sudden?. What exactly has happened in the past years that all of sudden created a total distrust of the system and those who are entrusted to deliver in the fair manner?. As a result you have a person who has no Political experience, nor any affiliation to the army, all of a sudden defying all the odds  & being elected as a President of the most powerful Nation on earth. Followed by a 38 year old young passionate French man, from being a virtual political unknown to the leader of the world’s fifth-largest economy in little more than a year. And not to mention more than 50% of an entire nation opt to get out from European membership that’s been a stronghold since 1961. These are some of the examples of many as a result of Populism.

So why then?. The phenomena by itself been there for years, but it came apparent  in 2008, when we faced the most devastated financially meltdown in our modern time. As a result Millions of people lost their jobs, and to make it worst, the government ended up bailing the very same institutions that created this catastrophe using the TAX payer’s money, i.e.money of the very same PEOPLE who got affected by it. And the funny thing is, none of the responsible people (The bankers, financiers etc) ended behind bars. IF this is not a complete erosion of trust to the system and people running the system, than I don’t know what it is.

There is a lot of definition of Economy, but the way I see it, Economy in its most basic term, is the act of creating jobs, so that the people as a nation would prosper EQUALLY, measured only by the hard work individuals of that nation puts in. And In order for this basic definition of economy to stands and hold its ground, a vehicle of some sort need to run it, and that vehicle is “Capitalism” and irrespective how flaw it is, unfortunately it’s the best we have now.

Wikipedia define Capitalism as an economic system based on private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. The key words here are PRIVATE and PROFIT. Two words put together and you get a toxic ingredient of GREED. Human beings are wired in that manner, make as much money as possible and deal with the consequences later.

And here lays the problem, we have lost the very essence of economy, where the objective was to create jobs and give equal opportunities, instead we have banks avoiding retailing, which is the engine of growing economy, and instead they dwell more into investments banking, that mostly paper wealth and doesn’t really correlate with people who are at the bottom of the ladder. We have CEOs who are short term thinkers, just to meet their KPI, increase shareholder value by whatever means to secure their fat bonus cheque, rather than thinking strategically and how to increase the overall company wealth, and spend more into R&D that goes hand in hand with sustainability in job creations. And please don’t get me started with the Wall Street Financiers, an often-toxic culture that has a way of corrupting much of what the Street touches.

Why the Raise of Populism?, the answer is simple, GREED. People are sick and tired to be treated as third class citizen, people are sick and tired to wake up one day and realize they are out of jobs, people are sick and tired of constant fear what the future holds for them and their offspring’s. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The last time I checked, Richest 1% owns half of the world’s wealth, is that even normal?!.

Greed is the mother of all evil, but CAPITALISM as it stands now is the catalyst for this Greed, and no matter how many regulation we put in place, there are always the lobbyists who would find the way around the system, lobbyists financed by the very same mega corporation that lives and breath capitalism to its core. Such a vicious circle.

I don’t have all the answer, all I know, if we don’t come up with one soon enough, we would face yet another Financial disaster, and if not handled correctly we would soon see a new phenomenon on the raise, and I am afraid it won’t be as merciful as Populism.

But what if……, we know Capitalism works, but as I mentioned above it has its flaws. Communism is not a starter, but its ideology after all is based on the absence of social classes and money. So what if we could combine these two economic engines and come up with something in between, take the best from the two and eliminate the bad.?

Food for thoughts to all of you.

PS/  As I conclude this piece, Angela Merkel decided to step down as chancellor of Germany in 2021, following recent election setbacks on her CDU party.

Populism Parties like the left-leaning Greens and the far-right, anti-immigration AfD have grown in national support following the 2017 general election, as backing for the major centre parties has waned. Despite Germany outstanding  economic performance, the leadership was not immune from the Raise of Populism. I rest my case.