15. The prosperity and progress the world has witnessed in the last two centuries is unheralded in history and is evidence of Capitalisms superiority - Geopolitical Myths | Quran Course

15. The prosperity and progress the world has witnessed in the last two centuries is unheralded in history and is evidence of Capitalisms superiority - Geopolitical Myths | Quran Course

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15. The prosperity and progress the world has witnessed in the last two centuries is unheralded in history and is evidence of Capitalisms superiority

by Adnan Khan3 min readViewed 60 times

Year 2007 was an unprecedented time in history; the wealth generated in the year reached a record $54 trillion, the most generated in any year in history. After World War 2 the world economy was a mere $1 trillion. The adoption of Capitalism in Europe set in motion the industrial revolution which has led to unqualified prosperity and progress, unmatched in history.

Advocates of Capitalism since the fall of Communism continue to remind the world how prosperous the world’s population is, even considering Capitalism’s progress itself. Some capitalists have even been ‘civilisationally’ racist - if such a term existed - due to considering themselves superior to every other civilisation. The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi boasted after the events of 9/11, ‘we must be aware of the superiority of our civilisation, a system that has guaranteed well being, respect for human rights and - in contrast with Islamic countries - respect for religious and political rights, a system that has its values understanding of diversity and tolerance…The West will conquer peoples, like it conquered Communism, even if it means a confrontation with another civilisation, the Islamic one, stuck where it was 1,400 years ago.’29 The Economist even had the audacity in the middle of the global credit crunch meltdown to say:

‘Bubbles, excess and calamity are part of the package of Western finance. And still it is worth it.

For the West, Capitalism is synonymous to progress itself. The path the West took to achieve such grand claims is called history and everything else is considered primitive and in need of a reformation. However, the place where such a claim begins is essentially where the problem lies.

Capitalism’s next success has been creating history’s greatest ever wealth fault line. Whilst the majority of the world barely survives on a few dollars, the US has most of the world’s billionaires, in what is mankind’s greatest lopsided world economy. In 2006 the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the UN released the culmination of a global study. A number of its findings are staggering. By gathering research from countries all over the world the study concluded that the richest 1% of the world owns 40% of the planet's wealth and that only 10% of the world’s population owned 85% of the world’s assets.32 Richard Robbins in his award winning book ‘Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism’ confirmed this when he said: ‘The emergence of Capitalism represents a culture that is in many ways is the most successful that has ever been deployed in terms of accommodating large numbers of individuals in relative and absolute comfort and luxury. It has not been as successful, however, in integrating all in equal measure, and its failure here remains one of its major problems.’ Capitalism has also created the most indebted world in history, where individuals and nations have more debt than income. The fact that the world generated $54 trillion is irrelevant when most of this has been funded by debt. The Western world has become obsessed by consuming more then it really needs and most of this is funded by debt as most of the wealth generated is in the hands of a few. The USA, the world’s superpower, the world’s largest economy and for many a symbol of Capitalism’s success is drowning in a misery of debt, which the credit crunch crisis brought to the forefront. The US generated nearly $14 trillion in 2007, however the national debt – this is money the central and federal governments owe to the US public and the world through the bonds they have sold - stands at $9.7 trillion. US citizens have a huge appetite for imports and real estate. As a result consumer debt stands at $11.4 trillion. The debts of US companies amounts to $18.4 trillion.