{"id":416,"date":"2019-10-02T22:09:34","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T01:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/?p=416"},"modified":"2019-10-03T09:19:28","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T12:19:28","slug":"capitalism-is-not-greed-are-students-confusing-the-two-terms-bambis-chat-with-mr-michael-lifshitz-financial-advisor-entrepreneur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/2019\/10\/02\/capitalism-is-not-greed-are-students-confusing-the-two-terms-bambis-chat-with-mr-michael-lifshitz-financial-advisor-entrepreneur\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cCapitalism is NOT greed: Are students confusing the two terms?\u201d Bambi\u2019s chat with Mr. Michael Lifshitz, financial advisor & entrepreneur"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
“Capitalism is not greed: Are students confusing the two terms?” (Michael Lifshitz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This post is a comment to an article entitled \u201cWe do not have a Planet B<\/em>\u201d by Ms. Emma Conrad published in the Argosy<\/em>, Mount Allison Independent Student Newspaper (October 2nd<\/sup>, 2019):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/www.since1872.ca\/news\/we-dont-have-a-planet-b\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article in question\nreads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe speeches and demands were delivered\nat Bill Johnstone Memorial Park. Here, anyone who wanted to discuss climate\nchange was invited up to the microphone to talk about what they felt was\nimportant.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am here today for the same reasons that\nyou are all here \u2013 to ensure we have a sustainable future and a habitable\nplanet,\u201d began Yao. \u201cI speak on [Zero Hour\u2019s] behalf because I want you to walk\naway from today\u2019s march understanding that the climate crisis is not an\nindependent issue.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we are talking about a just\ntransition to a sustainable way of living, we must address the real roots of\nclimate change,\u201d said Yao. \u201cWe understand the mechanisms, but the human\nconditions that enabled it are more complex yet just as essential. I am talking\nabout patriarchy, racism, colonialism, capitalism, and all the ways we have\nchosen to systematically exploit the land and the people.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

End of Conrad\u2019s quote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bambi has always been\nintrigued by how educated, smart students like Ms. Yao seem to always repeat\nthe same clich\u00e9s about capitalism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps they do so without\nmuch thought about the concept? Perhaps they missed the Economy lesson if it is\ntaught on Fridays when they have been busy striking ??<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyhow, Bambi shared the thought\nabove with her friend Mr. Lifshitz. She asked him for his opinion, as a\nfinancial expert. Maybe he has a more logical explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily, she did so because\nshe heard a wise answer that goes like this: \u201cStudents seem to confuse capitalism\nwith greed. Could it be?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What an interesting\nhypothesis, Bambi thanked her friend. It is indeed a possibility.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Bambi\u2019s mind,\ncapitalism is free market. In other terms, it is free enterprise (more room for\nprivate ownership in this economy). Production and income distribution are\nlargely determined by the market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capitalism has clearly created\neconomic growth, preventing preterm birth, infant mortality, and lifting many\nchildren, not just in Canada but also around the world, out of poverty.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, obviously, more work\nneeds to be done. However, we are moving in the right direction, at least in terms\nof better access to education and healthcare in many of the low to\nmedium-income countries of the world, including Bambi\u2019s birth country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we also need to\nkeep our planet clean and beautiful because, as Conrad titled her article: \u201cWe\ndo not have a planet B\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Bambi\u2019s mind, greed\nwould be extreme, selfish desire for wealth or power. Thus, greed is not a\nvirtue. It is selfish, especially in a society that is thankfully rooted in some\nsocialism (where people care for each other and where our government, through\nour tax money, can be supportive too). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In sum, capitalism is NOT\ngreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Yao also talked about\npatriarchy, racism, colonialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bambi searched the website\nof Zero Hour: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/thisiszerohour.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She came across the same sentence repeated by Ms. Yao (speaking on behalf of this *global* organization):\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThrough this\ncampaign, Zero Hour will educate communities around the country and abroad\nabout the systems of oppression that Zero Hour names as root causes of climate\nchange in our platform, including Capitalism, Racism, Sexism, Colonialism, and\nhow these systems intersect with the climate movement to form climate justice\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interesting\u2026 But what\ndoes all this really mean? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps students confuse\ncapitalism with greed indeed? But what about Zero Hour? Does it confuse Canada\/North\nAmerica with Saudi Arabia, Iran, or ISIS-controlled areas in Syria or Congo? For\nexample, how would sexism be related to climate change, Bambi wonders? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She thought global warming\nwould perhaps differently affect us on a geographic basis more than anything else.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intersectionality (a term\nour own Prime Minister used lately) may be a double-edged sword: At times, it\nmakes sense to think about how adversities can (and do) overlap. However, at other\ntimes, these concepts would be simply totally unrelated. It would be actually illogical\nto assume otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, Michael Lifshitz\nis from a certain ethno-linguistic background (Jewish anglophone from Montreal),\nnow an Ottawa citizen. He is physically disabled. He could have been trans or\ngay, Native or descendant of settlers\u2026. But, for God\u2019s sake, how would all this\nmake his disability more disabling? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, if there is a\nflooding or a fire, Michael would be more vulnerable to the natural disaster BUT\nONLY because of his disability and perhaps a non-accessible transportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, thankfully, capitalism\nwould most likely allow him to be creative in finding (and affording!) preventive\nsolutions or ideas to minimize consequences. Capitalism can also allow his\nloved ones to be able to assist him as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If capitalism can help\nBambi\u2019s friend in surviving natural disasters (with or without a climate crisis),\nBambi would have another reason to appreciate capitalism\u2019s benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bambi hopes more and more\npeople in the world can be as prosperous as us Canadians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also hopes we will\nknow how to diversify our economy whilst respecting our environment.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the latter, thanks to\nall those who genuinely care for our planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bambi hopes that no one\nwill fall into the trap of repeating slogans without a reality check from time\nto time, especially against the specific context of our region and our country.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our \u201cnoble\u201d efforts to\nbe engaged citizens, let\u2019s avoid enslaving ourselves in our own slogans, that\nis without questioning the meaning of each word we chant, say, or repeat. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is a comment to an article entitled \u201cWe do not have a Planet B\u201d by Ms. Emma Conrad published in the Argosy, Mount Allison Independent Student Newspaper (October 2nd, 2019): http:\/\/www.since1872.ca\/news\/we-dont-have-a-planet-b\/ The article […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":422,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416\/revisions\/422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}