Cross Talk
The truth omission
In 1922, American novelist Sinclair Lewis bragged about his country. He said that in other countries art and literature were left to a lot of shabby bums who lived in attics and fed on spaghetti and booze.
But it was not the same in America where a successful writer or painter was indistinguishable from any other decent business man. I say, such is the creed of capitalism. It makes business the measure of everything.
Don't we know it? In this country, the government is willing to give many concessions to business so that it will not deprive us of its magic. And then everybody else is busy wooing the businessmen, because their indifference threatens to eclipse the economy.
If the prices are rising like galloping horses, if the banks aren't opening LCs and imports are dwindling, it is not unlikely that the economy would slow down, even come to a grinding halt one fine morning!
I believe like most people in the country that businessman is the god of small things. He creates jobs, jobs create earnings and earnings create spending. It works like blood circulation, going from the heart through the arteries to rest of the body. In the scheme of modern economics, businessman is the center of everything. He puts purchasing power in otherwise idle hands, which leads to consumption which leads to the multiplier effect across the economy.
So the product he makes not only brings foreign exchange for the country. The salary he pays to the workers creates many streams of spending. The house rent, groceries, cosmetics, baby milk, clothes, transportation, medicine, alms to beggars, from one hand the money goes to many and that is how one fountainhead of expenditure sets off the spectrum of economic activities.
Indeed business is the jewel of the economy. It creates wealth, it distributes wealth and than raises the standard of living. Sinclair Lewis was talking about this when he compared the writers and painters of America with those in other countries. He was not comparing the talents of these men, he didn't doubt their creative abilities, but he was questioning their return on investment, whether they were making enough money.
Let there be no doubt that money has been always connected with good life, with comfort, security and authority. If we eliminate corruption, bribery and extortion, money can come from business only, the splurge of cash, the confluence of influence and affluence, which measures a man by the weight of his fortune. No surprise if the businessman is the iconic figure, the head priest of the cult of money.
But should business be the measure of everything? Should we measure everything with return on investment? Should mother's love, spouse's fidelity, filial obedience and dog's loyalty be measured on the basis of monetary gains? Should we go to bed on the calculation if there is a gain if we woke up in the morning?
Probably in the end there is a cost-benefit analysis to everything. People do things mostly when benefit exceeds cost. But people also do costly things for no monetary benefit. The man who dies in the battlefield, political demonstration or fight against drug trafficking dies for a dream. In his own way he wants to change the world, because he can not accept it.
How would this man look in a business suit? He gives his life for a cause. He exacts the ultimate price on himself and pays it with his own blood. This man has no sense of bookkeeping, withdrawal being his deposit. He bargains with himself and wins in the losing deal. He will look like a joke in the business skin.
A businessman is unlike him. He transacts his business for a price and squeezes his profit margin. His suit is his uniform, which shows that he is in the profession of making money. And that is what sets him apart from the rest of us. His success is measured by money, and our success is measured by him.
If we call it the Sinclair test, then no man is successful if he is differentiable from a businessman. Whether he is a leader, writer, thinker, teacher, performer and man of any other profession, he has to look like a businessman, the same lavish life, the same flashy lifestyle, the same glamour which reeks with the smell of money, easy come and easy gone.
"Business first, pleasure afterwards," wrote William Makepeace Thackeray in 1855, which was a prophetic statement that now resonates through everything in this country. We have defeated the politicians. We have defeated some of the godfathers and some of their musclemen. Even bureaucrats, police and others are at least showing their willingness to walk the straight line.
But the stumbling block appears to be business. This is where one can see the sign of defiance. It remains an insurmountable hurdle, which reminds us that business comes first, everything else afterwards, that this nation can't have the pleasure of anything if it tries to mess with business.
That might of business makes us comparable with America, if not on the economic index, at least on the social index. Business has lot of influence over us because we admire business and it pervades our lives. As a matter of fact, everything about us is based on business models, the give and take, loss and gain, smile and tears, courage and fear, all of these are worked out on shrewd estimation of what is the benefit and what is the cost.
George Canning, who was the British prime minister in 1827, had observed that the Dutch had a fault in the matters of commerce. They offered too little and asked too much.
If the government forms the Truth Commission, where will it draw the line? How will it separate those who have offered too little from those who have asked too much?
While welcoming the Truth Commission, we must be careful. If it wears the business suit, it might transform into truth omission!
Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a banker.
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