Fwd: Fwd: PROUT Compared with Capitalism and Communism

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From: Alok Keerti
Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2011 06:00:28 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Fwd: PROUT Compared with Capitalism and Communism
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From: Dharmadeva
Date: Sun, 16 May 1999 00:00:00 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: PROUT Compared with Capitalism and Communism
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PROUT Compared with Capitalism and Communism

To distinguish PROUT clearly from communism and capitalism, the
significant
differences between these respective systems
are reviewed below.

Human development:

Human development under communism is primarily concerned with the
political
and economic spheres of life. Under capitalism
there is a pluralistic expression of personal freedom, with no clear
conception of human potentiality. PROUT promotes the
integrated development of the full human personality.

Freedom:

Human liberty under communism is limited by the primacy of the
interests of
the state. Under capitalism, a licentious freedom of
expression is permitted, but not a freedom from want and material
insecurity. In practice, capitalist societies will restrict
freedom of expression when this expression challenges the interests of
capital. PROUT grants full freedom of psychic and
spiritual expression, but recognizes the need for society to place
limits
on individual hoarding of wealth. Without this limitation,
collective interests will be violated and universal freedom from want
cannot be guaranteed.

Privileged Interests:

Communism privileges the interests of the party and state. Capitalism
gives
primacy to property rights, and thus privileges the
class controlling capital. PROUT gives central importance to promoting
the
common welfare while protecting ecological
integrity.

Progress:

Both communism and capitalism regard material development as the basis
of
progress. PROUT defines progress as the
increase in inner fulfillment of individuals. While this is primarily
a
spiritual conception of progress, PROUT recognizes that
material development is necessary as a foundation for seeking
spiritual
fulfillment.

Culture:

Communism compels culture to be consistent with state ideology. Under
capitalism, mass culture primarily serves commercial
interests. As a result, it is creative but not authentic, energetic
but
often destructive of higher values. PROUT sees need for
culture to emerge out of regional and ethnic experience, and for these
diverse cultures to instill values which empower the
human psyche.

Motivation:

Communism emphasizes income equality at the expense of individual
productivity. Capitalism's system of incentives motivates
high productivity, but the excess of its monetary rewards wastes
collective
wealth, encourages greed, and disrupts social unity.
PROUT strives for balance: maximizing the efficacy of incentive while
minimizing social inequality.

Environment:

Both communism and capitalism lack a clear value context for
environmental
protection. PROUT has adopted the value
framework of Neo-Humanism, which affirms the inherent, existential
value of
all life. Both communism and capitalism are
unsuited to sustaining environmental integrity because they emphasize
short
term gain of profit or productivity and ignore long
term costs of environmental degradation. PROUT's planning system aims
to
create ever higher orders of balance, and
therefore inherently protects biodiversity and promotes ecosystem
vitality.

Planning:

Under communism, economic planning is highly centralized and
controlled by
the state. Capitalism centralizes the major part of
economic planning in the hands of huge, transnational corporations.
PROUT
decentralizes planning authority to the level at
which people are most aware of economic problems and potentialities,
and
therefore best able to plan for their common
welfare.

Labor:

Workers in both communist and capitalist economies are alienated due
to
lack of ownership or control of their workplace.
PROUT's enterprise system is based on worker participation in decision
making and cooperative ownership of assets -
conditions which increase motivation and enhance possibilities for
personal
fulfillment.

Economy:

Communism's command economy is responsive to production quotas.
Capitalism's free market economy is profit motivated.
PROUT's economy is consumption oriented. It seeks to increase consumer
purchasing power and availability of consumer
goods as the means for maintaining economic vitality and meeting
people's
amenity needs.

--
'The main characteristic of PROUT-based socioeconomic movements
is that they aim to guarantee the comprehensive, multifarious
liberation of humanity.' P R Sarkar

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