Free Enterprise System
It is clear from the manifesto of the Pakistan Muslim League that free enterprise has pride of place in future economic planning. The PPP will also almost certainly give support to such a philosophy in its own manifesto (to be announced on Sept 1) though it may be modified somewhat in light of its more socialist penchant for a mixed economy. The thrust of both the major political groupings will be towards a liberalised economy, to continue the move away from the shackles of a public sector dominated version. If past experience is any measure the PML will proceed pell mell with their liberalising drive, the PPP would opt for the same substance but in a more gradualised form. Given that a vast majority of the populace now subscribes to the concept of free economy as is the fashion in the changing Third World, should we completely abandon the checks and balances that protect those of our citizens who are of underdeveloped and backward areas or should our initiatives be more gradual? While maximum weightage has to be given to a liberal economy, given the level of our literacy and the state of our backwardness of the rural areas and inner cities, some element of public sector involvement is necessary.
Merit is at the heart of a free economy system. The meaning of freedom in enterprise is self-explanatory with regard to merit, quality must prevail. The race for ultimate rewards in the field of commerce and industry ensures that there is upward mobility with respect to quality, the better mousetraps will attract the maximum customers. This is the essence of free enterprise, uninhibited competition with success going to whoever can prevail upon his/her competitors on the basis of merit and competitive pricing, whether it be a consumer product, commodity, machinery or even an individual. Centralized economies and public sector control takes the essence of competition out of the system, this cuts into quality. If the State has to produce toothpaste as a monopoly, why should they bother if it should taste like chalk to its citizenry. Without incentive, they have no ambition. In a free enterprise system, toothpaste manufacturers would go bankrupt if the citizens should turn away from their product/s and as such they have to be sensitive to the choice of the masses. Competition is necessary to ensure quality, without competition economies are destined to a socialistic doom. The collapse of COMECON is a living witness to the ineptitude of a system where reward was based on the selective interpretation of loyalty and personal preferences rather than giving preponderance to the qualifications of talent and merit. An interesting analogy in human relationship would be about a family that believes in inter-marriage i.e cousins marry among each other, the end result is degeneration, even the genes need to compete to produce a better product, in this case a human being. How many times have we come across villages full of the retarded because of inter-marriages generation after generation?
