Cheap foreign labor could be ending in 6 months

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"COM: Samba (das) SDG (Mauritius)" wrote:

 

> [Text 2385059 from COM]

>

> ...I was not talking about the devotees being satisfied with ISKCON. I was

> refering to the comforts the material world offers at great ecological (and

> other) expense; the results of an 'Ugrakarmic' society. It is these

> devotees, who make nice profits from paintings, so that they can relax for

> half the year, who are often the most vocal criticisers of the ISKCON

> regime.

>

> We understand that we are to 'work'. And this work must be according to our

> nature, but also according to the necesities or needs and responsibilities

> of life. If people were engaged in the cultivation of their own food, in

> cooperation with the laws of nature, they would always have some meaningful

> engagement. When one is flush with cash, he is in danger of becoming idle,

> which then presents all sorts of problems, as we know what the devil does

> with such unengaged minds.

>

> YS.

 

First of all, a couple points in favor of our vaisya businessmen. 1. In many

countries, it is very difficult to get started in farming. In the U.S., there

is a saying that practically speaking you cannot go into farming unless you

inherit the farm from someone else. Farmland is expensive, especially if one

has to acquire it on a commercial scale. Near urban areas, often the tax rate

drives the farmer out of business, since he is taxed at the rate it would sell

for, if developers were selling it for expensive homes or office buildings.

[Note: this is totally the opposite of Srila Prabhupada's explanation how we

should organize taxation in varnasrama -- based on production, and paid

in-kind, not in cash after the product's price has been beated down through

market-place competition.]

 

2. It is very difficult to get training in farming.

 

On the other side of the coin:

 

I am in anxiety for our painting-salesmen vaisyas you describe. I wonder if

they have any inkling of the possibility that their affluent lifestyle could be

on the verge of collapse in 6 more months. Many of the countries which provide

the cheap labor which make possible profitable businesses like this are such

poor countries that they cannot afford to properly upgrade their systems for

Y2K.

 

How will these profitable businesses which are based on cheap foreign labor

continue next January if it is no longer possible to telephone the countries

where the suppliers are? What if their ocean ports no longer function? What

if their banking systems break down? What if their electicity shuts down?

What if the municiple water and sewage systems fail? What if they can no

longer obtain sufficient petroleum to keep their economies going? What if the

government is not able to meet its responsibilities to the people and certain

groups use this as an opportunity to stir up riiots to overthrow the

government?

 

What if one or several of these things happen? How profitable will their

business be then?

 

So, I hope they are starting to consider other possibilities. Samba is right,

of course, ideally these vaisyas should be growing food. But, at the same

time, we have to join together to begin to provide training opportunities. It

won't be very fruitful to simply criticize them.

 

Speaking of which -- we are still planning our KANDAVAPRASTHA: Varnasrama

Curriculum Development sessions for June 27-July 3 in Vienna, Maine. All are

invited to chant Hare Krsna to the mosquitos and join in hewing out the details

to Srila Prabhupada's varnasrama colleges.

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi