Quotes: Economic Crisis (Srila Prabhupada)

(machines, unemployment, laziness) Bhagavad-gita 13.35. June 6, 1974, Geneva. Of course, there are machine facilities, but, in India so many men are unemployed that to introduce machine this is not a good proposal. Instead of cutting with a machine, if they cut by hand, they have employment. Everyone is employed. Machine means 100 men's work done by one machine. But why there are so many unemployed? Why not engage 100 men instead of one machine? Here also, there are so many unemployed in the Western countries. In one sense, machine creates unemployment. Just like because in your Western countries .. everything is on machine, therefore you are creating so many hippies. That is also another kind of unemployment, everyone should be employed. Otherwise, it will be devil's workshop. Idle brain is devil's workshop. So, when there are so many people without any engagement, why there should be machine? Machine is not good. One machine means to make another 100 men unemployed. The policy should be -- nobody should be unemployed. Everyone should be busy... Then there will be nice civilization. If everyone is busy then he cannot cultivate something rascaldom. That is Vedic civilization. It is the duty of the king to see, that everyone is working. Either as a brahmana or ksatriya, or vaisya as a sudra. Everyone is working. Then there is peace. At the present moment we can see that on account of this machine there is unemployment and lazy fellow. What do you think -- these hippies are lazy, that's all. They don't want to do anything... So therefore they say [indistinct] without unemployment it is better to work without salary or without any remuneration. This is very good principle. Nobody should be allowed to remain lazy without any work. That is a very dangerous position. So modern civilization on account of the machine there are so many unemployment and so many lazzies also. So this is not good. It is not freedom, it is rather freeway to hell, that's all. It is not freedom. Everyone should be engaged in work, according to his capacity.

(soc. and comm. - the misuse of intelligence for the sake of exploitation) Nektar of Instruction 2: “Unfortunately, materialists who have neither faith in the plan of God nor any aspiration for higher spiritual development misuse their God-given intelligence only to augment their material possessions. They devise many systems – such as capitalism and materialistic communism – to advance their material position. They are not interested in the laws of God or in a higher goal. Always anxious to fulfill their unlimited desires for sense gratification, they are conspicuous by their ability to exploit their fellow living beings.” https://vedabase.io/en/library/noi/2/

(exploitation of peasants) Light of the Bhāgavata, 9, purport. “Trade is meant only for transporting surplus produce to places where the produce is scanty. But when traders become too greedy and materialistic they take to large-scale commerce and industry and allure the poor agriculturalist to unsanitary industrial towns with a false hope of earning more money. The industrialist and the capitalist do not want the farmer to remain at home, satisfied with his agricultural produce. When the farmers are satisfied by a luxuriant growth of food grains, the capitalist becomes gloomy at heart. But the real fact is that humanity must depend on agriculture and subsist on agricultural produce. No one can produce rice and wheat in big iron factories. The industrialist goes to the villagers to purchase the food grains he is unable to produce in his factory. The poor agriculturalist takes advances from the capitalist and sells his produce at a lower price. Hence when food grains are produced abundantly the farmers become financially stronger, and thus the capitalist becomes morose at being unable to exploit them.” https://vedabase.io/en/library/lob/9/

(food shortages and factory exploitation through salary temptations) Morning Walk at Villa Borghese. May 25, 1974, Rome. Yes, that was Gandhi's philosophy, village organization. These people, they are attracting villagers to work in the factory, and they are exploiting them. Instead of producing food, they are attracted by so-called high salaries to the factory, and they are producing bolts and nuts, motor part. But food is produced somewhere else. But the food producers, they are working in the factory. Therefore scarcity of foodstuff. But this factory owner, he has got more money. He doesn't care. The poor public, they are suffering.

(artificial needs of economic development) Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2.5.30, purport. “Otherwise, in his pure, uncontaminated state of original life, the living entity has no such needs. The needs are therefore artificial, and in the pure state of life there are no such needs. As such, increasing the artificial needs, as is the standard of material civilization, or advancing the economic development of human society, is a sort of engagement in darkness, without knowledge. By such engagement, human energy is spoiled, because human energy is primarily meant for purifying the senses in order to engage them in satisfying the senses of the Supreme Lord.” https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/2/5/30/

(artificial economic growth and sin) Morning walk, Dec. 31, 1973, Los Angeles. “So to exchange, it has become very cheap. So cheaply you can purchase. Therefore cheaply you can purchase sinful things also. The people are becoming sinful. The modern economy is, "Engage people in hard working to produce, and by artificial cheating, secure the goods, commodities." This is modern economy.” https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/731231mwla/

(unemployment) Morning walk, March 15, 1974, Vṛndāvana. “Now this machine, this machine nonsense, means unemployment. One machine will work for hundred men. So hundred men becomes unemployed, and one technician, he gets all the salaries. To work on the computer, com… Machine. And he's very expert. He'll take three thousand dollar. And others will be unemployed. This is going on. And they are thinking, "Advancement of civilization." Advancement of civilization means "Exploit others and you become happy." This is advancement of civilization. "Others may die for such..., out of starvation, and one man takes all the money and spends it for wine and woman and motorcar." That's all. This is advancement of civilization.” https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/740315mwvrn/

In this material world, there are many transactions between peoples and societies as well as between nations, but gradually these end in enmity between the two parties. Similarly, in the marriage relationship, monetary transactions are sometimes overpowered by the dangerous conditions of material life. One then becomes diseased or monetarily embarrassed. In the modern age most countries have developed economically, but due to business exchanges relationships seem to be strained. Finally wars are declared between nations, and as a result of these upheavals there is destruction all over the world, and people suffer heavily. SB 5.13.13 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.13.13 https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/5/13/13/

(lack of distribution) Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.32-33. December 17, 1970, Surat. So..., but actually that is the fact. There is no problem of eating. They have created this problem. God has given enough food. In America they throw away foodstuff in the ocean. You see? This is nonsense. Because they have no Krsna consciousness, they do not know that these food grains belong to Krsna. He has sent. So instead of throwing in the ocean, it should be dispatched to the countries where there is scarcity.