Zbigniew Piekarski reflects on the consequences of governmental control.

I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members.

- Groucho Marx (1890-1977)

You may know that Elisha Graves Otis produced the world's first safety lift in Yonkers, New York in 1853 and in doing so, changed the shape of the modern world. From that point onward, buildings could rise beyond the limitations of stairs.

The introduction of this new technology had an impact on human behaviour, as noted by Jeremy O'Keefe, an Otis engineer. He could assess changes in "social mood" and, by inference, the direction of the equity markets, by the way individuals behaved around this new technology.

A clear sign that a "pivot point" was fast approaching in the Warsaw Bourse was shown to me on Monday, September 1, when a middle-aged lady followed me into the lift on the ground floor and pressed button "1" and then "2" in order to travel to the 12th Floor.

In the 21st Century we have a different technological miracle - that of the transmission of information and knowledge. In Malaysia and Taiwan, the governments have embraced and encouraged its expansion and application; in Eastern Europe it has been viewed with suspicion and dread. It is suspected that technology is swelling the ranks of the unemployed, rather than creating new jobs requiring different skills.

Governments have never "created jobs". They have created positions of dependency and a culture of excuses funded by legalised theft. Every government attempt at sponsoring "innovation" or the advancement of the "small- to medium-sized enterprise" has resulted in the proliferation of quasi-governmental bodies staffed by those who wish to harness the power of the state, to further their own ends at the expense of others.

"Government" is synonymous with "control"; whereas markets are as spontaneous as they are unpredictable. They also create independence and interdependence of the individuals involved.

As Ludwig von Mises explains in Human Action (1949): "The market economy is the social system of the division of labour under private ownership of the means of production. Everybody acts on his own behalf; but everybody's actions aim at the satisfaction of other people's needs as well as at the satisfaction of his own. Everybody, in acting, serves his fellow citizens. Everybody, on the other hand, is served by his fellow citizens. Everybody is both a means and an end in himself, an ultimate end for himself and a means to other people in their endeavours to attain their own ends."

In the past, an individual's choices were limited by the geographical location he or she inhabited. The government in charge promised protection and security - in exchange for the individual's obedience to the rules and regulations passed by the government. However, future generations will learn that they inhabit a world that is truly without frontiers, and within which individual choice is limited only by their own imagination.

This is why the educational systems in most nation-states still concentrate on indoctrination: on rote teaching as opposed to showing the inquisitive mind how to learn and think for itself. Independent thought allied with self-reliance is eminently required for active participation within the market economy, and not ideal for positions of dependency.

In all countries of Europe, the various governments made promises to their citizens that their standard of living would be maintained once they ceased all productive endeavours. In order to keep these promises, the governments require a healthy cash flow, provided by new generations through gainful employment and the payment of taxes.

Unfortunately, the most important ratios of all are of the kind that few governments can control. There are fewer youngsters being born to provide the anticipated revenue; the old are growing older and living far longer than envisaged; and the most influential individuals of the current generation are being forced to re-appraise their conditioning.

I am referring to what William Graham Sumner called "The Forgotten Men" in his 1883 classic, "What Social Classes Owe to Each Other". Over one hundred years later, the ranks of the "Forgotten Men" are growing as the middle classes within all capitalist economies are being decimated.

In the USA, the UK and Europe the demise of the manufacturing industry is only one part of the problem. A greater danger lurks in the elimination of the managerial ranks. These individuals had families, mortgages and school fees, and they were committed to the system. They believed in the promises made by the respective governments and they paid for the benefits provided to the poor and needy.

Now that they are out of work, and unlikely to find employment with a salary that can support their accustomed-to standard of living, their dreams of financial comfort have turned into nightmares of survival. I just wonder what values they will teach their children as their own confidence in the system has been shattered.

I bet you it will not be "believe in your elders"; "believe in government"; or "believe in job security", but "fend for yourselves" and "don't trust the government".

A new generation of "citizens of the world" is being created, and it will have no allegiance to any government and will not provide the income necessary for governments to exist. It will follow the ranks of the Polish political elite and have offshore bank accounts; set up dummy companies in low-tax jurisdictions; have no visible means of support; and claim from the best welfare systems available. Sweden and Norway are the recommended retirement destinations.

On the WSE: The Flour Power Generations' insistence that the EU acknowledge "our common Christian heritage" is a deliberate ploy to exclude Turkey from membership, and offend all religious minorities throughout Europe. It is also an attempt to consign the people of Poland to poverty and suffering in this world, so that they are able receive their rewards in the next.

I would suggest that in order to assist market forces and the upward progression of the market, they ought to insist that all rules and regulations adhering to our social and business interactions be reduced to the six commandments that God gave to Moses.

The other four - establishing a monopoly - can be reserved for the President of Europe.