Building a new socialised capitalism 3.0

Q: Archbishop J: How do we keep hope amid global change?

In a 2015 address to the Italian Church in Florence, Pope Francis famously said: “You can say today we are not living in an era of change but a change of era.”

This is important for us to understand. Something fundamental has shifted. We must discern what has changed, what new challenges confront us, and what opportunities arise.

When eras change, the old ways no longer work. Our criteria for success must be reimagined because the rules of engagement have changed.

Imagine playing cricket all your life, only to discover the game has suddenly changed to baseball. Unless you learn the new rules, you will flounder.

Right now, Trinidad and Tobago is lamenting its losses without fully understanding that the rules of the global game have changed.

Be patient with me as I unfold this—it is a bit technical, but it is vital for our hope and future. I will make it understandable.

The global system: understanding the tides

Most people are familiar with the business cycle—the ups and downs of the economy that repeat every 5–6 years. A boom gives confidence; a bust causes fear. Yet, like the tides, this rhythm is natural and predictable. We should not despair when the tide goes out; we should adjust and prepare for the next wave.

As a kayaker, I have sometimes been caught by a changing tide. It was not pleasant, but blaming the tide was futile. Understanding the currents and adapting to them made all the difference.

Today, however, we are not simply facing another regular cycle. We are experiencing something more profound, a long historical shift, an actual change of era.

The longer currents: a change of era

Beyond short cycles, there are much longer rhythms in the global economy. These long waves shape centuries. Historian Fernand Braudel and economist Giovanni Arrighi have identified two key patterns:

• Capitalism moves geographically: from Venice, to Genoa, to the Netherlands, to Britain, to the US, and now possibly to China.
• Economic systems swing between two models:

o ‘Regulatory capitalism’ where governments protect local workers and industries.

o ‘Deregulatory capitalism’ where markets are freed and global corporations dominate.

A major financial crash marks each shift:

• The crash of the 1340s ended Venice’s deregulatory capitalism.
• The crash of the 1560s shifted power to the Dutch regulatory (mercantile) capitalism.
• The crash of the 1740s began British deregulatory capitalism.
• The crash of 1929 (the Great Depression) led to American regulatory capitalism.
• The crash of 1973 (OPEC oil crisis) pushed global capitalism back to deregulation.

The US led by then US President Ronald Reagan, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1979–1990) and others in the world embraced deregulation: reducing taxes, privatising services, and weakening protections for workers.

After the 2008 financial crisis, the pendulum began to swing back toward regulation once more, and away from America as the sole global centre.

Today, we are living through one of these significant historical shifts—a major change of era.

Regulatory vs Deregulatory: what does it mean?

In regulatory economies, governments protect local workers, regulate foreign investment, and provide strong public services such as healthcare and education.

In deregulatory economies, markets are opened up, public services are privatised, and corporations dominate—often at the expense of workers and families.

Since 2008, the world has been gradually returning to regulation, putting local interests ahead of multinational profits once again. This drove US President Donald Trump’s tariff campaign during his previous time in office: he was re-regulating the economy.

This is the deeper “change of era” Pope Francis hints at. Understanding this gives us hope.

The Caribbean: learning from our own history

When the Caribbean moved toward independence in the 1950s and 60s, the world economy was in a regulatory phase.

• The local citizen was prioritised over colonial economic interests.
• Visionary leaders like Dr Eric Williams (T&T), Sir Grantley Adams (Barbados), and Sir Alexander Bustamante (Jamaica) adhered to a socialised form of capitalism, with:

o Strong public education systems

o Free or affordable healthcare

o National pride in uplifting workers, families, and the poor

Policies ensured that foreign investors paid their fair share, and national wealth was reinvested in the people.

This social vision made independence possible, even amid challenging economic conditions. Today, the very social protections they fought for are crumbling. Since adopting deregulated economic models from the 1980s onward—privatising industries, lowering corporate taxes, weakening social safety nets—Trinidad and Tobago has seen widening inequality, declining healthcare and education systems, and the breakdown of the moral fabric that once bound our families and communities.

Look around:

• Public hospitals struggle with basic supplies.
• The cost of university education and limited employment opportunities have led to declining enrolment over the last ten years.
• Private security guards have replaced strong communities and public policing.
• Many young people now believe the only path to success is through hustle or migration.

This was not the dream of our foreparents. But with major economies now protecting their borders, the brain drain from the Caribbean may begin to slow.

Late liberal capitalism: the heart of the crisis

Pope Francis, in his 2015 speech in Bolivia, put it starkly:

Today the scientific community realises what the poor have long told us: harm, perhaps irreversible harm, is being done to the ecosystem … Behind all this pain is the stench of what Basil of Caesarea called ‘the dung of the devil’—an unfettered pursuit of money that ruins society, enslaves people, and endangers our common home.

He was not alone. Pope Benedict XVI, speaking at Aparecida (2007), warned that both capitalism and Marxism, when stripped of moral foundations, fail to create just societies. Structures alone cannot save us.

At the heart of this crisis lies the idolisation of profit over people and the loss of a moral vision for the common good.

A new hope: a new path forward

The global economy’s swing back toward regulation is a profound opportunity for Trinidad and Tobago. Like the 1960s, it won’t be easy in many ways, but if we find courage and act with determination, we will build character, resilience, and national identity.

We can:

• Rethink national policies to favour local industries over global corporations.
• Balance the protection of workers with strong job creation.
• Introduce progressive taxation to fund universal healthcare, education, and the integral development of our people.
• Support community development, not just corporate expansion.
• Embed a moral economy, where the dignity of every citizen matters more than quarterly profits.
• Be neighbourly again—see each person as a brother or sister, and care for them.
• Recognise that the individual islands of the Caribbean cannot do it alone. We need each other to ensure food security and create economies of scale to provide a buffer to the external world. Here, we must do much better than our foreparents. They crumbled into individualism and nationalism. This means seeing the whole as greater than the part—the region as greater than the individual nation.

We do not need to copy the past blindly. We can take the playbook of our founding fathers, adapt it to today’s realities, and build a new Socialised Capitalism 3.0—one that encourages healthy profit while closing the gap between rich and poor, and protecting our national soul while committing to a regional outlook.

This is not a dream. It is a path made possible by the deep shifts already underway. If we have courage, clarity, and moral conviction, we can navigate this change of era and find hope on the other side. The choice and the hope are ours.

Key Message:

We stand at a crossroads, as our ancestors once did. The waters are turbulent, but not uncharted.

Action Step:

We need to decide: will we continue to lament the changing tides, or will we learn to read the currents and sail toward a more just and human future?

Scripture Reading:

Isaiah 58:6–12