kcw_one
22nd August 2010, 05:18
First, a question to all of you: to whom is our current globalized economic model meant to best serve?
There may be any number of ways to respond to that question, but obviously I have my own viewpoint in the matter that i'd like to share in order to get some discussion going on what appears to me to be one of the greatest sources of the trouble we see all around us at this time.
My response to the above question is that the current system is designed to benefit the few at the expense of the many. Rather than pointing our fingers at who this elite few are and how naughty their behavior has been, I'd like to examine how a few key problems we face are directly linked to the current economic model.
A thumbnail sketch of the way the current system works (I have no training in economics beyond being an active member within it) is that each of us possesses education, skills or resources that we have acquired, through various means, which we combine in various ways to have a "marketable" product or service that we can exchange for various other products or services that we deem necessary for our comfort or survival. A system such as this seems intuitively necessary for a social organism such as the homo sapien, yet the current model of economics which drives a vast portion of our daily activities for the first sixty or so years of our lives has some features that make it somewhat unfair for a rather large slice of the participating members.
In the first case, there exist arrangements and agreements which have sought to control the vast majority of the natural resources of our planet, be it through government or industry, controlling the supply, processing and distribution of most any product manufactured from raw materials. Ownership of these resources has been concentrated in the hands of a proportionately small number of individuals, who seem to have agreements amongst themselves that drives not only how goods are produced and distributed, but also in the rules that regulatory bodies create in relation to those products.
In the second case, we have a system of arrangements among the owners of the resources and means of production of goods which control the supply of goods on one side, while also artificially manipulate the demand of the goods on the other side. In the Keynseian model of economics, it is called supply and demand. More and more these arrangements have extended beyond the borders of any single country or territory to link together supply and consumption chains the world over.
Thirdly, we have a system of labour markets, again increasingly extended across borders and beyond regional boundaries, in which an individual seeks to acquire education, skills, or knowledge which they can "sell" to an employer, often for the employer's use in their efforts to create wealth in whatever product market they are involved in. To acquire such skills, one must purchase training in universities or trade skills, all according to the current needs of the particular industry or service.
This is an extremely simple overview of our current system, but it will suffice to support a discussion of some serious challenges we face as a global culture as a direct result of that system.
Take poverty, for example. Were it not for the concentration of the control of resources and the artificial "ownership" of land, would there be any reason that people everywhere could produce enough food to eat? Maybe, maybe not. It does seem that the true cost of food products is not always reflected in its monetary cost.
Take war, as another example. Can anyone provide an example of a war, present or past, which was NOT part of the imperialistic machinations of one nation or another? Control of resources, land and TAXATION of peoples seems to factor into these conflicts quite often. Those who start the wars, however, often give other compelling and often false reasons why it is necessary for our young men to fight, kill and die. Some may offer examples of wars based on religion, but I would argue that differences in religious doctrine are merely a reason for the controlling classes of the times to drive their flocks off to battle for the acquisition of slaves or the conversion of more sheep to pay their tithes.
Possibly one of the largest problems that we face, and certainly one that is easiest to link to our economic model, is pollution of our biosphere. In our cultures of mass production and mass consumption, businesses and industry cannot survive unless they not only continue to produce and sell stuff, but to produce and sell it at an ever increasing rate in order to consistently show increases in the profits of the corporation. Some results of this are the phenomenon of "disposable" items, cheaply made products of poor quality, and products that are designed to be replaced. If a company made and sold widgets, and endeavored to make the highest quality widget ever that would last for centuries and never need repairs or replacement parts or ever be thrown away, the company would be out of business in short order, as there are only so many widgets that the world will ever need. If, on the other hand, you can convince people that they NEED to have a pet stick, since all the celebrities have them, then you can glue googly eyes on a ton of sticks and sell them for a quick profit. Who cares if they get thrown out in a month.
Let's not forget about pharmaceuticals. Doctors will be the first to tell you that they will not prescribe a cure, but only a treatment. There is no interest in curing disease, only in creating a reliable treatment that the patient needs to keep taking. Why, if someone discovered the cure for the common cold, once and for all, they'd probably be shot -- it would take away too many customers.
And then there's the oil industry. Why are we still driving around in machines that have changed very little since they were invented A CENTURY AGO? Sure, they look different. Every couple of years they get little changes and little improvements, else why would anyone need to get a NEW car? There is no real interest in coming up with an alternative, because if we had cars that didn't need perpetual refuelling, the oil folks would lose customers. Why don't we have well made, super high quality machines that are made so cleverly and manufactured with such care and wise use of resources that they rarely break down and need replacement parts? BECAUSE IT WOULD TAKE AWAY CUSTOMERS!
We have a world that is full of waste. Things made to break so they need to be replaced. We waste so much energy turning raw materials into something useful, raw materials that in some cases took millenia to form in the earths crust, and then we use these things once or for a handful of years and then discard them! Not to mention the careless way that these resources are extracted, handled, and processed with little or no attention to the way that the waste byproducts and emissions impact the biosphere.
I realize that it took some time to articulate some of the challenges we face as a result of the way our economic system works, and at that I just barely scratched the surface of the true impact our economies have on our biosphere and our quality of life.
I get irked when others complain about problems and offer no solutions, and as such I do have some ideas. As do many many others. I'd like to hear yours.
There may be any number of ways to respond to that question, but obviously I have my own viewpoint in the matter that i'd like to share in order to get some discussion going on what appears to me to be one of the greatest sources of the trouble we see all around us at this time.
My response to the above question is that the current system is designed to benefit the few at the expense of the many. Rather than pointing our fingers at who this elite few are and how naughty their behavior has been, I'd like to examine how a few key problems we face are directly linked to the current economic model.
A thumbnail sketch of the way the current system works (I have no training in economics beyond being an active member within it) is that each of us possesses education, skills or resources that we have acquired, through various means, which we combine in various ways to have a "marketable" product or service that we can exchange for various other products or services that we deem necessary for our comfort or survival. A system such as this seems intuitively necessary for a social organism such as the homo sapien, yet the current model of economics which drives a vast portion of our daily activities for the first sixty or so years of our lives has some features that make it somewhat unfair for a rather large slice of the participating members.
In the first case, there exist arrangements and agreements which have sought to control the vast majority of the natural resources of our planet, be it through government or industry, controlling the supply, processing and distribution of most any product manufactured from raw materials. Ownership of these resources has been concentrated in the hands of a proportionately small number of individuals, who seem to have agreements amongst themselves that drives not only how goods are produced and distributed, but also in the rules that regulatory bodies create in relation to those products.
In the second case, we have a system of arrangements among the owners of the resources and means of production of goods which control the supply of goods on one side, while also artificially manipulate the demand of the goods on the other side. In the Keynseian model of economics, it is called supply and demand. More and more these arrangements have extended beyond the borders of any single country or territory to link together supply and consumption chains the world over.
Thirdly, we have a system of labour markets, again increasingly extended across borders and beyond regional boundaries, in which an individual seeks to acquire education, skills, or knowledge which they can "sell" to an employer, often for the employer's use in their efforts to create wealth in whatever product market they are involved in. To acquire such skills, one must purchase training in universities or trade skills, all according to the current needs of the particular industry or service.
This is an extremely simple overview of our current system, but it will suffice to support a discussion of some serious challenges we face as a global culture as a direct result of that system.
Take poverty, for example. Were it not for the concentration of the control of resources and the artificial "ownership" of land, would there be any reason that people everywhere could produce enough food to eat? Maybe, maybe not. It does seem that the true cost of food products is not always reflected in its monetary cost.
Take war, as another example. Can anyone provide an example of a war, present or past, which was NOT part of the imperialistic machinations of one nation or another? Control of resources, land and TAXATION of peoples seems to factor into these conflicts quite often. Those who start the wars, however, often give other compelling and often false reasons why it is necessary for our young men to fight, kill and die. Some may offer examples of wars based on religion, but I would argue that differences in religious doctrine are merely a reason for the controlling classes of the times to drive their flocks off to battle for the acquisition of slaves or the conversion of more sheep to pay their tithes.
Possibly one of the largest problems that we face, and certainly one that is easiest to link to our economic model, is pollution of our biosphere. In our cultures of mass production and mass consumption, businesses and industry cannot survive unless they not only continue to produce and sell stuff, but to produce and sell it at an ever increasing rate in order to consistently show increases in the profits of the corporation. Some results of this are the phenomenon of "disposable" items, cheaply made products of poor quality, and products that are designed to be replaced. If a company made and sold widgets, and endeavored to make the highest quality widget ever that would last for centuries and never need repairs or replacement parts or ever be thrown away, the company would be out of business in short order, as there are only so many widgets that the world will ever need. If, on the other hand, you can convince people that they NEED to have a pet stick, since all the celebrities have them, then you can glue googly eyes on a ton of sticks and sell them for a quick profit. Who cares if they get thrown out in a month.
Let's not forget about pharmaceuticals. Doctors will be the first to tell you that they will not prescribe a cure, but only a treatment. There is no interest in curing disease, only in creating a reliable treatment that the patient needs to keep taking. Why, if someone discovered the cure for the common cold, once and for all, they'd probably be shot -- it would take away too many customers.
And then there's the oil industry. Why are we still driving around in machines that have changed very little since they were invented A CENTURY AGO? Sure, they look different. Every couple of years they get little changes and little improvements, else why would anyone need to get a NEW car? There is no real interest in coming up with an alternative, because if we had cars that didn't need perpetual refuelling, the oil folks would lose customers. Why don't we have well made, super high quality machines that are made so cleverly and manufactured with such care and wise use of resources that they rarely break down and need replacement parts? BECAUSE IT WOULD TAKE AWAY CUSTOMERS!
We have a world that is full of waste. Things made to break so they need to be replaced. We waste so much energy turning raw materials into something useful, raw materials that in some cases took millenia to form in the earths crust, and then we use these things once or for a handful of years and then discard them! Not to mention the careless way that these resources are extracted, handled, and processed with little or no attention to the way that the waste byproducts and emissions impact the biosphere.
I realize that it took some time to articulate some of the challenges we face as a result of the way our economic system works, and at that I just barely scratched the surface of the true impact our economies have on our biosphere and our quality of life.
I get irked when others complain about problems and offer no solutions, and as such I do have some ideas. As do many many others. I'd like to hear yours.