As we all know, our country is still in the economic doldrums. Nobody seems to be getting anywhere fast, except for the super rich. I was reading an article about how expensive it is to be poor. Those who have little money or credit always pay higher interest rates, they get whacked for bounced check fees and rates on credit cards approach numbers you'd expect to pay if you borrowed money from a guy with only 3 fingers on his left hand. The end result is that a lot of people can never dig themselves out of bad economic times.
I've been watching the news on current events and can see now, more than ever, we (meaning those who make the rules) base our legislation and values on what makes the most money...what benefits the economy. We don't seem to care much about what is good for our citizens or what creates a good life for most people. Another recent article discussed how Americans have been paring back their levels of credit card debt. That's good, right? Apparently not. The article went on to explain that since consumer spending accounts for 70% of the economy, people have obviously lowered levels of spending and that's, well....not good for the economy.
I understand how the economy helps us all have a decent life as goods and services are exchanged....but here's what I'd like to say... a lot....FUCK the economy! What about the PEOPLE who live in this country? Does everything always need to be more, better, larger, newer....? Do we always need to spend more? Do companies always need to make more profit this year than they did last year? If that's what everyone expects then companies must figure out new ways to extract more profits. That means worker exploitation, poorer quality goods that need to be replaced and so on...OR coercing everyone into spending more money that they don't have.
I've always been a fan of the EU and Scandinavia where the focus is more on people rather than profits. Citizens in those regions receive: Lots of mandatory paid vacation time, guaranteed medical care, cleaner surroundings, healthy foods and much more that comes with culture that is centered around people over profits. Folks on the other side of the pond are among the happiest and most content in the world even though they have very high tax rates and the weather can be downright miserable for much of the year....AND they typically have far fewer possessions and smaller homes than we have. Here we get less and less vacation time, longer work weeks, an emphasis on more and bigger, unhealthy food everywhere, ridiculously expensive medical care (often of lesser quality) that bankrupts a fairly large number of citizens ....but I'll stop there. The majority of our problems stem from placing profits first over the well being of the citizenry.
Sadly, it doesn't appear that we will change our ways anytime soon since money controls everything here...even the legislative process. Will we ever get to the point where we aren't led to the mall in an effort to cure what ails us? When I tell people I'm a business owner who isn't trying to franchise or make enough to buy a boat or a huge house, I'm considered "unmotivated." Why would anyone be content to live in an 850SF apartment when my parents had a 2,000SF home? Yes....I know we're supposed to aspire to doing better than our parents did. Who says I'm not doing better if I'm happy with what I have? Is the size of my home and the quantity of shit it's filled with the only measure of what "doing better" is? We need to think hard about what is REALLY important....Having crap or having experiences? Would it be OK if we all said..."I'm good, I don't need anymore stuff." Would the earth split open? Probably not.
 |
| Would living small like this be so bad? Are there days you wish life could be this simple? Think about it. |
No comments:
Post a Comment