WHAT THEY NEVER SAY: WHAT MAKES SENSE
Nonsense has replaced common sense in discussions about our economy.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed. People are hurting. The world is suffering. The long night is upon us.
We need to light a candle.
Decant that wisdom
This is all supposed to make sense.
Yesterday on an MSNBC morning news show, I heard the opinionators wisely opine about inflation.
Oh gosh, they’re all over media. You recognize them. They have just the right hair cut. Or shiny bald heads if life treats them that way. They spend good money on groovy eye glass frames. They dress, because opinions are serious business.
And they talk.
No matter the subject they talk a lot.
And they write books.
Because honestly, that juices the fees AND sells merch.
That’s the whole point, people!
But here’s the irritation. They blithely talk over the truth. They skip past common sense into a pretzel logic wisdom field that sinks them into a Muddy Bog of Ridiculousness.
Then they nod their head at each other as they sagely agree with all this nonsense.
Example
Inflation is caused because workers need raises. So corporations raise prices to cover raised workers costs. So workers need raises to pay for more expensive goods. So corporations give ‘cost-of-living’ raises, and then raise prices to cover the ‘cost-of-living raises. So …
I hear variants of this windy virus stated quite soberly across all media platforms but what I never hear is just how stupid is an economy that functions this way.
I mean how absolutely uselessly dumb are we?
How lame?
How pointless?
Capitalism is uroboric mania.
We. Are. Fools.
How are we supposed take any of this seriously?
Logic, be gone
Rightists take any logical discussion of the economy as some sort of religious heresy that should lead quickly to stake burning.
Leftists asks for more like it is a citizens right to be given things to fight the tsunami of costs drowning us.
And corporations shrug their shoulders as boards demand responsibility to shareholders.
And somehow we’re supposed to swallow this economic swill.
Stop.
It cost me $5k to in loans to go college. It cost my kids $150k.
Stop.
A 16oz jar of peanut butter is $10.
Stop.
An apartment I rented for $850 when I was in my 20s now cost $4800 a month to rent. And there are still rats in the yard.
Just stop.
What they never say
Inflation is a feature. We live on an economic plantation. Prices are the whip.
That city on a shining hill is a gated community. The gates are locked.
The rich are fat and hungry. The poor live in tents outside the walls.
This is the world we built.
It is a world starved of common sense. It makes no sense. It’s economic nonsense. And somehow, we take it all so seriously.
We offer up opinions. We speak them in sober tones even though our eyes betray how we feel about nonsense we speak.
That’s the beauty of the human heart. It always seeks truth.
12th Night
We need to light a single candle and pass the flame to our neighbor, who can pass the flame to their neighbor, until the world is filled with light.
We don’t need a DOW index, we need a Happiness Index (HI). We need to measure laughter, and joy, and stress, and anger, and add it all up and produce a number, and then work to make our HI higher.
If that means control profit, then that’s what it means. If high profit lowers our HI, then profits need to lower. The Board of Directors needs to re-directed to support a good HI. The CEO needs to be replaced with a CVO, Chief Vitality Officer. The shareholders need less holding and more sharing.
We all share.
Just like we were taught as kids.
We share the important things.
Health. Knowledge. Food. Transportation. Housing.
These are the things beyond profit.
They simply must be if our world is ever to make sense.
It can be done you know. The air we breathe can be clean air. We can put the guns away. We can take joy in the simple things because that simple things, the important things, are right there. Love. Children. Dogs. Peace. A good meal. A roof.
I’m not being naive. I know there’s bad people in the world doing bad things. And there always will be. But we’re making it easy for them. We’ve clearing away those nasty ethical concerns. We’re pushing truth to the sidelines. We’re letting ourselves be divided. We’re shouting at each other over the fence while they stand behind us and pick our pockets.
We can turn from a world where everything is a transaction, where everyone is judged, where life is an endless competition on a merry-go-round with the golden ring just out of reach.
There’s no future in a world like that. Literally, as it turns out.
So, where do we begin?
What is a 5-step plan to a world of HI?
Where we begin
Creating a happier world involves multifaceted approaches, but here’s a five-step plan that can contribute significantly:
- Promote Education and Awareness:
Education is a powerful tool for improving lives. Ensure access to quality education for all, focusing on critical thinking, empathy, and global awareness. Can you imagine a world where these principles are paramount?Educating people about mental health, environmental sustainability, and cultural diversity can lead to a more understanding and tolerant society. Less tribes. It’s time.
- Enhance Economic Stability:
Work towards economic policies that reduce inequality. This includes fair wages, support for small businesses, and social safety nets for the underprivileged. Control prices. Control profit. There’s nothing wrong with common sense. A stable economy where people feel secure in their finances contributes to overall happiness.
- Foster Community and Relationships:
There’s too much loneliness in the world. The pandemic was horrid. It drove us apart and empowered the people who drive us apart for power. Encourage community building and strong social ties. This can be through local events, community projects, and support groups. Strong relationships and a sense of belonging are key components of happiness. No human should suffer the pangs of loneliness.
4. Prioritize Mental and Physical Health:
Take down barriers to universal healthcare. It should be job #1 of government. Profiteering off of peoples health is evil. And I use the word evil rarely. But I can’t think of anything worse. I had an emergency operation that cost $240,000. Who has that kind of money laying around? No one. So what does that become? Soul-sucking debt. Instead, invest in healthcare systems that are accessible to all. Mental health should be given as much importance as physical health. Promoting a culture of wellness, including regular exercise, healthy eating, and mindfulness, can greatly enhance overall well-being. Common sense.
5. Protect the Environment:
A healthy environment is crucial for a happier world. Bad air is not HI. A workd of waste is a wasted of a world. Why choose to live like tgat? Implement policies that protect natural resources, promote sustainable living, and combat climate change. When people live in a clean, green, and sustainable environment, it positively impacts their mental and physical health. Another juicy dollup of common sense.
It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies.
Thomas Paine
I’m not a big fan of the Founders. They designed a government for the elite. Maybe admitting that is a good place to begin. But they also imbued the Constitutiin with a strong commitment to change. They sensed the growth ahead for our culture, the pains and the triumphs. They prepared us with tools for change.
So the time has come to change. The time has come to throw off hidebound ideologies and replace nonsense with common sense.
Moving away from what is perceived as predatory capitalism involves a transition towards more ethical, sustainable, and equitable economic models.
It involves regulatory reforms. We need to strengthen regulations to curb exploitative practices. This includes stricter antitrust laws to prevent monopolies, regulations to ensure fair wages, and measures to prevent environmental degradation.
We need to promote corporate responsibility and ethics. Human nature is human nature and humans tact toward opportunism. It’s exceedingly naive to believe otherwise. Encourage or mandate corporations to prioritize ethical practices, social responsibility, and environmental sustainability alongside profit. This could involve adopting corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a core business strategy.
A world without economic equity is no world anyone wants live in. Implement policies that promote economic equality. We talk about it, we stump around making speeches about it, but we never actually commit. Progressive taxation, living wages, universal basic income (UBI), or other social welfare (yes, there’s that trigger word) programs that redistribute wealth and reduce income inequality. But of course, none of it is possible unless we step off the nonsensical merry-go-round of rising costs and prices, and politicians paying lip service to political memes that only serve to make them wealthy.
We need to shift our focus towards sustainable development that balances economic growth with environmental preservation and social equity. Emphasizing renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and circular economy models can be part of this shift.
We have so many avenues to pursue our newly minted HI. We can support small businesses, local enterprises, and cooperatives. These entities often have stronger ties to their communities and may operate on principles that are more equitable and less exploitative. A thriving local economy is better than a franchised-infused strip mall.
Educate the public constantly about the impacts of predatory practices and the benefits of more sustainable and equitable alternatives. An informed and conscientious consumer base can drive change through their choices and demands. An informed consumer base is also the enemy of predators.
Since capitalism now operates on a global scale, international cooperation is crucial. Sneaking off to cheap labor markets, exploting emerging economies while pocketing profits and living the good life back home is another feature of predators’ ferocious appetites. We need treaties and agreements that promote fair trade, labor rights, and environmental standards. Fear of a One World economy is a fear promoted by predators, not common sense.
Reform global financial system to support sustainable investment and penalize speculative and exploitative practices. And most importantly, collect those penalties. Revising lending practices, investment strategies, and banking regulations. It won’t strap these corporations, it will set them free. It will change the mission from economic profit hoarding to authentic profit as HI grows and people can live their lives in a shared, stable prosperity.
If that is not the goal, why is that not the goal?
Each of these steps requires a collaborative effort between governments, businesses, and civil society. Honestly, what the opinionators never say, these steps require an end to tribalism, borders, resource transactions. It makes no sense that one human lives in a cardboard box and another lives like a sheik in an oil-drenched robe.
The real goal, the common sense goal we refuse, is to create a system that balances the needs for economic growth, social welfare, and environmental sustainability.
That’s it. That’s the future. Everything else is nonsense.
