The Cause of Hardship

There is one source and one source alone responsible for the greater portion
of corruption, greed, poverty, conflict, war, environmental destruction and
even advancement in our modern societies. It may be surprising for most
people to realize the true nature of their hardship as it can take so many
forms as noted above. There is a common cause for those behaviors and it is
our environment as any experienced biologist would attest.

While we are busily preparing for another day at the office or the factory
and pay regard to the weather report in order to know what best to wear, we
pay far less regard to other environmental factors which may be less natural
but which affect our lives even more profoundly than weather.

Symptoms have often been mistaken as evidence suggesting any number of
possible sources. Some that come to mind are UFO's, immigrants, communists,
terrorist, jews, politicians or lawyers and while each may indeed be in
themselves evidence of, for instance fraud, the fraud itself has a source.
It is the same source responsible for individual hardship.

Be forewarned. The subject is far less dramatic than the wonders of the
natural or supernatural world, is far less evil than it is disappointing and
is the heart of what many would argue a particularly dull subject namely,
economics. There, I said it. The secret is out!

It may be one of the last politically correct subjects left in which to
freely exchange ideas so, for that we may give thanks especially since by
it, our behavior and development are so profoundly influenced not only as
individuals but as a species. Something that influentially important needs
to be understood. Among our designed specialties is seeking to understand
that which affects us and upon which we depend for our existence. Our
individual lives depend on understanding and exploiting that artificial
environment.

It should not be surprising then that most individuals seeking an
understanding of their reality would make any number of false
identifications in their search especially when the nature of their prey is
so elusive and its true influence underestimated. This is why for example,
if a man's divorce has devastating results, he may attribute his hardship to
feminism. He unfortunately misses the point. What he does to mitigate his
perceived effects of feminism is in vain. Even if he could eliminate that
hardship, another would take it's place. The true nature of the source is
economic and if he seeks effective remedy, his weapons must be that of an
economist.

How is it possible for economics to be solely responsible for all those
negative things? Since the economy so profoundly influences behavior and is
the source of among others, hardship, it sets in motion eventual outcomes
despite the multitude of possibilities that may occur in the process. The
final outcome is a direct result of the original influence. If that
influence encourages lies and cheating, the system will reward the best
liars and cheaters and given enough time the system will produce more of
them.

Our economic model is designed in a way that's very representative of a
person on a unicycle balancing a stack of wine glasses with a broom-handle.
There is a noticeable, forward tilt of the stack of glasses and the rider
must continue to roll in that direction to keep the stack in equilibrium.
Even if the rider can advance so much that he can reduce his forward roll,
he is unable to completely stop or else risk becoming unstable himself to
the point of collapse.

The model we have adopted is one where growth is considered the primary
factor that leads to advancement. So in order to advance rapidly, growth is
encouraged at every stage. This seems to contradict a natural model such as
a cow. It can be highly productive but has completed growing. Growth here
seems to be one of only achieving a point which allows production. Any
excess production does not equate to the cow growing nor is growing the cow
bigger necessarily going to result in more milk. They are only indirectly
related.

Our economic model on the other hand treats growth as a direct measure of a
healthy system. This is applicable only during the transition from calf to
adult afterwhich growth is less important as a relevant indicator. Could you
picture a farmer who called the vet everyday because his full grown cow had
not gained any weight even though it provides a wonderful four buckets of
milk per day? The vet rushes over and sells the farmer a magic elixir which
may or may not cause the cow gain weight but "ensures the cow's health". The
vet is happy, the farmer is happy and the cow wonders what the hell the fuss
is all about? The answer for the cow is.. economics.

Given the explanation the cow understands the flurry of activity surrounding
its alleged lack of weight gain, but in telling the farmer, the information
is rejected. The vet sides with the farmer and the cycle continues. The cow
lives a productive life despite not gaining weight and the economy is fed
not only with the product of the cow but the product of the vet.

Another example of which I am thoroughly astounded when people point to yet
another instance of it is, government spending. We think, how outrageous it
is to see these well-heeled politicians getting kick-backs while they think
of another excuse to spend taxpayers' money. How outrageous indeed then if
the formula used to calculate Gross Domestic Product includes government
expenditures. That's right! GDP is what the government seeks to grow, and in
its calculation lays the amount the government spends. Government is
encouraged to spend by the formula that is used to calculate GDP!

We're critical and sometimes revolted by our consumer culture with houses
full of items we don't need and don't use or with people who have to have a
bigger house or more and newer vehicles. How materialistic! Indeed it may be
materialistic but the source of that behavior is not some genetic trait of
human materialism. The source is once again the equation used to calculate
growth since in it, is the figure used to represent consumption. That's
right! The economic model encourages materialism.

We're all disappointed when the latest Enron goes bankrupt and thousands of
pension holders lose their savings but the CEO's retire to Bermuda. We may
throw things at the television and reach for the first applicable racial
slur to hurl, but the problem is not corrupt CEO's. The problem is a corrupt
economic model.

There are many examples of, and any environmental scientist will agree to,
nature offering the greatest potential for understanding a complex, closed
system model. What is created and is therefore most desirable in these
systems is diversity in balance. When the balance tips too far, a diversity
is corrected until balance is restored to allow more diversity.

In our system, once a town has an ice-cream store, another is encouraged to
compete. Before you know it, there are two stores, selling the same products
and prices are held in check until they are so low that one or both of the
stores fail. In a natural system, there would have been only one store to
begin with unless there was so much demand that another store was required.
If the owners both have as many customers as they can hold, they don't care
how many customers are going to the other store or how many other stores
there are, hence no competition and less conditions for conflict. Conflict
is built in to our economic model just as environmental damage is. These two
factors are examples of processes which are not included in the basic
economic equation.

With a US presidential election looming and candidates proclaiming they are
the agent of change, it may be well to consider that no effective change
will occur unless change to the economic model is taken. The change is
relatively simple and painless but the fear of established reason to tamper
with the unicyclist in case of collapse will prevent any consideration of
such a radical change. Believe it or not, that's built into the system as
well. In the example of the farmer and the vet, the vet would have no motive
to expose the truth that the potion is a fraud since he is profiting from
it.

That's the nature of the deception taking place that we all seem to be aware
of but can't seem to pinpoint. When we observe and sense a politician is
being less than truthful it is because they are, and there is little or no
incentive for them to do otherwise. The model produces a, "don't get caught"
principle where any activity including illegal or immoral is acceptable in
the name of economic growth. Rather than saying, don't cheat, the model
seems to say, cheat but don't get caught and if you get caught, that's ok
too since it provides more economic activity.

We are, what we are, by design. Our environment shapes our behavior and our
species. Today our environment is economic. We are a product of our economic
model. If that model is deficient, so too will be we both as individuals and
as a species.
[ Auf dieses Posting antworten ]