Capitalism

Capitalism has been discussed a lot lately in my classes. It is a fundamental aspect of the United States economy and has been since oh, around 1800. Every person in America is hard-wired to want to have money. Money.

Let's take that apart a bit. What is money? ..............................................

Paper? Plastic? An imaginary thing contained on microchips?

How can something very similar to forms of money--printer paper and a plastic water bottle be worth nothing of value, and yet the flat versions of those things that fit into wallets be handed to a clerk and exchanged for food, ie sustenance? Doesn't that seem strange? I think it does.

Next, every kid from the age of two is told that 'more is better,' and that money equals more. This is constantly drilled into our heads via advertising. Every commercial or ad in a magazine shows shiny new crap that was churned out by the hundreds-of-thousands at some factory paying their workers $10 (if they're really, really lucky) an hour to put whatever that crap is together. These ads tell us that we want these things. That more of these things is better than less of these things. But there's a problem: more things means more waste. More waste means more pollution, more garbage, and more energy and raw resources required to make those things.

They are also very rarely quality products. Think about the life of any product you buy, even over $25. How long does that product stay around before it gets thrown away? Shoes, for example, can last a lifetime, if made well. Italian leather shoes are known for their quality and craftsmanship, but also their high price and that scares people off. On the other foot, shoes made in China, Indonesia and Taiwan are considerably less expensive (good, right?) and last considerably less time as well, because they are cheap, in price and in quality. Those stylish new Adidas last a whole two years then get thrown away. Two years is not bad for a pair of running shoes (used for casual wear,) but once those shoes get thrown away they do not disappear. They go into a land-fill and will stay there for thousands of years. It's not to say that quality leather shoes WILL disappear. The point is that there will be very few quality leather shoes in the land fill TO disappear. Even if those quality leather shoes bust once and have to be replaced, that still totals only four shoes vs. more than one-hundred of the cheap ones. Oh, and did I mention, less waste is a good thing?

But anyway, that tangent was long and I'm ranting. The point is that Capitalism, the cornerstone theory of the American economy, encourages more things to be consumed: more things to be thrown away: more waste. Our economic system embraces the reckless production of waste, and actually encourages it--and all bought by less imaginary money than the good stuff.

Fancy that.

Out.