In a recent interview with Jon Stewart, Robert Reich made some interesting points when describing the economic state of our country.
Jon Stewart asked what we can do to correct the wealth disparity between the rich and the rest of us. Reich assured us that the people will do the right thing and referred to some historical moments. In 1901, the Robber Barons were elite industrialists exploiting the masses and eventually people rebelled causing protective legislation to be passed by Congress. He stated that the same happened in the 1930s and 1960s and will happen again today when people feel they have had enough.
What struck me was the fact that periodically, the people have to mobilize and throw off the shackles of exploitation. In other words, we fight the same fight over and over again. The problem never really gets resolved. Why?
You cannot blame a leopard for being a leopard and, therefore, when he acts like a leopard, he is doing what he is supposed to do. The same is true of capitalism. Why be angry with the capitalist for doing what he’s supposed to do?: make as much money as possible and exploit human and natural resources to fulfill the bottom line. Eventually, the people recognize they are being screwed and rebel. Concessions are made, people are happy, businessmen go back to doing business (see above) and for several years there is contentment. But, inevitably, there will be a movement back to the economic exploitation of working people. Why? Because the goals for capitalists never change. They are like the leopard and you can’t get angry with them for acting true to their nature. They are only doing what capitalism dictates they do. Remember, capitalists as well as leopards are predators and regardless of how many adjustments we make on capitalism, the capitalist will always be looking to accumulate as much wealth as possible with little regard for the impact on people, community, or the environment.
We live under a capitalistic economic system in which there will always be people who live luxuriously and people who struggle to make ends meet. This system promotes hierarchy so you have levels of accepted titles and income. In our society, management earns hundreds of times more than front line workers. Why? I have no idea. It’s not as if they work harder. Some would say that they have more responsibility. That may be true but there have been many cases where these managers and CEOs have run their companies into bankruptcy and still maintained an income of millions of dollars. There have been many situations where companies have downsized, firing hundreds of their workers and the prices on the stock market for shares of stock increased. Not only that, but management then distributed within their group large bonuses for work well done.
Let’s look at today’s economy. While millions of people are unemployed or underemployed, corporate executives, bankers, financial investment people are making out like bandits, pardon the expression. Putting Band-Aids on the capitalist structure is no longer good enough. We need a system where the goal is the common good, not personal wealth and consumption. Some people may call this socialism and that scares many folks, especially when capitalism is equated with individual freedom and democracy and we’ve been brainwashed to equate socialism with oppression. Whatever you feel, we’ve got to begin thinking of alternatives to what we are living with today.
An article in Portside, an online publication, illustrates the mindset and perspective of the capitalist. Despite its increase in income of $13 billion in 2013 and a $319 billion backlog of orders, Boeing has put pressure on their workers to accept pay cuts and reduced benefits. They threatened union members in Washington State that unless the union agrees to their terms, they will move their operation elsewhere. They have already moved some of their production to South Carolina to produce the 787 Dreamliner aircraft. In South Carolina, they were able to hire 6,000 non-union workers willing to accept $15 per hour, almost half the pay of unionized workers in Washington. Boeing also coerced or blackmailed the legislature of the state of Washington to grant them the largest development tax break in American history, $8.7 billion over 16 years.
Unpredictably, the union did not submit to Boeing’s demands with 67% of the union workers rejecting their contract offer. Boeing was earning record profits and still attacked their workers. Their concern is primarily their stockholders and not to their workers or their community. This is not an unique story. This is capitalism. We must always keep in mind that leopards do not change their spots.
Dave Alpert has masters degrees in social work, educational administration, and psychology. He spent his career working with troubled inner city adolescents.
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Capitalism and civilization or civility
Posted on December 5, 2013 by Dave Alpert
In a recent interview with Jon Stewart, Robert Reich made some interesting points when describing the economic state of our country.
Jon Stewart asked what we can do to correct the wealth disparity between the rich and the rest of us. Reich assured us that the people will do the right thing and referred to some historical moments. In 1901, the Robber Barons were elite industrialists exploiting the masses and eventually people rebelled causing protective legislation to be passed by Congress. He stated that the same happened in the 1930s and 1960s and will happen again today when people feel they have had enough.
What struck me was the fact that periodically, the people have to mobilize and throw off the shackles of exploitation. In other words, we fight the same fight over and over again. The problem never really gets resolved. Why?
You cannot blame a leopard for being a leopard and, therefore, when he acts like a leopard, he is doing what he is supposed to do. The same is true of capitalism. Why be angry with the capitalist for doing what he’s supposed to do?: make as much money as possible and exploit human and natural resources to fulfill the bottom line. Eventually, the people recognize they are being screwed and rebel. Concessions are made, people are happy, businessmen go back to doing business (see above) and for several years there is contentment. But, inevitably, there will be a movement back to the economic exploitation of working people. Why? Because the goals for capitalists never change. They are like the leopard and you can’t get angry with them for acting true to their nature. They are only doing what capitalism dictates they do. Remember, capitalists as well as leopards are predators and regardless of how many adjustments we make on capitalism, the capitalist will always be looking to accumulate as much wealth as possible with little regard for the impact on people, community, or the environment.
We live under a capitalistic economic system in which there will always be people who live luxuriously and people who struggle to make ends meet. This system promotes hierarchy so you have levels of accepted titles and income. In our society, management earns hundreds of times more than front line workers. Why? I have no idea. It’s not as if they work harder. Some would say that they have more responsibility. That may be true but there have been many cases where these managers and CEOs have run their companies into bankruptcy and still maintained an income of millions of dollars. There have been many situations where companies have downsized, firing hundreds of their workers and the prices on the stock market for shares of stock increased. Not only that, but management then distributed within their group large bonuses for work well done.
Let’s look at today’s economy. While millions of people are unemployed or underemployed, corporate executives, bankers, financial investment people are making out like bandits, pardon the expression. Putting Band-Aids on the capitalist structure is no longer good enough. We need a system where the goal is the common good, not personal wealth and consumption. Some people may call this socialism and that scares many folks, especially when capitalism is equated with individual freedom and democracy and we’ve been brainwashed to equate socialism with oppression. Whatever you feel, we’ve got to begin thinking of alternatives to what we are living with today.
An article in Portside, an online publication, illustrates the mindset and perspective of the capitalist. Despite its increase in income of $13 billion in 2013 and a $319 billion backlog of orders, Boeing has put pressure on their workers to accept pay cuts and reduced benefits. They threatened union members in Washington State that unless the union agrees to their terms, they will move their operation elsewhere. They have already moved some of their production to South Carolina to produce the 787 Dreamliner aircraft. In South Carolina, they were able to hire 6,000 non-union workers willing to accept $15 per hour, almost half the pay of unionized workers in Washington. Boeing also coerced or blackmailed the legislature of the state of Washington to grant them the largest development tax break in American history, $8.7 billion over 16 years.
Unpredictably, the union did not submit to Boeing’s demands with 67% of the union workers rejecting their contract offer. Boeing was earning record profits and still attacked their workers. Their concern is primarily their stockholders and not to their workers or their community. This is not an unique story. This is capitalism. We must always keep in mind that leopards do not change their spots.
Dave Alpert has masters degrees in social work, educational administration, and psychology. He spent his career working with troubled inner city adolescents.