It may be the greatest fraud insinuated into the American public square that the country is a business & should be run as a business. Whatever that means.
The systemic error in the proposition is fundamental.
It's 40yr incubation has rotted the country fr the inside out.
The systemic error in the proposition is fundamental.
It's 40yr incubation has rotted the country fr the inside out.
The examples of this are near-infinite. One of the great transforms has been to think of people as "resources".
You can learn a lot by tracking the shifts in language.
Once employees were manged by the "Personnel Dept". The shift came calling people "Human Resources".
You can learn a lot by tracking the shifts in language.
Once employees were manged by the "Personnel Dept". The shift came calling people "Human Resources".
People become parts of a system whose foundational purpose is to make money. Profits. Those who contribute to this endeavor are considered valuable. Those who do not, or worse, who do but are not recognized as "essential" are are remanded to a life of exclusion & poverty.
Another such linguistic transform relevant to the structure & purpose of our society was the extraordinary shift of describing people as Consumers, no longer Customers.
Now, maddeningly, people are routinely typed as Consumers, no matter what they are doing.
Now, maddeningly, people are routinely typed as Consumers, no matter what they are doing.
People's activities of all sorts are cast in the "business" model of production/consumption.
No longer do you Read a Newspaper... You 'consume' news. Same w books.
Listen for the word. You will find that everything people do is cast in terms of consumption.
No longer do you Read a Newspaper... You 'consume' news. Same w books.
Listen for the word. You will find that everything people do is cast in terms of consumption.
I say this deep, axiomatic cast of how we understand our social contract, and the shift from the basic one laid out in the Preamble to the Constitution is root cause for many, if not most, of the problems and ills we face at every level of our society.
Take the monolithic example of Health Care.
People are cast as "consumers" of Health Care. Those "human resources" who have a job who provide "health care" are treated differently according to the whims and needs of the corporation.
Those who can pay for their consumption
People are cast as "consumers" of Health Care. Those "human resources" who have a job who provide "health care" are treated differently according to the whims and needs of the corporation.
Those who can pay for their consumption
are treated as a product worth keeping healthy...those who cannot are treated as an expense whose care is explicitly kept to a minimum in order to maximize profits for the insurance companies.
In America, we have a Health Insurance System as the center of our medical world.
In America, we have a Health Insurance System as the center of our medical world.
Doubt it? Consider, what is the very first question posed when you go into a medical facility for care. Unless you are bleeding out in the emergency room, it will be "What is your insurance?". And if you are bleeding out, the question will be waiting for you at first opportunity.
The point is not that Capitalism is bad, as if some other economic system is fundamentally better. As an economic system it clearly is superior.
The **PROBLEM** is when the economic system wants to take the place of the Social/Public systems.
The example is in the point of the
The **PROBLEM** is when the economic system wants to take the place of the Social/Public systems.
The example is in the point of the
original post. The post office and the public service it provides is a public good. To run it "as a business" means to cut off all the parts that are not profitable. "Profit" being solely measured in terms of money.
If we, citizens, are mere "consumers" of the Postal service
If we, citizens, are mere "consumers" of the Postal service
then it makes sense... We are there to serve the profitability of the Post Office. But if the Post Office is there to serve the public then it will be structured differently.
It depends on what the purpose is.
(While not forgetting that the PO is actually functioning
It depends on what the purpose is.
(While not forgetting that the PO is actually functioning
quite successfully. That one of the major problems is various Congressional edicts that cripple its ability to fulfill its mission. The entire conversation that the PO is inefficient is a ruse for political purposes.)
The subject is immense in scope, touching every aspect of our lives. The questions we need to be asking are similar to the existential questions we ask ourselves as we mature.
. Who am I?
. What is my purpose?
. What changes do I need to make to accomplish my goals?
. Who am I?
. What is my purpose?
. What changes do I need to make to accomplish my goals?
COVID has forced an existential review of our society, what we value, what are, in fact, our priorities and basic purposes for the systems we have developed & lived within.
For so long we have been being driven by the "Society is a Business" "Government should be run as a Business" precepts that we hardly have been able to think of any other reason for what we do.
Now we are coming to understand that the reason for good government, for good
Now we are coming to understand that the reason for good government, for good
business, for good social systems, like health care but so much more, is to have a good life.
We will suffer greatly if we forget these lessons and persist in the belief that Business & business principles are the fundamental structures for society.
We will suffer greatly if we forget these lessons and persist in the belief that Business & business principles are the fundamental structures for society.
Capitalism is an economic system. Its purpose is to serve the public, not the public/society to serve it.
The muddle has been costly.
Failing, utterly, to take into account the axiomatic distinction between Society/Governance & Economics in the end will cost everything.
The muddle has been costly.
Failing, utterly, to take into account the axiomatic distinction between Society/Governance & Economics in the end will cost everything.
The book "Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered" delves into these distinctions in a more detailed manner.
The operative distinction is Economics...As if... People mattered.
The operative distinction is Economics...As if... People mattered.
I think this is the essential question and choice point facing us today.
It is our version of the ancient question "Whom do you serve?".
The answer we give will be manifested in the choices we make.
It is our version of the ancient question "Whom do you serve?".
The answer we give will be manifested in the choices we make.
We are being presented with very different visions for the future. Somehow we are the people that are tasked to make this momentous & ominous decision which vision shall be our pursuit.
Our times are historic.
As will be the choices we make.
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Our times are historic.
As will be the choices we make.
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The book is Small is Beautiful. It is only one telling of the story. There are many more dealing w different, sometimes more technical versions of this question. But this is a start...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Is_…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Is_…
An example:
Capitalism is not a social good. It is agnostic. Its benefits are not because it is inherently "nice", or has "good" intentions.
Like happens so often it takes the investment from the public & tries to privatize it.
Like this
Capitalism is not a social good. It is agnostic. Its benefits are not because it is inherently "nice", or has "good" intentions.
Like happens so often it takes the investment from the public & tries to privatize it.
Like this
This is why the economic system needs to be contained within the structures of the social system, or Gov. Especially the American/West which is ostensibly based upon the 'consent of the governed'.
It is the muddle of that foundational precept that creates so many problems.
It is the muddle of that foundational precept that creates so many problems.
