Socially and culturally, the mindset in the United States today seems to be “more is better.” But what if, perhaps, this whole idea is the root of many of our problems? Capitalism is defined as an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. In theory this can be a great model, but it is currently being abused.
For starters, in industries using the “more is better” idea regarding money or capital, we find corrupt companies (such as oil companies) reducing the flow of a currently abundant natural resource into the market, driving up prices in order to make exponentially more money for itself.
We also find the “more is better” mindset in situations surrounding the consumer. Consumers are impregnated with this idea that they need more, which in turn persuades them to spend money they usually don’t have on things they usually don’t need.
These both can lead to the current imbalance of wealth in the United States and other capitalist systems that is widely regarded as 1 or 2 percent holding about 90 percent of the state’s wealth.
The latter of these also seemingly adds to an ongoing climate crisis currently facing planet Earth. People buying things they don’t need enables factories to mass-produce goods – much of the time in ways that are not climate or resource-friendly.
When business owners can control the market to control their profits, problems arise and power is abused. Our democracy is seeing these effects. We have elected leaders who get their campaign funding from large corporations and in turn these companies expect their interests to be protected by the leaders they helped elect.
Our democracy then, no matter how pure its intentions may initially have been, is indebted to companies that hold money higher than integrity. This leads to an issue like climate change being ignored when it comes to the table in Congress.
At this point in time I think it’s appropriate to say capitalism is like a fire – very difficult to control and contain. We need to get it more like water – something that conforms to the container in which it is held.
Think about it: is more really better?
