Tag economy

Back in the states I’m always amazed at how often I find myself at the store. I feel there is always something I “need” which, of course, isn’t true. The American life is set up to create the perfect consumer. Sometimes, I think we’re the robots they created just to keep the machine of our economy alive.

We get out of high school and go to college. Bam! Now we’re in debt and have to have a job to pay off the debt we accrued. There isn’t another way. It’s ironic because people blame the Universities for being liberally skewed but there for-profit institutions are what trap many Americans into the most conservative lifestyle.

If you didn’t go to college, you’re kicked out of the home around 18 and encouraged to have the all-American work ethic. Time to get a job, bum! Use that required education you were forced to receive to flip burgers or stock shelves. What about travel? What about just wandering around thinking? When will you have the time to define who you are?

Here’s how: you watch TV, see fashionable, fit people with great jobs, great hair and Nikes. Now you need a pair of Nikes to prove you’re on track. To prove you have a job, are worth something to society. Society invested in you and now makes you feel guilty if you diverge from your predestined path. You have to SHOW you belong in this society or you’ll be scoffed. Don’t want to shave your legs young woman?- hippie! Don’t want to comb your hair young man?- pothead! Don’t want to get a job?- bum! The list goes on. And it’s all based around consuming things.

Capitalism is an economic idea and doesn’t have to be tied to the idea of democracy. You can bash one and have the other. In fact, we could agree as a democracy to do so, but so many Americans have the idea that capitalism is our way of life, not the democratic part. When we say we are spreading democracy, is that all we want to spread or are we opening new markets for our products? When a building making clothes for us collapses and kills 500 people do we feel guilty for demanding such cheap prices for things that we force laborers we don’t want to look at to be stacked several stories high. Good thing they are out of sight, too, because they don’t wear the right stuff or behave the right way to fit into our paradigm. That’s oversimplified, of course, but it is worth thinking about how much our ideology of consumerism is impacting not just us, but everyone around us.

Homes in many other countries are not decorated. They don’t have shelves or storage because they don’t (or can’t) stockpile. We have cabinets full of stuff we don’t use on a daily basis. Begging the question of why we bought it in the first place. Other homes just have a table (where you eat) and some floor space (where you sleep). You don’t need much to be happy and content. A roof, some source of heat, family, food. My neighbors spend a fortune on chemicals to make their grass greener. That’s money they worked hard for, time they spent away from their families. They buy yard art to impress their neighbors, “See! I’m productive and relevant to society!”

We even rate our economy by consumer confidence. How confident are we as a people? Let’s express it by purchasing things we don’t need. That shows we’re on track to a bright future. Ha!

We’re not immune at all. We live in a suburb at the moment that is quite stunning. We have nice furniture, art on the walls, cabinets full of things and drawers full of more things. Things are all around us. We’re very American in this sense. But, with all these American capitalist-consumer things, we’re detached from the people around us because we’re so surrounded in things and work. I’d like to see more of the democracy part of our ideology and less of the commercials, radio ads, billboards, newspaper ads, coupons and other reminders of consumerism. What if there were that many reminders of our national ideology? Wouldn’t that be neat (or perhaps, too much?).

You can’t consider yourself a long-term thinker if you shop at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, or any other major chain in the United States. Here is why: they outsource. Simply put, we get products for cheaper but in the end more folks here will be unemployed which will result in fewer purchases long term. Folks at these major corporations have to realize they are simply sucking as many greenbacks as possible out of the economy while it lasts. An entire economy based on service industries is hardly a stable one, but that is where we seem to be heading.

So, why do I take it out on Wal-Mart? Honestly, it isn’t really fair. Wal-Mart is just a prime example because they sell the largest range of crappy products on the market, stretching from crappy sewing machines to crappy electronics to crappy plastic toys to crappy, low-quality clothing. This isn’t much different from most other major corporations, but this one is more prevalent. Its like blaming McDonald’s for all fast-food woes.

Yesterday I was looking at a piece of antique furniture. Unless doused in gasoline or saturated in water, this thing will be around long after I am. Something about that is much more comforting than looking at the $20 Ikea equivalent. Our culture demands things for cheaper and cheaper, and when a deal is good we’ll buy the product even if we’re fully aware it is sup par. We seem more than happy to accept that an item has a shelf-life. I’d much prefer to buy something once and have it for life. My life, not the life span attributed to it because it will whither away on its own accord over time.

I remember the day I returned to the USA having spent several years in Germany as a child. We got away from the airport in our rental car and I asked my dad why all the houses were made out of cardboard. An astute observation for a child, I have to say. It turns out it isn’t cardboard, but 2×4 pine boards with a bit of drywall and nails. The shelf life of a home in the USA is under 50 years, and this seems downright sad. Mike and I recently worked with Habitat for Humanity down in Texas and were shocked at the minimal amount that actually goes into making a house. Once you see the process from A to Z you start to wonder how the thing lasts even 50 years. Meanwhile, in Germany homes are built to last several generations. They can spend the additional money to make it correctly and make it sturdy because no one family is supporting the entire weight of the bill. If America were to start to make better homes, it would have to change the underlying cultural trends wherein children leave the nest and move to an entirely new area.

This reminds me of a story my grandfather told me when I was younger. He said the US government brought in some German road engineers to teach them how to build long-lasting roads. The Germans dig way into the earth and layer with straw, sand, tar, cement, straw and much more over and over again for around 2 meters. When they finally slap on the last coat they have a product that can withstand extreme weight, weather and use. The Americans were impressed and started to mimic the German road-building method. Suddenly, construction was halted as a politician pointed out that all the road workers would eventually work themselves out of a job with these long-lasting roads. I don’t doubt the story is true, but I do doubt that we would work ourselves out of road jobs by making them right the first time.

I recently read that there are two types of belief systems- utilitarianism and deontology. The former type believes in the greatest good for the greatest number of people while the latter believes in personal rights, regardless of the outcome. Americans seem to be distinctly deontologists, and are concerned about the jobs of the workers over the long-term happiness and convenience of millions of Americans who would enjoy driving to work without dodging orange cones. I think this is interesting because I’d much prefer the roads to be done right, to the highest possible quality at a higher price tag now, and then save money and time down the road (ha ha, my first pun) on repairs. I also suggest this project as a sort of CCC type deal for our current unemployment solution.

I digressed from my anti Wal-Mart point, but the ideology underlining it is the same. I think long term we need to pay more for high-quality, lasting products from small businesses instead of buying the cheaper version that will wither away and need to be replaced. In short, I think the greatest good for the largest group of people in America would mean more jobs here, more high-quality, lasting products here, and building a country we’d be proud to show our grandkids, instead of delivering them one in need of massive repairs.

I don’t mean to launch into a diatribe, but its my blog and I feel like ranting about the so-called ‘disaster in the gulf.’

1. This is a product of drilling for oil. If we’re going to insist on using the combustion engine, we have to realize the consumers are as much at fault here as BP. If we were not buying up oil like it was gold, then they wouldn’t push themselves to drill it out of the ocean with such urgency that it causes them to be rushed and thus a bit haphazard.

2. Can people please stop blaming BP like they are shocked that a company would put the environment or human beings in danger in return for profit? Lets not be naive. The company is not Tony Hayward, who is also not a super villain who is secretly delighted by the spill. The company is the stock holders, who will do anything (including spend their fortune on an ad campaign mid-crisis) to keep the shares from losing value. There is nobody who deserves to have his or her ass kicked more than the stock holders, good luck Mr. President, in finding them all and kicking them a good one.

3. I’m tired of seeing oil-saturated birds and wetlands. We take a very large, very toxic dump on the environment on a daily basis all across the planet, this really isn’t any different. People are not willing to move past the combustion engine (see point #1) so they can’t blame anyone for oil-soaked birds but themselves. Put down your remote, pick up a pen and write your state representative to support mass transportation and clean, renewable energy. Otherwise don’t criticize BP for pouring oil down fish throats. Also, don’t call anyone who wants to progress past outdated technology a hippie. I doubt Ben Franklin, Alexander Graham Bell, or Eli Whitney would enjoy that type of labeling, and I don’t feel like I have dreadlocks forming simply because I think wind energy is more intelligent than digging for dead dino bones to light on fire.

4. If Americans want more jobs (and I think they should be actively demanding them) then they need to force their representatives to enact laws that ban or prohibit outsourcing. We have high unemployment at home while our electronics, automotives and chemicals are produces abroad. Being the jobs home, put people to work, and get more funding for our science programs so we don’t loose our innovative edge. Also, give grants for clean or renewable energy research and reward people who provide solutions instead of point out problems.

5. I’m supremely pissed that the real bill for this crisis is going to come out of our pockets. The reserves of oil under the sea in the gulf belong to our country, yet a British BP comes in and sucks it out, slaps a sticker on it and sells it back to us for a profit. Once this all blows over, you can expect gas prices to one day go up enough for BP to recoup its losses in the gulf. After all, the Exxon Valdez crisis was a disaster that is quite aptly comparable, and yet Exxon today is the largest company in the world. Anyone who doesn’t think this bill is landing on them isn’t look at the larger picture- which is to say, that we’re essentially going to pay BP for this misstep.

6. I’d like to suggest someone slap the media quite hard for their constant nagging. When did the media in the USA become as lame as the politicians? These folks are supposed to be reporters, which means they should be doing a bit of research from time to time. Instead, we have poor Admiral Thad Allen up there making statements and these talking heads (the reporters) are fixated on all the wrong aspects of this seemingly never-ending story. The media has made this oil spill the only thing happening in the world. I want to hear about the news. This is not new, this is over 50 days old. And the media seems more than happy to keep a constant ticker on how much they harp on one story instead of report on what is actually happening now in the world. It makes me feel like the media is intentionally focusing on this to avoid having to do any real work. Meanwhile, we have real issues going on around the world that Americans should be aware of, and all they know about it how the media is trying to portray everyone as incompetent. The only really incompetent ones are the folks at CNN, Fox and every other major network that has long since stopped being respectable.

7. Finally, and this is a positive point for a change, I’d like to point out how awesome I think Thad Allen is. This military man, the ‘incident commander’ is a straight-shooting guy that really doesn’t’ bullshit his way through a press conference or dodge answers. If he were to run for office tomorrow I’d click ‘yes’ simply because he isn’t a politician. Reporters ask him questions and he gives an answer. Meanwhile, at a press conference yesterday, the White House spokesperson standing behind Than Allen interrupted several of his straight-forward answers to back peddle, blame shift, and generally make himself look like a lawyer/villain from a Tim Allen movie. I’m so outraged by the type of person who goes into politics (in both/all parties) that it is actually a real shock to see someone answer a questions bluntly. Way to go, Thad, and keep up the straight shooting. Also, you just might be the military’s best spokesman at present.

That is all I have to say about the disaster in the gulf….for now.