The Happiness Machines
Apples are being Flown from England to South Africa to be washed, waxed and flown back for sale in England. This is being touted as "Economic" because the price is low.
How is that possible? Because the price is not the whole cost. It doesn't reflect the price supports industrial agriculture is able to get with its political influence. Nor does it reflect cost of throwing local apple farmers out of work, or the fuel spent, or the environmental impact of large scale farming, or the cost of lower wadges it pays in Africa, or the degradation of wages in England... It is a lower price, but a higher cost. It is Economic, meaning profitable, for the owners of industrial agriculture, but inefficient and expensive use of resources for society at large. The consumer gets a lower price, but earns ever less money to afford it. In business, this is called "Externalizing Costs."
So why do we hide the true costs of products from consumers? Because of the Supply and Demand curve, which tells us that as prices go up, demand goes down. In fact, if we were expected to pay a price that captured the real costs to move, manufacture and dispose of a product, most people would buy a lot less, probably only what they need, and that is bad for business.
In my last blog, I recalled that in the early 1920's, business interests were concerned that the abundance brought about by the industrial revolution would end when people had bought all that they needed. Edward Bernays, the father of consumerism, found the solution by marketing to "desires" rather than "needs." His insight was that while a person may have all his/her needs met, desires can be limitless.
Here’s an interesting quote from Victor LeBeau, the American Economic Advisor to President Truman in 1946:
Furthermore, inequality of wealth is greatest in the least regulated countries.
In the U.S., for example, the average wealth of each adult is in the $250,000-300,000 behind Switzerland and Australia at or just less than half a million. But that's the average. Median wealth is a measure of where half of the people are above or below, and is probably more telling of how most people live. There, Australia leads with $220,000, followed by Luxembourg, Belgium, France, Italy, the UK, and Japan. The U.S. falls way back on this measure (some research says 27th), with a median wealth of just $45,000. Most Americans are worth less than most Italians, Belgians and Japanese!
"... in 1928 a President came to power who agreed with Bernays. President Hoover was the first politician to articulate the idea that consumerism would become the central motor of American life. After his election he told a group of advertisers and public relations men 'You Have taken over the job of creating desire and have transformed people into constantly moving happiness machines. Machines which have become the key to economic progress.'"
Here’s an interesting quote from Victor LeBeau, the American Economic Advisor to President Truman in 1946:
"Our enormously productive economy...demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption.... We need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate."
from "The Story of Stuff"
And they were absolutely right. Our economy has grown to produce the richest people, the most profitable corporations and the greatest expansion of economic activity in all of recorded history. But to what end?
Great Wealth is self seeking, and wants to magnify its power by resisting its sharing among the starving masses. On January 20, 2014, Oxfam announced that global inequality has reached record proportions: 85 of the world's richest individuals now own as much wealth as half of all humanity; 3.5 billion poor.
Great Wealth is self seeking, and wants to magnify its power by resisting its sharing among the starving masses. On January 20, 2014, Oxfam announced that global inequality has reached record proportions: 85 of the world's richest individuals now own as much wealth as half of all humanity; 3.5 billion poor.
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| http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/01/22/10-startling-facts-about-global-wealth-inequality/ |
Furthermore, inequality of wealth is greatest in the least regulated countries.
In the U.S., for example, the average wealth of each adult is in the $250,000-300,000 behind Switzerland and Australia at or just less than half a million. But that's the average. Median wealth is a measure of where half of the people are above or below, and is probably more telling of how most people live. There, Australia leads with $220,000, followed by Luxembourg, Belgium, France, Italy, the UK, and Japan. The U.S. falls way back on this measure (some research says 27th), with a median wealth of just $45,000. Most Americans are worth less than most Italians, Belgians and Japanese!
After accounting for debts, assets of more than $4,000 put a person in the wealthiest half of world citizens. Assets of more than $75,000 put them in the top 10 percent. Assets of more than $753,000 put them in the top 1 percent.
This leads to the most startling figure in the Oxfam report:
This leads to the most startling figure in the Oxfam report:
"Our estimates suggest that the lower half of the global population possesses barely 1% of global wealth, while the richest 10% of adults own 86% of all wealth, and the top 1% account for 46% of the total. "In the end, we have turned ourselves into Bernays' "Happiness Machines" for the sake of a consumer culture from which most Americans do not profit. In fact, due to over 30 years of wage stagnation, longer hours, less vacation time, and dwindling retirement, it could be argued most Americans have lost ground as the focus of the economy has shifted from being a servant of the public good, to the ideal which the public serves. Like the Egyptian Pyramids, this global one of inequality was built on the backs of slaves at the pleasure of 85 Pharaohs.
