Be the Change: World Trip – Economy Part 1

I have traveled the world and looked at it from the perspective of a person trained in
economics and a clown (no less ha).   This is based on my experience and is my perspective, I respect others will be different.  This is the great diversity we all live in.  No two people see the same.

I believe each person must be the change they wish to see in the world. I do not believe
in leading any social change movement, I think each person must make their own change.
We have to look into the mirror of reality and make a change as Michael Jackson sang.
The responsibility for change rests with each person not with governments.

My feeling is to express my voice not politically but as a person who affects the world
and as a person who is affected by the world. Not because I have a democratic right to
express my humanity but as a person responding to their inner feeling. In certain parts
of the world if people express themselves this is suppressed as the State sees itself in
the role of deciding for people what will happen. In other parts of the world we have
democratic systems where people are given by government, to some degree, freedom of
speech, however the right to make decisions is given to governments through the voting
system.

My observations as I have traveled is rampant consumerism rising not abating. I notice
in the Western countries we talk of environmental sustainability and recycling, but in
reality the juggernaught of consumerism is an increasing phenomenon as people seek
to aspire to the goods and services that marketing dangles as pathways to happiness and
freedom. The truth in many traditional societies appear to have extremes in wealth and
what is seen as poverty. Some societies are simple and there was not a great desire to
acquire material things, this was living in simplicity. Looking through the glasses of
capitalism we see poverty emerging as lack, needs not met. There is also a visible divide
between those who are winners of the system and those eeking out a living to survive in a
system of exchange of goods for money or simply begging.

I wish to discuss capitalism from an economic perspective where we have set up a
system of exchange of goods and services for money. This system at its core promotes
self interest. It is the self interest that creates the resistance to change that may benefit
society. We are taught from childhood that we must find a job and become successful.
Those who are praised and rewarded in this system are those who make the most money
or are perceived as successful in their chosen careers. Success is not based on values
so even if money is not made by ethical means or with a sense of social responsibility,
that is irrelevant in a capitalist system or market based economy. The key and driving
mechanism is to maximise profit. The pursuit of new markets focuses on generating more
income to keep a business running. The expansion of markets is not to serve the people
but to ensure profits are buoyant. The system rewards profit maximization or greed
(making as much as you can) and promotes a society that competes with each other. It
creates division in that society and those who do not win either accept their status as
less than the winners. Even those who are in the wealthy portion of society also suffer.
My experience working with those who are monied has shown me they are not happy
either. They work in groups that accept them on the basis of their success. They develop behaviours of being seen to be rather than being themselves. Wealth is guarded as this
provides security and a sense of success. It is deliberately a closed club to engender
more value to their status as a successful elite. In both cases I have seen that people are
not happy as in each case we are adhering to a system or culture that demands conformity
and promotes values that divide rather than unite people. A division of inclusion and
exclusion.

The system of globalization is simply the expanding of capitalism or conformity around
the world. I have visited Central and South American cities which look like smaller models of the
western capitalist system. I see that those with money have penetrated countries and
developed capitalist style outlets of fast food and manufacturing to take advantage of
cheaper labour. The cheap labour focus is because they are seeking to minimize costs of
production in order to maximize profits. This is entrenched systemically in Corporations
who have duties to shareholders to keep increasing their yields each year. It is also in
response to competition which again rewards them when expanding into new markets
to compete with global competitors and maintain or increase their profits. If they drop
in profit there are impacts registered by stock yields on the stockmarket. In addition,
professionally and within social circles, those perceived as responsible, are seen as
somehow failing in their performance. Success is increasing yields and profits. These
are very simple constructs which keep the juggernaught of production and consumption
continually rising. This is a system that detaches from the social costs of manufacturing
demand, the environmental impacts and any notion of the promotion of happiness.

Part 2 coming up next…