Someone here posted that capitalism and greed are diseases forced upon us shortly after birth, and it's very very true. Parents tell their fuckin' kids that if they do well in school/college/whatever, they'll be successful and be able to buy whatever they want. How many parents tell their kids that what's really important is to engage in work that benefits society as a whole? My parents never told me that, not that they are bad people at all.
Growth for growth's sake creates a situation where wealth/property is aggregated in the hands of a few, while the rest of us poor slobs have to borrow (aka. finance/lease) just to have a place to live and a way to get around. It's my opinion (one that I will never waver from) that the wealthy (I'm talkin about multimillion/billionares here) have an obligation to society to use their wealth/power/influence for the common good. What we see now is quite the opposite -- the wealthy use the money they've aquired off the backs of others for their own personal pleasures, while hundreds of thousands of people go hungry and live homelessly in the RICHEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. When a poor person can't pay their bills, they get what little they have taken away in the name of 'policy'. Who's policy? Why, those who have all the wealth, of course.
Forgive my rambling on, but the point I'm trying to make is that capitalism by it's very nature is unsustainable for the population as a whole. We in this country think we are free? Fuck that, we're wage-slaves. We put up with the endless bullshit from our employers (except of course, for the self-employed) because we don't wanna lose our jobs, and because we know that wherever we work is gonna be the same fuckin' bullshit. We think maybe if we swallow enough crap, we might get ahead somehow. When we do get ahead, what do we do? Buy that big-body benz, the house on the hill, and before we know it, our lifestyle has caught up with our income, and we're in need of 'moving up' again. In the corporate world, moving up eventually involves some sort of backstabbing, which is usually justified by, "well she would have done the same to me." For the love of god, the youth of our society embrace a culture which reeks of greed -- we listen to fuckin' music sung by 'artists' who do nothing but brag about how much they have in relation to YOU. Who the hell do you think 50 was talkin' to when he said, 'you been hustlin' a long time, but you aint got nothing.'? Who is you? YOU, the listener, of course! Who else?
I could go on and on about this, but I think you all get the point. When material wealth increases, so usually does the thirst for more. This feedback loop creates nothing... except growth for growth's sake. Before long, you forget all the 'little people' you used to know (some of which you may have stepped on during your climb to the top), and the only thing that matters is that next promotion/making partner/the new boat/the trophy wife/etc.
In a true democracy (which does not exist anywhere on this planet that I am aware of), property would be distributed as widely as possible -- EVERYONE would have something. Instead, we live in a nation, a world of corporate gods and our leaders' bogeymen (terrorists/etc). I can't help but think that the crisis underway in the middle east is the start of something larger which will either end in widespread enlightenment or widespread devastation -- the thirst for money seems to be at the heart of it. Think about it, if Iraq had no natural resources, do you think anybody would be over there trying to 'liberate' them? My best guess is, probably not.
The wheel of society is spinning faster and faster, and the center of the wheel is weak from greed/corruption. What will happen when the wheel flies apart at top speed?
