Economics & Our Resulting Culture

In the US the government and politicians look to the economy to judge the wealth and prosperity of society; how the society is doing. To measure this economists and other professionals look at economic growth and largely use the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). If GDP is on the rise, and rising at an increasing rate, then to them this means society is in success. In reality this isn't the case. Instead this ideology ignores the quality of life while encouraging limitless use of energy and resources no matter the cost to the environment.

This largely ties in to what the American Dream used to be earlier on in society and what it has become today. When this country was founded the American Dream meant being able to take care of yourself and provide for your family in order to live a happy life. The American Dream also has ideologies attached such as being able to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, being independent, and no matter who you are if you work hard enough you will be a success. That 'American Dream' has somehow morphed into meaning that being successful means being cut-throat and becoming wealthy and rich, to have a lot of money. To achieve this people and businesses become focused and caught up in the corporate business model, where you cut costs and increase profit in almost any way possible. People have gotten so caught up in this rat race to make more money, that even when they do manage to become wealthy they have lost sight of the real goal, which is to improve the quality of life and to be happy. The irony of it all is that the corporate and economic model that's resulted is what is standing in the way of people being able to achieve the American Dream. 

This has encroached on all parts of our society and how we live. Even how we treat our elderly. Think about it, in this country when our parents and grandparents get older and become slow or confused, our society treats them as though they are no longer valuable. They make mistakes, move slow, they become a problem for business and stand in the way of increasing profits. So what does our society do? We put our elderly and disabled in nursing homes and rehab centers. We push them out of ours homes and do not acknowledge their wisdom, experience, or how they are still an asset to our society. Other countries around the world would be appalled at the idea. They take care of their aging family and understand they have valuable wisdom... Not to mention, they are family. 

I feel as though our society takes more risks than are necessary as well, and one reason is that we expect to be independent. I had a conversation recently with a good friend who's struggling financially with the idea of going back to college, working, and being able to pay bills at the same time. Her boyfriend wants to support her financially in this, but she felt guilty and disappointed in herself. I had to explain to her that this is what family and loved ones are for. I had to bring to her attention that if we had grown up in another country that we probably wouldn't even be having this conversation. She should let her loved ones fulfill their own needs, including helping her out. Instead she wanted to take out more loans and go into serious debt, taking more risk on her financial future. 

The idea of economic leveling or even having higher taxes in order to take care of the people in your country and stand in solidarity is common in other countries, such as Norway, Denmark, and even some tribal countries in Africa. The idea is to redistribute the wealth from the super wealthy to those who need it more, either directly or through taxes and social services. This works in cultures that understand what it means to be truly rich. There's a quote by Andrew Carnegie, "The man who dies rich dies disgraced." It means that it's shameful to amass wealth without giving back to your community and people. In African tribes, if you don't partake in economic leveling, you're severely punished or even shunned. In the US, tax is a dirty word that people detest. The American society seems to have forgotten what being taxed means and what the benefits are. Without tax, and regulation, the industries and 1% get away with most of the wealth creating a wealth gap, not to mention that they get away with destroying our environment. If our culture and American Dream were different, then perhaps our societal and even global issues wouldn't be as hard to overcome.

Going back to GDP and the common thought today that economic growth equals a happy society... this assumes that society and economy exist in a limitless world. If we look to economic growth as the standard to measure how society is doing, then we want to see that GDP is forever increasing, but that's neither logical nor possible. We live in a world with limits; there exists the enormous need for us to shift our values and economy so we acknowledges those limits.

I imagine an economic shift where the goal isn't endless growth and increasing wealth, but the optimizing of the quality of life for everyone. With that shift comes the acknowledgment of limits to our environment and the transition to a more sustainable culture.

I challenge everyone to start with a blank slate and think of a culture and economic system that is sustainable. Then, how to get there?

Word Count: 945

Sources:

• On the American Dream:
• Barlett, D. L., & Steele, J. B. (2012). The Betrayal of the American Dream (p. 289). PublicAffairs.
• On economic growth, limits, need to shift economy:
• Butler, T. (2012). The Energy Reader: Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth. (T. Butler, D. Lerch, & G. Wuerthner, Eds.) (p. 364). Canada: Foundation for Deep Ecology, Post Carbon Institute, Watershed Media.