Anybody who knows me will know that I am a champion of Capitalism. My thinking is that there should be no limits or taxes on making more money. By allowing this, the economy attracts and drives productive individuals who eventually spread wealth by best allocating capital. The assumption being that productive individuals allocate capital that generates the most wealth and eventually spreads throughout the population. For example, cell phones were the domain of the rich but now its infrastructure is used by all.
Lately, I feel some flaws in this thinking as pangs of yuppie guilt hit me when seeing the amount of wastage going on here. By far, California is the richest state with Gross State Product clocking in at $1,621,843 million and exceeding second place Texas by over 60%. Incidentally, California GSP exceeds all of Canada’s GDP. So what do Californians do with this wealth?
Perhaps the most interesting sight of wastage was during my walk in Santa Monica near Christmas. Everybody wants a white Christmas, but what happens when living in a place that never snows? The answer provided by the City of Santa Monica is to truck in snow every few hours into the middle of a busy shopping district. There was a moment of disbelief to see children making snowmen and throwing snowballs in near 20c weather. In Beverly Hills, there is a $20,000 mattress for sale. The rationale behind this mattress goes as follows: “You can pay $50,000 for a car and is only used a couple hours in a day. A mattress is used 7-8 hours per day in your life and only costs half that. Hence it’s a good investment”.
Yeah.
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2 comments:
You have to remember that the US is the place where the term "snake oil" originated - a good show is important. The business of advertising was practically invented in the US, along with that LA staple, the modern entertainment industry.
The advertising/entertainment factor combine with "bigger is better" aspects of capitalism to produce what you're seeing.
The problem is, North American society cannot distinguish between "quality" and "quantity" very well. If it is big and shiny, it is good. Bigger is better. Doesn't matter if it serves no purpose or doesn't last - it certainly cost alot to buy, so I can continue bragging about how much I spent on that "piece of crap" for months after it's useless.
Something further to remember is that what you are witnessing is not a pure free-market, capitalist economy. The US has always presented "capitalism" as being the solution to all problems, yet like to protect, limit, use the law or force to alter conditions in its favour. Two simple examples - the "robber barons" that built the railroads and the original opening of the Japanese market. In the first case, the robber barons were the shining beacons of capitalism, but in reality they used their wealth to change the laws and lock out competitors. In the second, the US caused the fall of the last Shogunate in Japan so they could open the nation to trade.
Very interesting post.
This is the closest thing to socialism I have ever heard from you. I'm so proud of you! Does this mean that you're starting to see things my way?
This is so awesome. You're one notched closer to the centre.
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