PRay TeLL, Dr. Hash

Martin Hash

Politics & Philosophy by Dr. Martin D. Hash, Esq.

  1. Jul 23

    1549 Consumerism

    The discourse about consumerism is vague because even though it’s cast as something bad, everyone likes to buy stuff; they imagine consumerism is cheap TVs at Walmart. While that perception is not too far from reality, it doesn’t encompass the trade-offs, which are substantial, maybe existentially important to society. To understand the problem, you have to realize that society used to be worker-centric because workers were the backbone of an industrial economy. As the U.S., and West in general, became more about information & finance, workers lost much of their previous value, so much so that we changed to a consumer-centric society. The focus changed from economic security for workers to cheaper goods for consumers. It’s humorously, but insightfully, been said that we buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t know. The people selling us those things don’t care about their customers any more than how to instill the desire to buy their product, using whatever means possible, be it subconscious, hypnotic or fear of missing out; and financiers don’t care about anything but increasing their already great concentrated wealth. They want monthly payments forever, as high as possible, no matter the burden it places on the regular people who owe them. Consumerism is the perfection of slavery because it achieves what the Elites want, control, and the masses are unwilling to rebel because they can’t go without a bigger TV.

  2. Jul 21

    1548 The Need for Capitalism

    America was founded on the idea of free market economics; the idea that through hard work and commerce, people could exchange what they made for what others made to the benefit of all. Free markets don’t require capitalism to operate; it’s more a convenience & magnifier, based on the concept of imaginary money, capital, which is obviously how it gets its name. Workers receive wages which they consume. In most cases, workers, the actual producers, don’t have any capital, they live day-to-day, hopefully putting away something for the future. On the other hand, capitalists, who don’t produce anything, simply receive gains on their capital so the reality of compounding naturally causes concentration & stratification of wealth, and the more imaginary money there is, the worse it gets. With this kind of guaranteed outcome from capitalism, it may seem that getting rid of it would be a good idea, which is where communism gets a foothold. However, as bad as the side effects of capitalism are, it’s still required for free markets to work. Assume everyone received an egg a day as payment. Eggs are delicate and easily broken. If there was no reward for risking your egg, you wouldn’t because you might go hungry; capitalism is the enticement for risking your egg. So it’s not capitalism per se, it’s the excesses of capitalism that are causing the problems, and those are simple to solve via wealth confiscation, though that hasn’t proven to be easy because with great wealth comes great power, and power doesn’t want its wealth taken.

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Politics & Philosophy by Dr. Martin D. Hash, Esq.