| Greed is in the nature of man, plain and simple.
Those without initiative express/pursue their greed differently from those of a more proactive or competitive nature. But is is no less demonstrable.
In a thoroughly manageable society (groups of 150 or less) the differences of people are obvious and their place in a sustainable, synergistic community is organically resolved taking into consideration individual capabilities, (emotional and physical) and their needs. What’s more, as humans, we add in the considerations of the emotional realm and can deal with people on a more compassionate and complicated level of understanding. That’s how we have evolved, because it best suits the development of our species. This keeps us from putting Grandma on the ice float as soon as her best years are behind her. It allows us to care for and nurture the young and helpless state of our human infancy. And it also allows us to refrain from devouring those perceived less productive than the understood standard.
Research has demonstrated that in larger groups, the intimacies that facilitate sound organic management are diluted, more and more, as the number of any congregation increases. And that’s precisely why social ordinances are imposed. They are not the perfect solution and require flexibility and human understanding to grow and evolve with the community they support. They are not cold, heartless, unbendable restrictions to regulate undomesticated animals but rather guidance toward genuine harmony.
In a perfect society, there wouldn’t be money. Period. Money by definition and purpose is permanently flawed and too easy to manipulate and corrupt. The success of a monetary system is based on an infinite growth paradigm and believe it or not, in our world, we have maxed that out. In America and around the world, monetary currency is no longer possible to sustain as it is currently understood and utilized.
A monetary system based on real value is one thing, but we no longer even hold to any practical value standard for money. So it is false, unreal, and not respected. There is no gold standard (assuming gold has any real value) and the total value of American Gold Reserves don’t even add up to one eighth of our current debt. Gross National Product is no longer indicative of value as the GNP doesn’t even come close to the debt either. Money is an inherently flawed system in and of itself and those flaws are compounded when you factor in credit. The assumption of credit is to make value out of nothing. You can argue the virtue and then the value of usury, but to do so you have to first resolve that money is of value. The perception becoming the fact? But the truth is, you can’t eat money and survive. And yes, it is that elementary.
When you further complicate credit with speculation, derivatives and the countless hedging schemes currently accepted, you are simply adding layers of window dressing to nothing at all. Money for nothing. Based on nothing. The currency of a pyramid scheme.
Bartering (exchanging a valued service or product of labor for another valued service or product of labor) is what the monetary system is advertised as representing, in a more practical and convenient form. Without debating the possibility of that, ask yourself how well it actually represents that value to value concept at the present time. Our stewardship of the system of currency has been, at best careless, at it’s worst, insidiously corrupt.
The current predominant assumption among the wealthy of the world is, those with the money hold all the cards. Those with the money made the money, built the society and therefore have a right to the best things of the society and are under no obligation to support, subsidize or sustain those who are either less able, less willing or less suitable. This is no less flawed than the philosophy of any who would contribute nothing and yet assume an entitlement to be sustained. Each conflicting viewpoint is however, human. And in a human society, must be reasoned with humanely.
Without money, a false currency, these levels of contempt for the multifarious quality of man would never be sustainable. Why? Because the bitter truth is, no man is an island. Oh, we can survive on our own, but to live and thrive and to be happy and know true prosperity, we need each other. We are social beings.
People are the engine of a productive, sustainable community. No one person. And there will always be exceptional individuals in varying degrees at both ends of that spectrum. Should the mightiest feed off of or be permitted to disenfranchise the weakest? What would the mightiest have dominion over on their own? On their own, what would the weakest have to sustain themselves? Exactly. And that’s not society. That is alone.
In Society, there must be the give and take to absorb all in order to make the most of all. Especially as we take into consideration the perceived pluses and minuses of each end of that varied spectrum of humanity. Only the arrogance that allows us to believe we know all the answers keep us from realizing this. Because it is within this appreciation of nature that we learn invaluable lessons and gain the qualities and strengths that add to the integrity of our society. Otherwise our evolution and intricacies are founded on false or incomplete knowledge and are bound (without growth) to degrade and bring us full circle and return us to the brute law of wild animals. Where would that leave Stephen Hawking? Where would that leave you?
As it is, the rich did not build the societies of the world. People did. And in overwhelming numbers, the working class. Only currency allows the imbalance of value (inflation) to reach the point where something can be purchased for less than its true value and, therefore, the growth of inequality, separation, discrimination and the class system. When it comes down to it, try eating money or gold and you will learn the value of a seed and of those who know how to cultivate it. Neither corrupt government or greedy corporate interests are served by a fully employed workforce. There MUST be a constant army of unemployed to keep the FEAR of losing a job as the means by which the masses are subjugated and the product of production can be had by the oppressor below its value.
It was John Steinbeck who said, “Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” Greed is a pervasive human condition indeed.
If it wasn’t such a clear indication of the impending collapse of our system, it might be humorous to note that “millionaire” is insufficient these days to be considered rich enough to rise into that perceived segment above and immune to the actual nature of man’s being.
In a society where corporations are in collusion with government, to an unprecedented degree, in order to subjugate the masses in servitude, there is no real harmony and only false value, false intelligence (given that intelligence is the sense of understanding the true nature of existence) and a false society.
There will always be the individual who wants to drink for free. That is human and, therefore there is a true (perceived or not) lesson and value within even that consideration.
Since the days of Camelot and relative well-being in America (1961) the tax burden (governments fee for our structure of society) has shifted more and more from the highest income earners toward the middle class and now, even below that. The subsidies and loop holes in place are designed to sustain the wealthiest and virtually mine the rest of us of all but what is necessary to sustain us as the drone engine of prosperity for the rich. But there’s been a miscalculation in considering the growth potential of the scheme that is now evident with the retirement of the Baby Boomers and our economy’s waning expansion. It has simply gone too far. In every aspect and at each opposing end of the human spectrum it is no longer sustainable.
Greed is in the nature of man, plain and simple. So is our combined ability to control and, therefore, grow beyond it. And so it is our responsibility. I hope it’s not too late.
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