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September 22, 2008

Counting on Greed

It strikes me that the crisis we are seeing unfolding before our

eyes, not just on Wall Street by the way, but everywhere this financial

crisis reaches, signals something that ought to be clear to Republicans

and Democrats, and any other political ideologue: we can't count on

greed to get to compassion, kindness, social justice, etc. And yet,

counting on greed has been the underlying assumption of so much economic

policy and social tinkering. To be sure, Capitalism might require

competition and a certain mercenary attitude, but I also think along

with Herman Daly, Paul Hawken, and David Korten, that we can work to

build wealth rather than just profit, that we can be successful

(individually and socially) without making everything just be an

exercise in greed.

This is a fundamental dilemma for me with trickle down policies most

frequently championed by conservatives. Of course I have the same

objection if those type of policies are pushed by liberals/progressives.

Giving unfettered power to some folks to enrich themselves is said to

result in the benefit of all. Wealth trickles down some say, in various

forms. Let me be clear: I don't completely disagree with the premise

that posits benefits accruing from judicious investment of resources. We

can all agree on benefits that result from particular research

expenditures, changes in attitudes, dispositions, unintended

consequences, and so on. But, such a dictum is by no means gospel, and

it strikes me as very different from the kind of policies that

facilitated the financial crisis we now face. The results demonstrate

that such unfettered power has resulted, and is likely to continue

resulting, in distress to more vulnerable segments of the population.

There is a greed there, not an enlightened self-interest, that rots

policies crafted on such assumptions from the very core. Sadly, we've

become quite numb and scared, after years of being savaged as commies,

socialists, pinkos, bleeding hearts, etc., to mount strong arguments

against such rottenness.