Almighty Dollar Daze

My normally-loving preference for good old capitalism's been suffering lattely. It's been diseased by a guilty conscience. Out, out, damn spot of conscience, I scream. Alas, I remain diseased. Too many catastrophes are reminding me that we may have hit and exceeded the zenith of greed.

We live in an unprecedented era: the age of Capitalism As Special Interest. And, as we all know, Special Interests rule the day. A good example from my 46 years occurred to me the other day. Back in the day of my 1950's and 60's childhood the message from the pulpit of our churches dared not offer political advice, but didn't think twice about promoting wealth redistriction as a moral objective. Today I'm not exxagerating by stating that the situation (and the pulpit messages) are weak on egalitarian economics and heavy on politics as morality. A complete 180, to be sure. We're told left and right nowadays that the faithful can also be wealthy and self-interested. Me thinks it's had quite a negative effect on what kind of earthly stewards we are.

Perhaps not since the latter half of the nineteenth century have our laws and the men who made them bowed down to the business interests of the day more than today. You remember reading about those times, right? Robber barons, monopolies-a-go-go, cheap Chinamen slave labor, absolutely no workers' rights, nor any child labor restrictions, volatile and changing currencies, unstable markets. The history buffs out there will appreciate my musings about Teddy Roosevelt and what our world would be like today were he to have lacked the cajones to have taken his historic stand against monopolies.

I have often wondered if the Wild West romanticism of those times was more than anything a national escapism from the hard-hearted realities of a civilization seemingly dictated by "the going rate". I'm no expert historian, but from what I know of that period in our history, if you were not a farmer and completely self-sufficient or a profitable and resiliant business owner, you face a life of drudgery, back-breaking work, and even odds on living in poverty. Americans were still categorized in classes: social, economic, ethnic. And what you were categorized determined your quality of life. No help in the form of unemployment, welfare, benefits, insurance, or even work safety standards. Tis true that those were the days of unfettered capitalism more than now, but I doubt even the most miserly and stingy Robber Baron of that day would run his infrustructure into the ground like we have.

Today we face the growing pains of a global economy, and we seem to think that unfettered capitalism is our best way to excel in this environment. We're quite obstinate about it, in fact. We pass trade laws that read like they protect us, but we don't enforce them so they don't. We give American companies carte blanche to move jobs away, and then we reward this with tax breaks. We leave no stone unturned in our quest to de-regulate everything. Nothing, absolutely nothing should stand in the way of American business to make absolutely as much money as it can: this is our unspoken rule. Any restriction, no matter how needed or noble, is critically viewed through this prism.


Yet, all around us, we hear voices whispering, maybe not, maybe not...maybe this is not the best way. Maybe Man cannot police himself when it comes to the temptation of greed, because we are not even putting money back to maintain and service this wonderful world that capitalism has built. To wit, voices from the lead paint in 9 million and counting toys. Voices in the concrete pillars of the Minneapolis I-35W bridge. Voice of the dead victims of Hurricane Katrina. Some might even include voices of the dead from the Twin Towers, because of the terrorists' hatred for the so-called invasion into their way of life of American capitalism. It seems like each week brings us another catastrophic reminder of how, in our zeal for profit-making and taking, we've neglected to maintain our infrastructures and support systems.

It's like when people buy new cars on credit. The stupid ones think the car payment, insurance, and gasoline will be their only expenses. The smart ones know that maintaining and upkeeping on a car costs, too, and they know it's only smart to start saving for the next one. This analog, therefore, begs us to remember that what previous generations have built, that we take for granted, will not live forever. We must either maintain or re-create. Oh, yeah. Or do without. So which choice are we wanting to make?