Friday, June 12, 2015

The system keeps the majority of us in socio-economic bondage with the illusion of free choice when all you really can choose between are differing degrees of terrible.

Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman had an article in The New York Times on Wednesday talking about the Wal-Mart wage increase. Specifically, he went over how a wage increase hadn't impacted Wal-Mart's bottom line all that much, which was a surprise to many people. Using math, Krugman outlined how this was possible and to his credit, he basically predicted that a minimum wage increase would hardly be noticed by companies that work at peak efficiency. He used an anecdote that went something like this: "If you are on top of a hill and you take one step to either side, your elevation doesn't change all that much." Of course rising out of his analysis is a conclusion: people who oppose a wage increase for minimum wage workers (to make a living wage) are not basing their arguments in fact. Rather, they are a part of the systemic problem of keeping people in socio-economic bondage.

The idea of socio-economic bondage is new to me, but I've been thinking about it for a couple of days now. The United States touts itself as "Land of the Free," but are we really free? Take for example a post I recently saw on Facebook. It regarded a youth that came home from his mission (this is an LDS thing) and "came out" to his parents as gay. The parents disowned the young man and told him he had to move out and live on his own if he were going to pursue this lifestyle. The young man in this case was obviously upset as were many people on Facebook calling the parents "unloving" and any number of awful things (which I mostly agree with but digresses from my point). And what is my point? It's simple: Americans do a disservice to one another and to their children by encouraging the idea that "You are free to be whatever you want to be." I think a more accurate statement would be, "You are born into bondage, and the only way in which you can truly be free to do what you want is to acquire money...lots of it...to buy/purchase your freedom. Until such time as you are able to do so, you will always be beholding to someone else's rules, laws, and convictions. You will not be free to choose. Not if you want to survive."

But this brings into mind (I want to borrow Al Gore's own words here) an "Inconvenient Truth." Or maybe more accurately, an uncomfortable truth. The only people in our society that are "truly free" to be what they want to be and to do what they want to do with unlimited choices are the very rich. Money = Freedom of Choice to me. It's not about buying happiness, but about buying freedom. John Goodman put it not so eloquently as the right to say "F*ck you!" to anyone in the remake of "The Gambler." That's what 2.5 million dollars gives you...the right to say "f*ck you." And I don't need to be an economist to realize that this is true.

Polite society is cloaked in euphemisms to avoid uncomfortable truths. At work, I have this thing called an "annual performance evaluation" done by a manager that I presume has either convinced himself or has convinced others of his ability to toe-the-line. But really the whole thing should just be renamed. How about "annual systemic reminder of your socio-economic bondage?" Anyone that has ever had a performance evaluation should realize that it's a means to check "performance" for any places you might be coming up short with the idea that there's some kind of punishment for non-compliance, i.e., you could lose your job. A delusional person might say, "I'm free to make that choice. I'm free to be homeless if I choose to be." But let's not mince words, that isn't much of a choice and everyone knows that.

I'm going to conclude my thoughts in that I don't feel there's any way to change this system. I'm also part of the system just like many other people. And yes, I identify myself as one of the many million that exist in socio-economic bondage every day. Am I free to choose? I suppose that if you mean I can choose between things that are less terrible then yes. As Tyrion Lannister said to Daenerys, there is the right and wrong kind of terrible. But I don't think I shall ever look at things quite the same way anymore. Much of the troubles that we have in society are because all of us exist in bondage. However, only a few can truly be free. If everyone was free...well that's called anarchy and anarchy doesn't work.

14 comments:

  1. Wow, excellent post, and something I heartily agree with.

    There are so many things in our lives that we have no control over, and we can either hide our faces and pretend they aren't there, or face them boldly, accept them, and find things within our control to focus our energies on.

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  2. The sad thing is all those rich kids who have freedom and do nothing with it except screw around.

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    1. Isn't that the point of absolute freedom? The ability to do whatever you want? Maybe comments like the one you just made come from a place of bitterness over realizing in some ways, you are a slave and just wish you could have the freedom for one day that rich kids and rich people enjoy. And also, I realize that the word "slave" is very politically charged (and for good reason), but in this situation I merely use it to illustrate the kind of "non-choice" that all of us exist even though we actually are not "slaves" in the traditional sense of the word, i.e., unpaid workers. But just as a person can be enslaved to drugs meaning "they have no choice but to use" so can a person be enslaved to a job because being destitute is a kind of terrible that the person doesn't want to tolerate. So in a long-winded way, I'm saying that the truly destitute have few freedoms and few choices and many masters.

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    2. At the moment the only one I answer to is the unemployment office.

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    3. But your poverty keeps you limited on the choices that you can make. You may be "content" with that, but I wouldn't call you free.

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  3. Our founding fathers created documents clever about this: "We hold these truths to be self evident that All men are created equal." This doesn't say they ARE equal, but for the sake of building a society we will pretend they are. Likewise, we are only guaranteed the right to "pursue" happiness; happiness itself is never guaranteed. The Supreme Court recently hammered the last nail in the coffin of American democracy by allowing unlimited money into political campaigns; this country is in effect an oligarchy--rule by the rich. History has shown time and again the perils of this situation. If Thomas Jefferson were alive today he'd advocate the overthrowing of our government.

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  4. You can only shake up such systems temporarily via revolutions, but all that does in the end is swap out which people are at the top. Until we reach a point of providing a baseline life for all, we can't progress much beyond what we have.

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    1. Your comment reminds me of something Tyrion said this last week on Game of Thrones, "It is easy to confuse 'what is' and 'what should be' when 'what is' has always worked so well for you."

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  5. There was a video going around a year or so ago about how much it would cost Wal-Mart if they were to raise wages. Basically, the price of mac & cheese went up 1 cent. So, yeah, it's about time Wal-Mart did that.

    The system... Yeah, it's an interesting world. People get so entrenched in their ideas that they are unwilling to consider that their ideas might be misinformed. And wrong.

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  6. It's not just the system. This is just the way it is on Earth. Unless you're a pet, you have to work. We do have certain freedoms, but it's impossible for us to be totally free. Even if you're rich eventually something will happen because our bodies don't last that long. I would say someone is doing great if they have a career they really love. Freedom can be more in the mind than anything.

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  7. It reminds me of how Papa John said it cost like 14 cents a pizza to give his workers healthcare, then he raised it to a dollar anyway.

    Poor wages cripple the economy, supply-side economics don't make sense. The economy doesn't move because a billionaire buys a jet, it's when thousands of workers buy a car, a house, groceries, etc.

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  8. Very thoughtful post. Haven't visited for a while and forgot what I was missing -- thought-provoking questions. Haven't heard the term socio-economic bondage. But, it is evident all around us. I see how young people struggle to survive and make ends meet.

    But, I also think freedom goes beyond the physical. For me it's a state of mind and a way of being.

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