On riches

Here's an interesting question. What do we, the uneducated masses, do when struck with some idea as to how something big, and seemingly meaningful, works? What do we do if we think we have some insight? What if we know that we've merely stumbled into finally understanding what other's have known all along?

Do we keep it to ourselves? And just feel comforted that we've taken one more step in the quicksand of ignorance? Or do we share it?

Better still, what if you are sharing it outloud, silently, to no one...as is the case when you publish an unread blog?

Well, I don't know. But in the spirit of scientific inquiry (and the "spirit" is as far as I'm going to get), here's my thinking...On Riches.

Our economic "system", is touted as a perpetual motion machine, one that does not take into account the limitation of resources, assuming that if one resource is depleted it will be replaced with another. I say this admitting that I haven't a clue as to who is touting this (hence the passive voice), and so I abandon the spirit of scientific inquiry briefly for the spirit of artistic resonance and claim that it "seems" that experts, government, someone, is touting this.

However, our "system" is also a machine that can only stop with catastrophic effects (like the rotation of a planet). If our leaders were to stop our economic engine, in order to take stock, to plan, just to take a breather and figure out where "this" is all headed, the system would collapse.

Our wealth is built on the production, consumption, and new production of our riches. There is no opportunity to stop and contemplate, to stop production in order to enjoy what we've earned. It is almost ludicrous, at least naive, to suggest that perhaps we should stop "advancing" in order to make the best use of our "progress."

For example, take the following argument (I guarantee that it will seem reasonable, but naive and idealistically unrealistic). We know that the way our industry operates is killing us earlier than necessary, we are ingesting carcinogens that have created a cancer epidemic. Perhaps we should slow down industry, even scale it back, and push our resources in the direction of healthier methods of production.

It's unrealistic, seemingly impossible, because if we purposely halted production, our wealth would diminish, and how would we pay for the science?

So, my question is: where, what, is our wealth? Once upon a time, it seems (back to the artistic and not scientific inquiry), that if you collected enough treasure, it just laid around until you spent it. Piles of gold, jewels, grain, land, etc. But where is our treasure today? The objects that now mark us as wealthy like cars, clothes, lifestyles, they have no intrinsic tradeable value; they are consumed. With time they are worth less and less.

Today's rule: think of something permanent.

Gluttony and Greed

"Anything built on a foundation of greed will fall, somehow, in some way." That's what I told my secretary today. We were discussing the pitfalls associated with the merging two giant ritzy law firms. She was reflecting on one such merger in particular and how certain aspects of the combination, at the highest levels (interpersonal partner interaction), were failing. The merger in that case occurred in order to grow the firm, to grow the "profits per partner."

I made the statement fully aware of my own precarious moral position; I had already thrice smothered the urge to tell the truth today, i.e. to just ask in a general manner, to all those who might be somewhat sentient, "what the hell is going on?" In that sort of Anne Lamott way: "Nuclear bombs just don't seem right, just not the way people should behave."

Three people today have asked me how and why, with my background and education (Divinity school and human rights work), I ended up here, at the "firm." No one was condemning me, splashing me with the questions like red paint on an unsuspecting starlet cooing over some luscious dead fur draped over her shoulders. Nope, just matter of fact...interested. They are like me, here, but perhaps without the guilt. And three times I explained how it happened, matter of fact.

Once upon a time, when I began here, when confronted with such a question, I allowed my eyes and tone to plead somewhat, to betray an exhaustion with the topic, to betray some guilty conscious. But a year has passed (in a few days), and I have complicated my view, developed good relationships here with good people, and learned how quickly questions of ethics and morality become complicated and shaded by the reality of reputational advantage, opportunity, past privilege, past poverty, peer relationships, and a sense of community.

So, three times today, I missed an opportunity to bring the truth into sharp focus (and to sacrifice my status as nice easy-going guy).

But finally, I pronounced my hyopocrisy, and condemned myself rightly..."anything based on greed will fail." Thank god for the saving grace of irony; it can keep you going a little while longer.

I was warned you know, just like Peter. Last night I dreamed that everything in my office and apartment was covered in dog poop. Everything.

Today's rule: scoop up or scoot out?