from Encirclement:
-
Does it makes sense to say
that GM, for example, is efficient -
because it made $23- or 24-billion
net profit in the last decade, -
when it created 300,000 unemployed!
-
Does that make sense?
-
We say GM is efficient,
but what is this efficiency?
-
We say the American economy
is more efficient. -
It is, in financial indicators,
yield over capital investment, etc. -
But the U.S. has never had so many
people living under the poverty line, -
the American poverty line,
-
or so many people
without access to health care – -
40% of the American population has
practically no access to health care. -
The U.S. has never had
such a low level of education. -
50% of Americans
can’t locate England on a map. -
Today, this is aberrant,
-
when there are at least
50 TV channels per household. -
There’s a picture of what
I’m calling lack of meaning. -
Materially, economically,
financially, we’re more efficient. -
But ecologically, socially,
politically, humanly, -
we are steadily losing
our values and quality of life. -
Senselessness.
-
To discuss this, we must eschew
the dominant economic discourse. -
To start to make sense of this,
the problem must be reformulated … -
from scratch. To do this,
we must go back to Aristotle. -
He said, “Do not confuse
the economic – -
oikos nomia, the norms
of running home and community, -
with chrematistic, krema atos,
the accumulation of money.”