Family and Work - Making a Difficult Decision Easy…

If I was to select a theme that I believe represents this age, my choice would be need, hands down. Countries of course need a good economy. To have a good economy you need mass production, and for mass production to be useful, you need mass consumption. To be able to consume a lot, you need a lot of money. To have a lot of money, you need to work a lot. In the beginning, years ago, women were not working so when they moved into the work force, households got more money, so they consumed more. So more could be produced, so the economies boomed. And thus we begin the super-fast progress.
Unfortunately, the economies still need to increase and for that more production is needed, thus more consumption, more money and more work is needed. Who is there left to work? Everyone is working! Thus everyone works more. And more. Usually people would not work more than they want or can, but they still do, because they need to. Just like the economy, people now never feel they have enough. To make it even worse, this need is infectious. From media to marketing, many everyday aspects help cultivate and strengthen those feelings. Even though you now have more than last year, it still is not enough and five years later, even though you have way more than now, you will still feel that you do not have enough. It is a vicious curve upwards, and a very steep curve it is. This need is making people work a lot, or make other people work a lot for companies also need more.
Our need is instilled in us well. We are reminded of it during our studies and then we it goes into action when we begin to work. It grows bigger and stronger as we work, make money and consume. Then, some marry. Some of those have children. The need is still there, it has not gone away. This need makes parents still desire to work. Now, some parents get over the need but with difficulty, and do some sacrifices to have some time to remain with their children. Others cannot and use the time to work more instead. Many have no choice, for the standard of living is always increasing and they cannot afford to sacrifice much for their children. The economy is very needy.
We should slow down. For how much longer can we continue to need? There should be a point where we decrease this speedy increase. I am not against the progress and improvement, just not so fast. Society should work to get rid of this need in the future, or at least make it less influential. I am not saying make everyone a hippie, just make it balanced. There should be more work-life balance. That way, there will be more free time in people’s lives. This time can be used for relaxation, taking care of children, cooking et cetera, basically this time will make people healthier, less stressed, thus, when the time to work comes, they will be more efficient.
Currently, due to the need that we all suffer from, most people decide to spend the free time on more work. Sadly, society, backed by the economy, applauds that. We should aim to get rid of that. Once people start to believe that using their free time to not work is a good choice, they will start to spend time with their children. Having free time should not be difficult, and choosing to have free time should not be this hard. In stead of this crazy need, there should be a good balance. One of my favorite lines from somewhere: I want to work to live not live to work.

Work and Trade - Free Trade: Some win a lot, some lose a lot…

Unfortunately, the world we live in is strongly controlled but the wealthy and powerful. And what is even worse is that the wealthy and powerful want even more wealth and power, thus creating an economically progressive policy misnamed as Free Trade. Is Free Trade good? The quick answer can be very easy, depending on what stand you take; the capitalist’s economic stand (Oh Yes!) or the populist’s moral stand (Hell No!).
Yes, Free Trade in the long term will help the economy of countries that have a comparative advantage at a certain industry. Also, it will provide cheaper and better options for the consumers and is generally economically progressive but only after paying a price, for some is small, for others, is big. The price being a major re-shaping of many economies and industries, and by re-shaping I mean lay-offs, industries going down et cetera, of course, which is a loss for working class people and smaller industries. There is that issue, and also the slave-labor phenomena in many developing countries where the poverty level is so low that people are pushed to work in terrible conditions with minimal pay just to survive and to provide for their families.
Back to the first issue, what is to be done with the laid off work force which can be as old as fifty and have been working in the now non-existent industry for years and have no other skills? The young might go back to school and get new skills, if they can afford it, but what about the rest? The ones with families to provide for or sick ones to care for, especially since in the US there is no universal health care and such programs that help the needy. So there is that price to pay what for? For the rich to get richer. Thus, for me to even consider being with Free Trade, just like the policy was created, I would like to see a policy that will protect those people I talked about, and make it in life to see the fruits of Free Trade that we were all promised and for which they made the biggest sacrifice.
So where did these industries move to? Oh yes, to help the developing countries! Of course! Help, is a relative term. Yes, they might provide jobs for the poor people of those nations but will they provide them with a healthy working environment and good pay? Current situation proves the opposite. Companies, unless forced, pay the absolute minimum wage and could not care less for the working environment. Thus, specific work environment and pay standards should be enforced all around the globe in order to protect the poor and weak people and for trade to be free and fair. Fair Trade is another policy created to improve the economies of nations and make trade more progressive economically, however, it is not as free as Free Trade, as in, the big companies are not free to do as they please, they have to provide a good working environment and basic pay for the work force they hire in developing countries. Fair, right?
Fair Trade is not perfect, and definitely is better than Free Trade but should be improved and worked on more. As for Free Trade, as nice as the thought of freedom is, there should be enough preparation done to introduce it into action. The world should not be a free place for the powerful and wealthy to use and abuse for their own good, but should be free and fair for all to live a happy, healthy life and provide the basic needs for it.

Class and Inequalities: Capitalism and its Inequality

Previously, many economists and scholars claimed capitalism as the end of history and capitalism as a historical achievement we cannot imagine transcending. In today’s world, statistically, the top 225 individuals now possess wealth equal to the combined incomes of the bottom 47 percent of the world’s population. In the United States, the capital of capitalism, the upper 1 percent of the population owns more wealth than the bottom 95 percent. This incredible inequality is the result of capitalism. About this inequality, the most respectable academics and policymakers once believed that capitalism would even out these inequalities over time, but no one believes that anymore.

Capitalism is fundamentally the right that people be rewarded for their contribution to the common good, which is awesome, but in practice, entrepreneurship, economic risk, stock market and other “investment games” are unfair since the people who already own capital (already rich) have a way better advantage than the poorer people. Capitalism is technically good, but not ethically, for capitalistic profit is unfair: goods are made from human labor and non-human nature only but in capitalism, goods are made from human labor, non-human nature and capital thus the capitalistic profit but capitalists make no contribution to production yet get the biggest section of the profit.

A very interesting example used to illustrate the inequality in incomes due to capitalism is the march of the dwarves and a few giants. Basically, the height of people is represented by their income (example set in the USA). In the example, I am six feet tall because I make $55,000 per year, the average income. The parade is one hour long. For the first 5 minutes, the marchers are 1 foot tall ($9,200). 3o minutes into the parade the marchers reach 4.5 feet ($40,000). It will not be till the 38th minute for the marchers to get to my height and 54 minutes for their height to double ($110,000). The fun stuff begin the last minute. 36 seconds to go, the marcher’s height is 33 feet ($300,000) and then 30 seconds to go the salary of the president appears, as he walks 44 feet tall. In the last few seconds, people walk at the heights of a ten-story building, one mile, two miles and 16x higher than Mt. Everest (Bill Gates). The people 2 miles tall make $5o,ooo per hour.

Capitalism has six fundamental defects: massive inequality, demoralizing unemployment, unnecessary overwork, excruciating poverty (nationally and globally), lack of a real democracy and systematic and sustained environmental degradation. The justifications have moved from non-comparative to comparative, thus the main justification for capitalism is that There Is No Alternative (TINA). But is there?
There is of course communism but I do not believe it is superior to capitalist; it is just as flawed as capitalism. However, few nations have created hybrid economic policies that seem to be as technically successful as capitalism and with less inequality and more ethical. However, I do not have enough information about those policies to decide to follow them yet. However, to accept and follow a new economic policy, it should be both economically viable and ethically superior to capitalism and concrete enough for us to foresee how it would likely function in practice, when animated by the finite, imperfect human beings that we are.

On a sad note I must point out that pro-capitalists in order to keep the concept of capitalism’s superiority in the peoples’ minds, are changing what one believes is ethical. In the United States, movements such as Objectivism and Libertarianism where selfishness is the moral ideal are becoming more and more popular within the student and younger generation. So what I believe is ethical might not be considered ethical by others.

Statistics from: David Schweickart, After Capitalism (Lanham, MD.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, INC., 2002)

An Ever Increasing Generation Gap

Parent-child differences, older-younger sibling differences and grandparent-child differences, all are differences that have been known to be caused naturally by the generation gap. Each generation has its own mentality. However, in this day and age, the differences have never been so immense even with the smallest age difference. Modern day globalization, unlike previously, is not just economic but also cultural, and this aspect has created huge a generation gap that has affected families, often in a negative way.

Due to cultural globalization, many cultures are getting affected by other ones. This effect is more visible in countries that posses a culture different than the main world powers’ culture. (Which is mostly American culture) People are getting exposed to so many different things that some understand it while others do not, and it is mostly the younger generation that grasp it. Globalization, the cultural aspect of it of course, affects lifestyle, fashion, music, art, behavior, food and mentality in general.

How does this affect families? Well, the parents were brought up in a certain culture and thus they posses a certain mentality. They raise their children with that mentality however the culture those children are living is very different, and also the culture their younger siblings are living in is also very different. So basically, this leads to a huge misunderstanding and miscommunication issue within the family which, if not dealt with properly, leads to many social problems since the families are becoming unstable and stable families is a main building block for good societies.

Now, I will talk about the country and culture I know most, my own, Lebanon. Lifestyle, the field which causes maybe the most clashes: smoking, drugs, clubbing, drinking, sex et cetera are all new lifestyle habits that my ancestral generations did not have and the generation before me got first exposed to and now it is a natural thing. At my grandparents time, there was nothing of the sort, at my parents time smoking and disco was introduced, at my time drinking and pop music was introduced and now at my younger brother’s time (the electro generation) hardcore electric beats accompanied with drugs and alcohol is the trend. Fashion is the field where many disagreements occur. What my mom wears is totally different than what my younger sisters wear which is different than what my friends wear. Same goes for music and art. Today’s art and music is different than 5 years ago, which is different than 10 years ago which is different than 15. Behavior and gender roles differ from generation to generation also. Independence, sexual liberation, marriage and individualism, all are at a different strength in the mentality of people from different generations, most of these thought movements are foreign influence. My parents met and married, I started dating in college, and my younger brother started dating in middle school. My grandparents met for the first time at their wedding. Food is not negative but the difference can be very visible. My mom has never tried sushi. My grandparents do not know what sushi is. My younger brother worships it. I do not like it. (Japanese influence. Sushi is not a Mediterranean dish.)

All of these differences and many more, are due to foreign culture influence which in turn is due to globalization. Music, movies, magazines, internet, television et cetera, all influence people but each generation is influenced in a certain amount. Some of these differences are not precisely negative. For example, my dad and I are watching TV, and an unknown word pops up, what happens? My dad goes to the house bookshelves and picks up a dictionary and looks up the word. I, on the other hand, go to the computer, open up Google, Wikipedia or dictionary.com and look up the word. However, very often the differences cause clashes which sometimes can cause major family problems. There should be more caution and more awareness regarding this ever increasing age gap.