I�m feeling a little distracted today. I don�t know if it is the weather (it�s raining, it�s pouring�) or that I�m simply sick of focusing on all the stuff that has inconvenienced me lately. No matter really, what�s important is that my mind is drifting off in lazy circles on topics that don�t seem to have a connection or purpose to my life.

First I started thinking about our very stuff driven economy (thanks Anna) and how the housing market that is currently melting before our very eyes is the epitome of stuff you must have (not to mention the collection of stuff to fill the place).

When contemplating our parent�s and perhaps grandparent�s collection of stuff one need only peruse the black and white photos from our childhood to realize how very different the world was during and right after WWII. Value was placed on objects that currently are seen disposable.

There are several obvious reasons for the prior appreciation and even hoarding of objects we summarily discard on a regular basis and it isn�t all about the quality of the goods. Remember, there was a time when you didn�t have to travel far to visit a sweatshop; in the larger cities they populated the downtown area. What created the value of the items was scarcity and lack of liquid assets to invest in them. It wasn�t just the artificial supply and demand that drives today�s society, where I large company creates and artificial demand and then limits the supply to allow them to over charge, no, this was the real thing. The war left this country bereft of resources and the population short on funds to purchase the remaining resources. Care was taken of the items one owned because you couldn�t run down to your local megamart and but a new whatever when the old one was unusable. That meant that your tools would need to be cleaned and oiled every time they were used. Clothing was washed by hand, dried on lines and iron carefully so as to prolong their life. The very machines that have eased our burden have also shortened the life span of the items we expose to those machines.

I don�t long for days of wine and roses; I know that such a time doesn�t really exist. I do wish that we could place more value on items and take better care than our current society expects. The problem with that approach is we now live in a society that requires a huge mass market purchasing at an unprecedented level. Not buying is bad, bad for the economy and in the long run bad for the individual reliant on that economy. So what�s a good capitalist to do but buy, buy, buy. Of course I would prefer a more communist state (before you freak remember, communism has never been practiced in anything but name only. Every self proclaimed Communist state has actually been more fascist or imperialistic than anything else.) The problem with real communism is that it requires humans to be selfless rather than the more natural greedy.

Capitalism appeals to the greedy and self serving, folks who can turn their heads from the poor and decrepit and convince themselves that they somehow deserve the life they were born into. We don�t need universal health care right? Why should the rich pay to take care of all those lazy poor people? Why don�t they just go and get a job for god�s sake? If they were more industrious, like me, they would have a job and then they could pay their own way instead of expecting a free ride.

Capitalism is about getting whatever you can because you work hard and you deserve it.

�You deserve a break today�.�

That�s the credit driven consumer obsessed society that requires greed to survive. The more you have the better you are. If you can�t buy something charge it because not to have it makes you a failure.

I was born middle class and if I am lucky I will die that way. Most folks live their lives in the class they were born into, it has always been that way and as long as those people who can not see the truth (that all people have value in a system and all jobs are necessary within that system) run the show then that is the way it will continue.

I wish we could look forward to a day when everyone, regardless of their born class could be valued within the system. The woman who keeps the place clean would live as well as the guy who sells you your car. The wealth wouldn�t be divided amongst a select few but spread around more liberally.

It would, of course, require the end of such entertaining oddities as the ridiculously rich children of billionaires blissfully strolling through life clutching miniature dogs and playing the fool for the entertainment of the masses. There would be no reward for being born into a ruling class; in fact the responsibility would be more not less.

*sigh*

Only in my dreams.

I wish you Peace

~alison~

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