[saymaListserv] capitalism and population decline

[Steve Livingston]

Dear Friends,

As I have been following the discussions about capitalism, 
investment, and the possible impact of population decline, I am 
struck by what seems to be the elephant in the middle of the room 
to my perception, but maybe not to others. I thought I would test it 
by articulating my thoughts and listening to what others might 
respond from a position of greater understanding about economics.

It seems to me that since the fall of the USSR, it has become 
increasingly difficult to remember how much wisdom, ingenuity, 
advocacy, sacrifice, and suffering were required to reign in the 
capitalist behemoth from the practices of unsafe and squalid 
working conditions and rapacious appropriation of natural resources 
that reigned for hundreds of years before the great labor and 
environmental movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. These 
movements may have been caused by capitalism, but in my view 
that does not recommend capitalism.

My interpretation of the "value" of a practice or philosophy is not 
based on the extent to which it "works" or is "successful", and I 
recognize that that puts me somewhere on the loony side of 
mainstream. However "successful" it has been, I perceive the 
prevailing practices of capitalism to be dependent upon exploitation 
of growth, rather than promotion of equilibrium. Despite their 
success, these practices do not resonate with me.

The health care industry is a prime example of capitalism at its 
"best" - or at its worst, depending upon one's point of view. Because 
we Americans value our own lives so greatly, we are willing to 
invest our children's inheritance and our solvency in prolonging 
them. Perhaps if I were more well-to-do, I would share that 
philosophy, but I have made other choices in my life that have 
resulted in my being less "successful".

At the same time, the industry keeps coming up with new "products" 
to sell to its "market", at whatever price the market will bear - 
generally much higher than your typical citizen of, say, Angola, can 
afford. Is that because the Angolan's life is worth less than the 
American's? The answer to that may seem simple to an economist, 
but it is a tough question for this Friend.

I wonder if there are other Friends out there who think about these 
things in similar terms, or if I am just caught up in the wrong 
century.

Steve