Human Nature on Trial !
Is Human Nature on Trial in the Economic Storms of our times?
Is it a money crisis or a human nature crisis?
Who said we had to compete
like this in a global economic arena! Workers are "commoditized" and put
on a global trading block to compete
with one another for the same job. This is the essence of so called
Free Trade. Some
time ago there was a study made by a
large church association and they reported that 70 percent of church
members find it
very difficult to match up their
beliefs with their daily work.
Globalization and Free Trade have
added to the
problem with workers being exploited
for the sake of greed. However, this breakdown is not only from the top
down but from
the bottom up too.
Deflating the real tangible value of workers and labor is a devaluation of the intangible money
products too. In the process , the value of human nature has been degraded too.
Lets first start
at the bottom to the top - Who really drives the degradation of workers and money
They
say it is only human nature to shop for the lowest price, but is it
human nature to ignore all the conditions
behind the cheaper prices. Do we as
consumers have a tunnel vision of what workers have to endure so that we
can enjoy a cheaper
price. Are we actually shopping our
way out of our jobs with blinders on.
On the broader level, human
nature has
been affected by a business climate
with Free Trade and Globalization being the scams of the century. Free
Trade primarily
is not about trading products but
trading human beings as workers. Workers are put on a world trading
block to compete with
each other for the same jobs. And in
business and international trade, bribery is treated as a normal part
of business. Tapart
News and Art that Talks features
Ethical Corporation Magazine which covers the need for ethics in the
business world.
One current example of the failures of human
nature in the business world is Siemens, who buget $40 million
to $50 million dollars for their
bribery fund. Bribery within Siemens was so common , company officials
had a nickname for
it - "NA" - shorthand translation
for German word meaning "useful money". The bribery transactions reached
across the globe including locations
across the USA. Siemens has paid $1.6 billion dollars to settle charges
that it routinely
bribed public officials to win
contracts worldwide. This is only one example of what is happening in
the global economic arena
where anything goes. Ethical
Corporation Magazine covers more incidents relating to unethical actions
by corporations.
Compare this to a single mother making only a
$100 a month being considered as employed under current unemployment
reporting methods. Christians
business men are also noted in their contributions and good works but
their success dependent
on using the working poor in their
enterprises.
We have heads of large corporations who are praised
for their
charities with many using
impoverished workers for gain. In our city, we have the head of a large
retail chain, working in
a soup kitchen on weekends. Many of
his workers do not make enough money to afford much of anything and most
likely some are
in a soup line on the other side.
Presidents
of the USA refer to workers in the USA as if they are a separate
class. Announcing his retirement a
Senator says he now wants to get closer to the people and looks forward
to serving in a
soup kitchen. No one asks what part
he played in making soup kitchens a necessity.
A few years back,
there were
several articles in a top high tech
magazine about companies like Microsoft and Intel going from full time
workers to contract
workers. One article reported that
workers were ready to strike like the UPS drivers did year ago but did
not have the power
to do it. It was also reported that
many of the high tech companies were firing workers approaching age 40
in order to by
pass all the regulations that apply
to workers over 40. Many rave about the Silicon Valley but in my years
of traveling there,
I found it to be a philistine place
where anything goes as far as doing business.
The companies that
tried to
do it the right way were betrayed by
other U.S. companies and smashed by unfair international competition.
Some had invested
everything they had to produce new
innovations only to have them stolen by foreign companies in the name of
Free Trade. It
was reported that one third of all
micro computers going into China had to smuggled in.
Then we
have the money
people on TV reporting about
investments and even have TV Evangelists writing books on how to invest
but none say anything
about workers getting fired instead
of hired for the sake of stock values and investment money. They report
job cuts as an
increase in productivity. Nothing is
said about the remaining workers doing the work of two people. None
connect the deflation
of labor as a part of productivity.
A
few years ago, I was offered a well paid job as a regional manager for a
thriving system house who was
undercutting everyone and excelled in their systems support service to
large corporations. I
was going to take the job until I
found that they had a large center in a mid west city where they
employed green card workers
who worked around the clock for
about one third of what an American worker would be paid. After six
months to a year, these
workers would return to their native
country with the money they made in the U.S. with them. To me this was a
sin and I could
not do it.
As a trouble
shooter supplier to industrial computer manufacturers, I evolved into
this specialty because
most of the components coming from
overseas had to be qualified. However, foreign manufacturers changed the
inner components
for any reason and did not even put
an "R" behind the product code to show there was a change. So even if a
manufacturer
in the US qualified the product
after a six month field test, the product they would then purchased most
likely was different
inside.
Yes Human Nature is on Trial during in our times.
This is why we explore philosophy and religion
in the global economic arena.
Where are they?
It is time to join economics and social
justice together as one discipline.
After
all, the Free Enterprise system is supposed to make it easier for
mankind
to be good. We gather together in
communities, states and countries for the sake of an ideal life in
balanced geopolitical
settings.
Only local value added
economies work. The term local may apply to more than just a local
community but the
best in value added economies are as
local as possible. There are about five to seven levels of added value
from the raw product
level up through five or more levels
to the retail or end user level. The money spent at the retail level,
should recycle
an economy over an over again. If
parts of the add value stages are somewhere else in the world, the money
goes there and
does not stay in place to regenerate
the economy. This upset the balance and the geopolitical settings.
Power then takes over
to force feed the process. It fails
because the process is chopped up into pieces. The old Biblical saying "
do unto
others as you would have them do
you" is altered to a global economic arena where anything goes.
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