Daniel Parecki

My biggest problem with capitalism is when people and companies produce work with the sole incentive of making a profit.  Profits are inherently good, people should be paid for their work and people should be able to produce excess wealth.  Excess wealth leads to development and innovation and causes everyone to be better off.  But like i said in my earlier post, profits should not be made at the expense of a company’s product, employees, their customers.  A wonderfully awful example is the case of health insurance companies who continue to deny care for the sake of their bottom line.  Yes, they should be working to provide people with health care but they should also be paid for the work they do.  The problem is that they sacrifice the quality of their product (paying for people’s health care) for their profit.  It is for this reason that I recommend creating the Social Responsibility Index so that we can more easily choose companies that deliver quality goods with little negative impact on people or the environment.

Contrary to what some people think, capitalism is not based on self-interest.  Economic theory states that market interactions are mutually beneficial.  Self-interested individuals maximize their profit at the expense of their employees, customers, product, and the environment.  Self-interest leads people to attempt to cut the best deal they can with no regard to the other party’s interest. A strong, long-term business partnership arises when both parties are equally satisfied with the deal.  A healthy economy arises through mutually beneficial interactions. Capitalism can provide prosperity to the world if people do not pursue their own interests at the expense of the interests of other people.

Corporations historically have misused and mistreated their employees and the environment for the sake of the bottom line. Businesses like Walmart work hard to sell their products at the cheapest price possible. The consumer has to make a choice: which brand of practically identical products should I buy? Do you buy organic or regular produce? Do you eat out at McMinneman’s or the Old Spaghetti Factory? Do you buy Levi’s or Arizona jeans? If it is in your financial capabilities, you may prefer to purchase from the company that has the most ethical business practices. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to know which company is better than others.  Imagine an app on your Droid: you enter in a brand name, and it gives you back a number on a scale of 1 to 10 that reflects the company’s level of social responsibility.

For this purpose I propose the invention of the Corporate Social Responsibility Index. It is a measure of the effects businesses have on the lives of its workers, the environment, and people around the world. The index is comprised of the following:

Employee treatment:

• Wages
• Job retention (how rapidly do they lay off employees)
• job mobility
• redundancy of task
• employee benefits

Environment:

• Use of green energy
• Level of air and water pollution
• Deforestation (for businesses like McDonalds
• Organic practices (for food production companies)

Quality of product (consumer satisfaction):

• Life expectancy of product
• Built-in flaws
• Nutritional value (for food products)

Trade Policy:

• Fair-trade certified
• Purchasing goods from sweatshops

If all businesses could follow these practices and still make a profit, then we might have a healthier economy and a healthier world.

The availibility of information and amusement on the computer provides a subtle but constant distraction that inhibits deep thinking while pursuing intellectual insights on the computer.  Entering zombie mode removes the capacity for rational thought or deeper insight.

Ever notice the way your mind turns off when you browse aimlessly on the internet following whims of curiosity? You become adept at finding tidbits of amusing information and following the breadcromes of related information.  Your mouse moves with ease and requires no conscious effort. Your eyes slightly unfocus and you scan pages upon pages of lolcats, fml, facebook news, and ‘things I regret from last night’.  You begin to consider leaving the web but your mouse keeps moving and you keep stumbling.  Another hour passes and the one thing that finally arouses you from that haze is the urgency felt that nature most kindly bestows.

When people pass into ‘zombie-mode’ the conscious mind happily releases control of the mouse and the subconscious mind takes over.  All activity from this point on arises from compulsion rather than rational thought.

When I am on the computer I continuosly feel a nagging curiosity that occasionally compels me to check my email or facebook notifications.  Any random fact I want to know I can obtain in seconds.  This nagging feeling continuously expresses itself in the subconsiousness and must be continuously suppressed by the consciousness.  In this way actual brain resources are being misdirected whenever anyone faces the screes with mouse in hand.  This constant distraction makes it harder to focus on the task at hand.  It is my duty not to succumb to this compulsory knowledge seeking and thus retain a clear single train of thought.

This is the reason I prefer to outline essays on paper.  Any activity on the computer will be ditracted activity because of the possibility of satisfying curiousity.  Using pen and paper removes the proximity of these distractions and thus frees brainpower for deeper thinking.  With a head free of fistraction I am able to visualize the ideas I am forming.  I am able to draw connections of thought and am able to follow one train of thought to completion.  Drawing out the flow od ideas on paper let’s me utilize the deeper and higher brain capacitities.

The Opposite of Love is Greed (to be continued)