What's wrong with making a profit?
"We must punish these profiteers..." unknown legislator, 5/3/06.
Today I caught a fragment of a news report about the price of gas, the big oil companies who were profiting, and what our Congress plans to do about it. I only really heard the above quote before turning the radio off. Afterward though, I got to thinking....
What's so bad about profit? Seems to me, it's what makes our economy run. In fact, when I told my husband about the quote, he said it sounded like a socialist talking. Whatever happened to old-fashioned capitalism? If America's companies aren't allowed to make profits, they'll go away to some place where they can!
If one argues that the problem isn't with profit, but with excessive profit, then the question is at what point does profit become "profiteering" and therefore evil? The answer would seem to be at the point when the profit is harmful to others, such as when profit is derived at the cost of the lives of child laborers. Such profit would be morally reprehensible and an appropriate cause for the rise of unions, strikes, and boycotts.
But the big oil companies are not deriving their profits from child labor or other deplorable business practices. They are simply enjoying the fruit of supply and demand when the demand is high. No one is forcing consumers to consume their product. Oil products are not required to live, like air or water. There are alternative forms of transportation and heating which require less oil consumption, and which consumers are free to choose.
Of course, the real issue is probably only distantly related to profiteering, but rather that our House and Senate must have something to do, must take action against the issues that are major concerns to their constituents. The price of gas goes through the roof... something must be done! We must take action! Someone must be taking advantage of these poor people! We will be their champions and defend them!
Now if only someone would defend us against our "champions" voting themselves a pay raise at midnight...
=)
posted by Periwinkle Penny @ 10:15 PM
5 Comments:
Once again, deregulation has proven to be an expensive force on the consumer. Exposing certain pillars of a modern society - energy, transportation, health care, etc. - to the "magic" of random market forces also exposes a nation's ability to control a portion of its destiny and the stability of its future.
Furthermore, America has placed itself in this predicament for reasons that go far beyond alternative energy sources. Our nation has been built on highways and airplanes. Consumers have mistakenly allowed themselves to believe that owning an automobile is equivocal to independence and freedom. In reality, this belief has trapped us in our cars, forcing us to drive to every destination, every event, and every experience.
There is a solution. When America's leaders begin to redirect the deficit spending budget back into essential resources and infrastructure -rail transport, alternative energy, make-sense urban\suburban development, and the redevelopment of the same - we
will see a true stability of prices in key sectors. Which means, in short, that there is no solution.
"...Which consumers are free to choose." - At 27, I certainly didn't choose to base America's transportation system on sprawl and highways. And yet, I'm certainly suffering from the decision. "Alternative forms of transportation" is a very misleading phrase. By far, our transportation system is designed around the individual automobile. Our paltry public-transit system could never handle the demand of our economy and how we move goods and services.
While I certainly don't believe that "profit" is a dirty word (anymore), I certainly do believe that deregulation and free-market systems are not appropriate solutions to all of society’s problems.
Yes, we consumers are free to choose. That doesn't mean our choices are easy. But I've recently moved to an area with a large Amish population... there are other choices available to us, including horses, bicycles, car pooling, and good old fashioned walking.
=)
We are free to choose, but for some reason we have a hard time choosing to do what we know is right unless a lot of other people are choosing with us. I do agree with Chris, though, that our current transportation set up does not encourage alternatives to travel by automobile. My town, and many nearby towns, don't even have sidewalks everywhere. People have to walk in the road if they choose to walk. There was a time when walking in the road was no big deal, but it is a big deal now. Just a week or so ago, a man was struck by a bus in my little town. Then I heard a few days ago that a man in Annapolis was hit by a bus. So much for walking.
But there are choices we could and should make, no matter what the inconvenience or cost. I spent last weekend with a group of people with whom I have very little in common. They are serious environmentalists. What we do have in common is the desire to build energy efficient homes that are beautiful as well. We were applying earthen plaster to the strawbale walls we erected in February.
As we played in the mud and ate vegetarian meals, conversations tended toward things like hybrid cars, masonry stoves, organic food co-ops, living roofs, humanure, composting toilets, etc. The house we were working on is located in an intentional community. It really is intentional. The people who live there have chosen to live differently than most of society. But their choices come with costs: some people think they are weird, they don't smell as clean as people who shower everyday, they drive small cars, they pay more for the products they use (toiletries, organic food, etc.), they have to haul their humanure buckets to a composting site, many of them share a shower, and at least one person lives without running water in her cabin.
Why aren't we all making some of these choices? Why do we continue to purchase tomotoes that have no flavor, or chickens that have been raised on steroids. Why do we feed our kids and ourselves so much sugar? Why do we spray poisons on the lawns where our children play, polluting the water that washes into our bays? A friend told me today that her neice drives an 8-passenger SUV. She has no children. She says she's "just an SUV person." Why do we make these choices when we know better?
I did hear on NPR or C-Span, one morning, that advertisement has a huge affect on us. But are we really that gullible? Can we not stand up for what we know is good? Is it just our sin natures? I think it is, in large part.
But it is also a need to have common consensus in our communities. If I decide this summer to grow tomatoes and zucchini (which I have), I am also deciding that I will not have time to do something else. My friends who are not growing their own vegetables this summer will have time to do that something else. Though I will be eating better than them for a month or two, I will miss out on some relational time with them.
The same thing holds true if I decide to ride my bike or walk instead of driving. It will take time. If my community doesn't walk or ride with me, I will be alone. Twelve years ago, we made a choice to homeschool our children. That choice meant and still means that we have less access to our community. Most families in a community focus their activities around the school.
All of these choices can build community if enough people make the choice. At this strawbale workshop, there were a few people who were interested in automating the process of mixing earthen plaster and applying it. The workshop leader discouraged automation in favor of community. Why have one person put on the plaster by himself the automated way, when you can have 25 people applying plaster and having great conversation at the same time. The problem? Getting 25 people together to do the plastering. We had people from as far as Texas involved in this workshop. We are a temporary community. If I build a strawbale house in my town, I will be calling on that same temporary community, because my true community hasn't made the choice to build energy efficient homes; they don't need my help to build their houses, so they don't have the time to come help build mine.
Anyway, these are my ramblings for today. I would love to hear your thoughts Penny and Chris.
Sorry, T.C. Craig. Don't know why I called you Chris.
Pete
Yes, we really are that gullible... and selfish and spoiled. Then, when things get difficult and/or expensive, we like to complain and blame the profiteers.
=)
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