This is an edited essay from Common Sense for the 21st Century (a collection of essays, questions, thoughts and musings – and a few poems too) published in 2002 by Willowbei Eversole.
Money and Economics
Money, and everything regarding money, continues to be a difficult and persistent challenge in this world. How we handle money and our exchange of money is often arbitrary and unfair. Can we, in good conscience, willingly continue to accept extreme economic inequity as the norm? Are we unable to see and feel the destruction that such inequity fosters? Isn’t it time we find positive ways to repair long-held and generally false beliefs about money?
This new millennium calls for a new and more expanded look at our economy and how we function in that economy. It is well past time to examine our relationship with money and to come to a broader and more realistic understanding about wealth.
The stock market system of capitalism, which is based on a gambling mentality, is not in the best interest of all who participate. When a stock is hyped and the value artificially inflated it just perpetuates our illusion of wealth. The perceived value is little more than a collective illusion. When that collective agreement breaks down we lose something, but it isn’t value.
Is there not a better way? Is there not a more equitable way? Is there not a way of honoring the real needs of capital investment without dishonoring people?
GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as a gauge of economic growth offers us incomplete and faulty information. GDP data does not adequately convey how “real world” issues (quality of life, increasing pollution, leisure time, to name a few) apply to the health of our economy. A reliance on GDP encourages unconscious consumerism, which can sow the seeds of our own destruction.
How often do we purchase something we do not need and do not want just because it is there? How often do we let the influence of advertising allow us to spend money we do not have on things that are of little interest or worth?
The economy appears to grow, retailing and manufacturing look good but what percentage of goods purchased end up in landfills? What are the true economic effects of all our wasted time, energy, resources and money? Consumerism for the sake of the economy creates more problems than it purports to solve.
A more realistic tool for measuring economic health was developed in 1995. The Genuine Progress Index (GPI) bases its figures more on how we really live our lives and includes such variables as air quality, the value of leisure time, income distribution and the cost of underemployment (look GPI up on the Internet).
That rampant poverty exists in a world of plenty is a testament to the failure of our current economic system. We may accept the old adage about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer but the attitude expressed therein, has never served the total welfare of our planet and certainly does not serve the welfare of our planet today. We need a more enlightened way of thinking, feeling and acting.
In a Universe that is limitless and ever expanding I find it very sad that any individual on this planet lacks the basic needs of life. As we come more in tune with our spiritual nature and with the Oneness that is everything, we move closer and closer to ending hunger and poverty forever.
Although current economic theories have appeared to “work” for a long time, the past few years suggest it may be time to find a better way. We may not be serving ourselves or our long-term goals in the best possible ways if we continue our present course.
History has shown us that when vast discrepancies between those of great wealth and those that have virtually nothing get beyond a certain point, there is a “natural” leveling off that takes place. This can happen in any number of ways, some of which are not pretty.
When stock prices become more important than people and integrity, we have a problem. Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Xerox and others have shown us what an economy based on greed and stock value has to offer.
Perhaps it is time to move so far outside the box that we don’t even know the box exists. Perhaps it is time to find ways to assure that poverty and hunger become a distant memory instead of a daily reality. Perhaps it is time to find ways to narrow the gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots”. Perhaps it is time to quit making a god of money and begin honoring the God inside each and every living thing in The Universe.
Can we afford the ever-widening wage gap between CEO’s and average workers? Two thousand years ago Plato argued that a 5:1 ratio between the highest paid individual in a community and the average wage earner was reasonable.
The last couple of decades have seen the wage gap between corporate executives and workers go from a high ratio of 42:1 in 1980 to a ridiculously high ratio of 411:1 in 2001. Some suggest that 25:1 could be a reasonable and fair ratio. I would consider a factor of 25 close to the upper limits of what is reasonable, fair and decent. Current wage gaps are beyond reason and certainly push the bounds of ethical and moral justification.
Whether we use average wages or lowest paid wages as a benchmark it is time for corporate America, led by conscientious stock holders and common sense business practices, to come to some agreement about a fair wage differential between those that run companies and those that work for companies.
Here is one example: At a factor of twelve, if a CEO made $2 million a year the lowest paid employees of that company would get $166,667.00 a year. A 25:1 ratio would bring the bottom figure to $80,000.00 for a $2 million compensation or the top figure to $4 million at the $166.667.00 figure. Either situation would certainly bring more equity to our society.
The fast food industry, where a great many people work, is probably one of the worst in terms of wage differential. At a 25:1 ratio the CEO of a company where the lowest paid full time employee makes $13,500.00 per year would get an annual salary of $338,000.00.
If we are to survive and thrive as a society, we need to embrace ethical and moral concepts that foster more equality, not less. Perhaps there are a few brave and forward thinking companies beginning to explore implementing wage gap ratios. Isn’t it time more companies considered this common sense idea? Do colleges and universities teach these concepts in their business courses? Do stockholders put pressure on companies to adopt these practices? Does our government encourage equality as much as it could? Can we, as individuals, see the value and the promise that such equity has to offer?
As we continue to move toward a new way of life; as we embrace a more Universal view of ourselves and our world; we are desiring to move beyond the “same old same old” and find exciting and creative ways to honor all life to the fullest.
We have all the wisdom, all the ability, all the infrastructure, and all the know-how that we need to move beyond selfishness and greed, but do we have the will? If we open our individual and collective hearts we can do it. If we look deep within ourselves and honor The Oneness and the synergistic wisdom we all share, it will be easy. Are we willing to work toward mutual and sustainable survival upon this planet? We are worth it.
As a popular sports shoe company says, lets “Just do it”.
***
There is no true alchemy here
on this street of paper dreams
dot com straw turns into fools gold
fades into the light of day
captains of illusion not industry
pretend something of nothing exists
run their ship ashore like Exxon Valdez
water does not become wine over night
often sours into vinegar
leaving a bitter taste
in mouths of those
with hope and purity in their hearts
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common sense
March 2008 
Willowbei
