If you’ve been fortunate enough to have lived as long as I have you may recall this minor rock anthem from the early seventies. It inspired a few enterprising dreams back them, and it seems may still be at work in today’s market-driven economy, from all the youtube entries:
Patti Smith Group – Free Money June 11, 2007 AB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-jC2Dktj-k
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As rocking a tune as it was back then, “Free Money” still has a few nuggets of wisdom to impart, today. It’s themes often find their way on to many a “To Do” List, even into politics, too.
Patti Smith Group — Free Money (Lyrics)
Every night before I go to sleep
Find a ticket, win a lottery
Scoop the pearls up from the sea
Cash them in and buy you all the things you need
…
http://www.springsteenlyrics.com/lyrics/f/freemoney.php
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Sounds simple enough — maybe the “Ticket to Riches” is indeed as easy as “Scooping up all those pearls up from the sea”
Wait a Minute — chasing some “Get Rich Scheme” goes against everything America stands for … or at least what it used to stand for
“The only path to wealth is hard work.”
“There is No such thing as a Free Lunch”
Is that tired old truism of “Econ 101” really true today? Is there really no “quick path” to wealth, today? Have all the “good dreams” already been taken?
What does “No Free Lunch” really mean?
Can we really NOT afford to give the needy a free meal? What is so damaging about handing out some Soup in a Free Lunch line? Should we really be teaching those needy Kids how to make Soup for themselves, instead?
Ultimately, “Nothing is Free!” Ultimately somebody Pays, somewhere, somehow. Even something as simple as Lunch has a Price Tag. Someone spent time, spent dollars, and had to gather the ingredients to make that bowl of Soup.
Ultimately every good thing we need, has a cost, hidden or otherwise. “Nothing is Free!” Even something as simple as Lemonade, takes a bunch of Lemons and spending an afternoon in the sun.
Well what’s the Lesson from Patti Smith’s ballad about “Free Money”? Just that NO ONE had to “make” those Pearls — she just had to “scoop them up”? Yet even so, that would cost her an investment in a some “sweat equity”, but little else. Indeed this could be as close to a “Free Lunch” as it gets: Just scour the Planet and harvest its riches:
One small problem, as vast as the Oceans are — they are NOT boundless. The Bounty of the Good Earth does have its limits.
Once Patti scoops up all the Pearls in her neighborhood, to continue her “easy street” life style here, she will eventually need more tools and equipment, to continue to extract her “Free Money” from the Sea.
Tools like a Boat and maybe some diving gear. She will either have to make these things … or else she is have to buy them from some other specialized craftsmen and craftswomen:
But a major investment in equipment like that, means she needs to find someone ELSE willing to buy those pearls, that she has already collected.
Someone who values those beautiful pearls, more than they value the cash they have on hand. The cash that Patti needs in order to keep her “Free Money” Business going.
Voila, Patti Smith, simply by living out her self-centered Dream, has created her own isolated “Free Market”, metaphorically speaking. Buyers, Seller, Goods and Services, and everyone’s happy to trade.
No committees, No Legislators, No surcharges — just a diverse group of people trying to get along, was all it took, to make Free Enterprise work.
“Left to their own devices”, the Human race for ages, has managed to arrive at the “fair price” again and again for their “Products and Services” — all without the help of Government, thank you very much!
In a Free Society, Commerce just tends to happen spontaneously. “Competition will weed out the ‘bad apples’ on its own, just given time.”
Or so goes the very Dominant Frame of the “Free Market” that the GOP has so brilliantly claimed as their own. As the Rockridge Institute tries to warn Dems, we are woefully outmatched on this critical idea, in a time when we should be staking our claim to it ourselves.
Rockridge Institute: Morality and the Market
The GOP Free-Marketeers, love to claim this territory as their own (it means Big Dollar supporters), and for the most part they hold this Capitalist ground with hardly a peep from progressives:
“The Free Market will ultimately solve all problems”
“The Markets are the ‘collective wisdom” of all of us acting individually.”
“Just let the Markets decide, what’s best in the long run.”
These are powerful and seductive political frames and economic themes, that most Americans, who are taught from day one, to believe in hard work, and ingenuity, and the American Dream, simply just buy into to. “Free Markets” appeal to common sense, and for the most part, Free Markets work in pragmatic ways too, or at least they used to.
Indeed the stamp of authority for Free Markets, goes way back to early American History and Adam Smith. In “The Wealth of Nations”, this Scottish philosopher Smith proposed an elegant theory of Free Markets, in which he claimed Markets are “self-regulating” due to the unseen force of what he called “An Invisible Hand”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_hand
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That Invisible Hand is really just the Sum of all our individual Self-Interest decisions occurring simulataneously. Taken together, the Herd can move markets. It’s kind of like each person builds their own little “Pearl Distribution Network” and somehow mysteriously all the available “economic niches” just get filled — at least that’s how’s it’s suppose to work. It’s called the Free Enterprise system.
The “Invisible Hand” of Capitalism, is certainly a much more appealing system than Socialism — where the “economic niche” that you fill, is assigned by the State, and individuals have very little choice in the matter!
Or to explain it all rather crassly, as fictional Wall Street baron Gordon Gekko did back in the popular 80’s Movie Wallstreet: “Greed is Good”
Throw in a few other similar cultural themes of the 80’s “Me Generation”, like Pink Floyd’s Money, and pretty soon your looking at a powerhouse of an Economic system, driven by “irrational exuberance” of the late 90’s Dot.com boom.
Pink Floyd – Money
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SZQUKyVk3k
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Greed does drive the Markets, the wise players in those Markets make even more Money. The not-so-wise players, well they get “weeded out”. And what about those left on the sidelines, who can’t even afford to play? Well the GOP Free Marketeers would tell them to “work harder, put your nose to the grindstone, because you only have yourself to blame, for your station in life.”
And after two decades of unbridled Greed, Voila, we see a Society very much marching to the same “Ownership Society” tune … and the many who live from paycheck-to-paycheck, they work hard, but are still being left behind. They are looking at their difficult situations, and are wondering “What Happened?”
“Just work hard, play by the rules, and pay your dues, and you too can achieve the American Dream”
Looks good on Paper — SO why then does the American Dream, all too often, fall flat? Why does it, for many of the growing ranks of the “Have Nots” remain only a Dream?
In this Bountiful Land of Opportunities, called America … Where have all the Opportunities gone?
Are there other “Invisible Hands” at work in our Free Market — besides just those of normal “Self Interest” and Greed”?
Are the goals of Economic Fairness, like a living Wage, no longer a “natural” by-product of normal Competitive Forces, in this NEW Global marketplace, where the Mega-Corps now do battle? It would seem not.
Or is it just that, as the GOP Marketeers will say, it’s really the foolish Democratic pursuits of the “New Deal” and the “Great Society” that have been acting like weighty Anchors on Corporations?
It’s really these Socialist-type Programs that are holding back and limiting the natural forces of Innovation, Creativity, and Commerce in this Country, so the dominant Free Market frame will put it. (And they just can’t wait to brand Universal Health Care as the epitome of Socialist Give-aways, too! That’s their plan to reclaim the White House in 2008, IMO.)
Do we as “spoiled Americans” expect too much from our Federal Government? Do all our “petty demands” put too great a burden on American Business, and inevitably chases them overseas, to find “greener pastures”? The neocon Talking Points will argue just that.
As Americans are we really “entitled” to things like Clean Air, Clean Water, a safe workplace, a fair wage, a lawful society, a right to education, and an efficient infrastructure that supports it all?
Or are those Expectations for Security really the ravings of a selfish Society too lazy to fend for themselves? Do all Americans have a right to a “Dignity of Life”, or is that something that “Productive Citizens” must always be diligent to earn, and keep re-earning every week on the job:
In this ultra Modern world of the 21st Century are we still living out some Darwinian experiment of “Survival of the Fittest” — only that the competitive landscape is now dominated by robotic Corporate Titans, so fixated on “cutting costs”, that no group of shareholders, or even directors, can really control the “global foraging” for profits, that these ravenous creatures must constantly fulfill? In such a landscape, do the basic needs of us feeble mammals, even matter in the relentless, global battle for Billions?
Has our “Great Society” reached the point, as the GOP would have us believe, that only the resourceful and the industrious Citizens should have a Right — er a Privilege — to the “good things in life” — everyone else, well you’re on your own. “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.”
“Learn to swim already!”
Or could it be, as Progressives we should be stepping up and saying that Human Race has and must continue to evolve to that Next Stage of Humanity. That our modern world needs a New Economic Theory — one, where in addition to the motives of Ambition and Competition to drive our Markets, we need to tap into another yet limitless resource — that of Human Co-operation, Compassion, of Teamwork and Community:
Left alone in today’s complex world, individuals face far more obstacles in reaching their Goals, than we ever have in the past.
Just sheer determination and resourcefulness of the individual may not be enough anymore, in today’s global marketplace. In today’s “flat world” the competitor taking your job, could very well be on the other side of the planet!
Could it be that the “Invisible Hand” was all that was needed Adam Smith’s day centuries ago, when each Nation had their own “closed” economies? Just maybe given today’s Un-level Playing Fields in the 21st century, maybe it’s time that the “New World Economy” start adopting some New Guiding principles — ones that recognize basic Human Rights?
Is there really enough time for a Billionaire, to spend all their Millions, by the way? How much Wealth is really Enough, in a Free Market Economy?
Should Greed too be limitless, much like the Oceans?
In closing this little exploration of modern Americana, I would sum it all up with this Question: Is starving the American system of Government the key to removing the Economic Problems we face,
or is empowering the American system of Government, the key to the creating a commonwealth of Economic Solutions?
Are the Forces of Ingenuity and Compassion, enough to “grow all those individual Economic Pies”? Will the Human spirit be a strong enough collective “Force for Good”, to become the “rising tide that can lift all boats”?
Or is it really the Forces of “Unfettered Capitalism” that will ultimately save the day? Is it true that ONLY the “Captains of Industry” can marshal the resources and know-how to meet the laws of “Supply and Demand”, that we, as patriotic Americans, daily pledge our work-life allegiances to?
For me personally I can see at least 3 practical problems with simply trusting the “Captains of Industry” to know what’s best for America, and to “supply” ultimately what Humanity needs to survive:
1) Their short-term focus on quarterly profits, almost always lets any long-term strategy to address Big Problems, simply just “fall through the cracks” — left for some “future generation” to solve:
Problems like crumbling infrastructure
Problems like Global Warming picking up steam:
2) Trusting the “Captains of Industry” can be foolhardy whenever they put the short-term interests of their Investors WAY above the long-term needs of their Customers, and of Society as a whole. Ultimately, the Quality of Products will suffer [lead-coated toys anyone?], and so their customers will be the losers (and so in turn, Corporations themselves) in their relentless “race to the bottom”. This respected former “Captain of Industry”, John Bogle, so explains these dangers quite clearly in this recent Bill Moyer Interview.
3) “Captains of Industry” love the idea of “Privatization” of Government Services and Responsibilities, because it means more “profits for Business”, and less of a burden from those social anchors called Taxes. The problem with “Privatization” however is that it perpetuates the social problems, and rarely fixes them. Even with “Privatized schools” for instance, we would still be a Society of the “well off” and those “Not-so-Lucky”. Only those born into wealth would be able afford the Ticket to the Show:
Those are a few arguments against “Leaving it to the Market to Decide”. No doubt there are many many more. I hope you take the time to articulate some of them, yourselves.
So it’s that season again — Election Season.
It’s that time again when Americans “choose up sides”, and pick the Captains and Coaches of their respective Teams. That time when we try to take all our Hopes and Dreams of our individual “world views”, and bring them to life, in order to change the world for the better. Hope surely does spring eternal.
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A) SO, Do you want a Leader who understands Free Markets, but also is motivated by the values Compassion, Diplomacy, and a Level Playing Field — someone who knows we must first build up the entire Team, so that every player has the Opportunity to reach their Dreams, if America is ever reach that next stage of greatness:
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B) Or do you want this up and coming different kind of Leader who has been changing things in his home state from the ground up, and certainly knows a thing or two about motivating his Team of supporters, and maybe even motivating all of America too. A man who’s life story IS the Message of Hope — he lives it everyday:
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C) Or do you want this Coach with the Credentials, the Connections and the Fans, to put together an terrific A-Team, sure to command some excellent Prime Time Media Slots in next year’s lineup — but after that well, we’ll just have to see what shakes out. One thing’s for sure though, more than anyone, she sure knows how to “work the system”:
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D-H) And of course several other fine dedicated Democratic Americans are also asking for your Time and your Primary Vote too. A few of them will most likely end up with Cabinet or Advisory roles, on the New Democratic Team in 2009 (assuming the Party can dodge the Socialist branding from the GOP, that has already begun)
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Choose wisely, because Life is really more than a Spectator Sport — and the game clock is winding down on America’s Glory Days.
Life is really Serious Business — and when it’s all said and done hopefully you will have to MORE than a “hill of beans” to show for all your life’s work, when you finally reach your Journey’s End:
Pink Floyd — Time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8aHrwu7Jp4
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Post Script:
As Progressives we should all know about being Good Stewards for the Planet, and Champions for the “Have Nots” — and mostly just because “these are the Right things to do”.
But do we, as Progressives, know how to discuss our Causes in terms of Free Markets and Free Enterprise? Do we know how to translate our Compassion and Concerns, into the language of practical Business Investments in our Collective Futures?
If Not, I’d say it’s long past time to start learning this Language of Commerce, and how to reclaim some of the Territory that the Right Wing so “greedily” calls their own — the territories of Big Business and Family Values:
Rockridge Institute — Thinking Points
http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/thinkingpoints/
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What’s good for Halliburton, just MAY NOT BE Good for America afterall? ya think?
Especially if America is still the country of “rugged individualism” — and NOT simply the country of “Corporate Opportunism”, as our Market-driven, and Money-obsessed Media constantly reminds us of.
Maybe Investing in People DOES matter more than Investing in Profits, after all?
Just maybe “Human Compassion reaching out to Meet Human Need”, is that updated 21st-century version of the “Invisible Hand” that will one day rise up to Save the Day? Let’s hope so.
Our Planet home, really can’t take much more of “unfettered” Corporate Greed, IMO. It’s time for us “feeble Mammals of good will”, to fight back, and start to reclaim our destiny.
