Focus on Life™

We focus on growth—it’s everything. Our current economy is based on the ever-expanding growth paradigm. It does not work without it. Our monetary base grows every year. Valuations need to grow, as well as profits and revenues. The society is driven by this growth mania.

And how do we do this? By producing and consuming more, or should I say evermore, ever-expanding. And by consuming more we feed more needs to expand the business and acquire new resources to fulfil the needs of the growth. And so the cycle goes on and on—but not forever. Sole expansion is not natural, it pairs with contraction, in nature that is.

Seldom we start to question the basis of the assumptions and thinking underneath. What is the purpose of the growth and why is it needed? Some would say that it is because of money. And in many ways they are right. The fiat money system is built upon a hypothesis of ever-expanding promises of debt that are not paid back but rolled over. It requires more units of money to survive. As a result of this there are only raising prices and continuous inflation (expansion). For example US dollar has lost over 95% of its value since 1913 when the Federal Reserve was established. Does this create wealth for all the citizens using the legal tender?

But coming back to the question why the growth and what’s the purpose of it. More money does not answer the question; it only explains the way the current system is working. Actually money has nothing do with the real issue—it’s only a poor middleman that is often misunderstood to be the purpose when it can only be the means for something else. Money is used to obtain goods, services, or intangible needs such as security. We would not consume more simply because our monetary system requires so. There is something else underneath that feeds the requirements and keeps the wheels turning. And once again we are getting back to each and every one of us, individually. No company consume, buy, sell, manufacture, or invest—only people do. Structures are mere tools and vehicles for our purposes, ignore them long enough and they disappear. There is no one to blame but us. It’s not the economy, stupid—it’s us, the people!

We have bought the idea and assume that more is better. More money means something better, more consumption provides with something more and so on. Having more is the key and this having is the cause of the ever-expansion in our needs. But if you never consider why you need to have more you will never approach the real issue, you simply will act to gain more of something—forever and ever more.

Wanting is easy. Also having more is relatively easy, even though it takes its toll. But being happy has nothing to do with wanting or having. Confucius once said: “they must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.” It looks that buying happiness does not seem to work despite all the consumption and material well-being. Maybe it is time to reconsider our assumptions and beliefs that define our current growth paradigm, individually?

It’s amazing that there is enough of everything on our planet.
The thing is that we create the scarcity situation with our own
behavior. There is enough food to feed every hungry person
and give each one a shelter, and even provide basic health care
and education for everyone. These are the basic requirements
for human life and they are doable every year. We just choose
not to do these—collectively. We opt not to do anything and
therefore we are also responsible of our actions.

Our lifestyle is based on individualism and egoistic self-
fulfilment. We live by consuming and trying to satisfy our
needs by material means. Our well-being is dependent on
how much we can consume and drive after our whatever
desires. Or that’s at least the way we live. Are we happier and
more satisfied? Are we ever satisfied and feeling content with
our lives? In postindustrial society, we should already be more
than happy with all the possessions around us.

Unfortunately, the reality is the opposite. We are more
lonely and lost than ever. We have fulfilled our lives with cold
values and individualistic lifestyles that isolate us from other
people and make us lonely and unhappy people without much
purpose and meaning in our lives. Isn’t this strange because
we now have more time off than ever? A few hundred years
ago, almost all people were in one way or another tied up to
agricultural work in order to support themselves. Now we do
not have to exert so much effort to feed ourselves and get a
roof over our heads. The problem seems to be more a mental
one nowadays. We have time to think and worry—physical
labor is not keeping us occupied anymore.

Almost everyone lives in isolation, even when we are sur-
rounded by lots of people. Our lifestyle is very self-orientated.
We have learned to live without taking into consideration
other people’s circumstances. How else could we explain that
every day we see people who are more in need and lost in their
lives than we are, but we pretend not to see them? We cross
the street or at least turn our eyes away. Out of sight, out of
mind. Secretly we hope that we could be so fortunate that
nothing like that would ever happen to us. How coldhearted
is our way of living? And for what? How happy and content
are we really because we do not care about other people? Isn’t
this a clear indication of an opposite state of matters?

Sharing is an amazing thing. The joy and happiness inside
of us is universal for all of us, that idea of being able to give
something without expecting something in return. When was
the last time you gave of yourself? It does not have to be a big
thing. Just a smile or unexpected nice words to start.
Everybody wants to feel accepted and respected as human
beings. After all, we are all humans and what we have does
not define who we are. How many of us are human in our
actions as well?

Do we really need all the material things and wealth we
have for ourselves? Isn’t there anything we could share with
those who are in greater need than us? Big changes happen
with small actions. We are the society and the nations; there is
no government or institutions without us, the people.
Therefore, it is our responsibility to define who we are. Doing
nothing and accepting things the way they are is as big a
statement as anything else. By letting people starve to death
and die because of poor health care demonstrate more than
anything else who we really are. We are ignorant and selfish.
How else can we explain these things? The technology is well
developed and proven to prevent these things from happening
if there is a will to accomplish it. It’s done already in Western
societies. No excuses—let’s face who we really are.

The important question is, are we going to change?
Personally each and every one of us has to look into the mirror
and answer the question for ourselves—have I done enough
today, really? If not, then there is still a chance that there is
something human left in us, which we could try to make big-
ger in time. Maybe we would feel a bit more content and hap-
pier about our lives as well? It’s give-and-take—sharing.

Back from holiday. It was great to chill out and learn to ‘do nothing’ for a while. Also doing sports seems to give some good kicks…

Beside reading some Donald Ducks I found Jeremy Rifkin’s: The End of Work as a pretty good eye-opener. The book gives a good overview of the recent few hundred years of industrial revolution and its effects for the labour force. In the past the unemployed workers could find work from other areas of economy after the productivity increases made them redundant. The case has always been the same - it’s more cost effective to invest for capital goods than hire new people.

The scary part is that the cycle has come to an end. There is no more sectors and new ones are not created that will absorb the amount of unskilled, skilled and even middle management people who have lost their jobs. Previously the agriculture, manufacturing, services and the government as the employer of the final resort kept people busy. Unfortunately this is not the case anymore. The economical law used to be that the supply will create the demand and the consumption will increase the economy. Henry Ford raised the salaries for his employees in order to boost his own sales by noting that he needs customers. How about those 7-20 % of the population who are unemployed in developed nations? They do not afford to spend lavishly and they also eat the consumption power of the working population thanks to higher taxes. Not even talking about the demographics: in 2050 almost every second citizen is 65 or more of age…Every second!

The book suggested that the third sector will be the answer for the increased free time. I agree but still I could not be without thinking even further. Today our whole society is built and based on the fact of consumption. ‘ You are what you earn and what you do for living’. But how about a time when the basic needs are satisfied and the basic goods are not the issue anymore. Also working is becoming less important since so many people simply do not have that much to do. Machines and IT takes care of the routines. Already now some 85 % of all work tasks are just some routine processes. What are we going to doing in the future and how are we going to measure our success?