Becoming enlightened |
I
did a little research and discovered the last major General Electric
factory manufacturing the familiar incandescent light bulbs in the United
States closed in 2010. More digging uncovered an energy conservation bill,
passed by Congress in 2007, set new standards that will make incandescent bulbs
obsolete by 2014. Fun fact: the newer spiral-shaped fluorescent bulbs use about
75 percent less electricity than their incandescent cousins to produce the same
amount of light.
Now
I'm no economist but what troubles me about light bulbs essentially not being
made in the United States is part of a larger problem affecting our country: much
of the work that keeps laborers employed is being shipped overseas.
Ring in the new (but at what cost?) |
It’s
a business’ right to do so, of course. After all, this is America. It’s just
that it says a lot about their values. And ours as consumers, since we buy their
products. Many believe it’s okay not to fold social implications and moral
obligations into business strategies. They say net profits should be the primary,
if not sole force driving business.
What
does all this have to do with humans being? Everything. That's because understanding
some of the less desirable values associated with capitalism – or more
precisely corporate capitalism –provides insight into many of the social ills plaguing
our nation.
It’s
sad but true: a chief priority in America is making money. Yet so many of the social
issues affecting us are rooted in the acquisition of wealth and material goods.
I've noticed whenever there’s little or no money to be made, there is little
value attached to it overall in society.
It's
no wonder why many of us care so little about our broken food system, or that as
a society we cast aside our aging population like human waste when they no
longer are productive in the monetary sense. Or that we treat disabled members
of our society like broken items. It’s insane.
Rose-colored glasses blur the truth, doggoneit |
Yeah,
I usually come to my senses and try to park the lion’s share of unexpected
money in savings or investments, but that’s beside the point. My first thought
was to spend it on things I could easily do without.
The
point here is that American corporate enterprise might benefit from taking
greater inventory on the influence and impact it has on U.S. citizens, even as it
pursues its quarterly profit. It is said with great power comes great
responsibility. It doesn’t take a light bulb going off to realize the benefits
of such thinking.
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