Week #11 Of The New Life

The current pandemic has brought some beneficial effects for the environment. The pandemic has led to a lockdown that has resulted in lowering CO2 emissions into the environment because there is less driving . In fact the drop in CO2 emissions is not just speculative, but has been measurable.

At the same time, the response to the economy has been devastating. The consumption of goods has dropped dramatically and that has led to some businesses possibly failing. And the longer the lockdown measures last, the more the economy is not just harmed, it starts to become destroyed.

If we put 2+2 together here, we find that with our current economic system, our financial health is often bad for the environment. And what is bad for the environment will hurt people in the near and/or far future. Thus to ask for an improved economy now, because of our economic system, is to also ask for harm to come to people.

When we realize that, we must ask how important are the economic indicators used by current and past Presidents? While many of us regular people must ask how important is the state of our investments? That question is particularly pertinent when one considers the fact that what benefits a shareholder's ROI often comes at the expense a worker's income.

When we look at our nation's economy, we often measure it by how those with the most wealth are doing. If stock prices continue to go up, then the economy is doing well even though the biggest benefits from the rise in stock prices go to only a few. Thus, we have this vicarious view of a successful economy. Such a view sees oneself as successful because others one has in some way associated themselves with are successful. Such is the mentality sports fans employ when their teams when championships. That holds true even when we are riding in on the coattails of those wealthy few. And that is true especially when a significant number of people, other people than ourselves, assume the costs of our successful economy. That tells us something about ourselves.

So as we look for life to return to normal, part of that normalcy will include a return to our current economic system--a system that is storing a huge environmental and societal debt that will have to be paid in the future. The question for us becomes should each of us try our best to change our economic system for the sake of those who, would otherwise, have to pay a debt we are incurring?