(Community Matters) After writing the posting below, I was thinking more about success metrics. Why is it that so many privileged Americans love spending so much time in Europe? We love the public spaces, old world architecture, museums, countryside, slower paced life styles. Hmm . . . . but we condemn their economic policies, their overburdened economies – and seriously, those lifestyles don’t appear sustainable given debt levels and GDPs.
And, then I remembered a story from many years ago which still bothers me. A dear friend, a Republican, once told another friend not to let me connect with their handy men/gardeners. She feared I’d offer to pay a better wage and would ruin their bargain.
Do some of us advocate policies which we know aren’t in the best interest of the broader public because we know they will benefit us? I don’t think this is the expected everyone-acts-in-their-own-best-interests. Adam Smith’s invisible hand didn’t presume malevolence. Is there intention to maintain an underclass to serve the upperclass and their wealth ambitions?
Community Matters 