Adonis Diaries

Right Ecological alternative; (Apr. 14, 2010)

            The current capitalist economy is founded on this marketing strategy “What is good for everyone has no value.  Value is acquired when people get respect simply for acquiring  “luxury” products and services that are considered better than what common people can afford.”  The corollary is “The higher the price of a commodity then the more demand on it;  anyone who can afford it is doomed to purchased.”

            What has been happening since this ideology took roots in the mind of people?  Consider a chemical factory that is highly polluting to the environment; at the beginning, clean and clear water and air were available for almost free.  Now, water and air have to be first “depolluted” in order to be used in manufacturing products.  The chemical company has to invest heavily in new equipments and techniques in order to clean water and air;  the company is also required by law  to offer healthier work environment to workers and personnel.

            If competitive markets dictate the proper price for a product then most small companies will be unable to raise prices to recoup additional expenses in investment; small companies will thus be acquired by financial multinationals that can enforce monopolistic prices for a duration until courts ponder on the litigations. Multinational companies will set “luxury” prices for elite classes and classes trying to to afford the new products.

            Now, suppose the previous dictum changed to this formula “Only products and services affordable to almost every working person are dignified as good ecological products and merit to be produced. We can be much happier and more satisfied when luxury images are branded as immoral and polluting.”  In this case, financial multinationals would have hard time selling overpriced items that very few people judge as badge of honor for respectability in society. 

Figure the case of expensive fur coats: many people who can afford purchasing these coats avoid wearing them in public for fear of being pelted with raw eggs. Even synthetic coats that resemble original fur coats are now being declined: Common people lack discriminating taste!  A woman wearing a fancy looking fur coat could be heard screaming “Please, don’t soil by coat. This is synthetic. Do you want a proof? I sell it for cheap; any taker?”  Why be harassed in public if just the image is shocking?

            Capitalists know how to reform and accommodate new economical trends to staying in business as long as the first dictum is working fine in the mind of people.  What is needed is a revolution in attitudes regarding class distinction based on the acquisition of luxury items.  Consumers have to be politically guided by responsible environmental organizations in order for the level of pollution to stabilize for capitalists to start effective transformation into sustainable earth economies.  

With the added expenses in pollution taxes and newer equipments and techniques for ecological changes then expensive items are becoming necessarily polluting; luxury items are simply affordable to the polluted minds and morals of elite classes and the envious factions in the middle classes!