One thing seems glaringly apparent to me: in a finite world, the = "resource pie" MUST come to be far more equitably divided among all = humans. The huge disparity in wealth among "haves" and "have nots" = (among and within nations) simply has got to shrink vastly. The sooner = this happens, the better in every way. How it can come to pass is the = big question, but I suggest we begin by addressing this topic much more = strongly within the U.S.--it should be a huge issue within our political = dialogue.
One key realization is that no individual deserves more of the good life = than does any other. Currently, the allocation of wealth and ease is = mainly the result of accident of birth. Those who inherit wealth = automatically remain wealthy and likely become wealthier, and this is at = someone else's expense (since all wealth is based in part on liquidation = of natural capital). The same among nations. This system is immoral. = Some reward should be available in recompense for great creativity, hard = work, etc., but this reward should be more in terms of social status, = and not material goods. There should not exist ANY jobs that do not pay = a living wage. The person who works as a clerk at 7-11, so long as = he/she plays by society's rules, deserves to have all their needs = fulfilled, just as much as a university professor or CEO. My ideas on = this came partly from E.F. Schumaker's "Small is beautiful", a = tremendously important book. He points out that society provides huge = benefits to corporations, by providing infrastructure and a (more or = less) healthy, educated public to work at the corporation's factories = and buy their products. All this is underwritten by taxes paid by all of = us. Schumaker would have all corporations belong to the public. I think = I agree. One starting point would be to press hard on the topic of the vast = compensation received by CEOs in U.S. companies--hundreds of times that = of the average worker in the same company. Does anybody really believe a = CEO single-handedly creates the true value of a company? (I.e. the new = ideas and products, not the false, quick payoff produced by a merger). = No, the engineers and others who receive a small fraction of the CEO's = salary create these things. Why do we continue to tolerate the huge = disparities in wealth among individuals, social groups, and nations? = Rectifying this would go a long way toward putting us on the track to a = sustainable human endeavor, in my opinion. Indeed, it is difficult to = imagine very important changes in economies and other aspects of human = behavior until this glaring issue is resolved. I would even go this far--all oil and all natural gas (for example) = should belong equally to all people (with a large allowance to the rest = of the biota), with some generous formula allocated to future = generations. Just because the oil is under Texas, why should U.S. = citizens, or whatever corporation manages to extract it, reap the = benefits? It is a birthright of the planet, not some lucky subset of the = planet's inhabitants, again dictated by accident of birth. If this all = sounds insanely na=EFve and idealistic, so be it--but it is important to = first decide what is moral and just before deciding what to settle for. Dave Whitacre
