Wednesday, April 1, 2009

To Infinity...and Beyond!

Here's what I don't get.

We (the Royal "we") pay CEOs billions of dollars annually to lead our multi-national corporations into profitability and health. We produce thousands of worthwhile products and services and provide employment for millions of hard working people around the globe.

But we can't seem to figure out the relationship between the finite resource of oil and the finite resources of the planet, such as clean air and water.

I suppose the reason is simple. Entrenched corruption, greed and short term priorities. The politicians are all in the pockets of the huge corporations and the huge corporations seem only to be concerned with huge profits, both for their upper level manangement but also for the stockholders.

Got it. Short term priorities. What seems to be a complete lack of concern for long term consequences.

And the population at large doesn't seem to have the stones to confront the problem and change the system from one of million dollar access to one of true democracy...where everyone is, in fact, equal...not more or less equal than his/her neighbor.

Ok...so we'll never change. Fine.

Ok...so there is corruption across the political spectrum (Ted Stevens dodged a big bullet...but at least he's no longer in Washington...maybe...)

Ok...profits and golden parachutes and bonuses are the motivation du jour in the executive suite.

Good. Let it all continue status quo...ante or otherwise.

But why in God's good name don't the, so-called, "Masters of the Universe" just make and sell good stuff.

The country mobilized in a heartbeat after Pearl Harbor and began making products (all of us, men, women and even children...) for the war effort. We sacrficed as a country...as a world...as a global community...on behalf of saving ourselves from the great threat of the day...the Nazis.

Well, the Nazis of today are represented in a different way...they are a combination of Al Qaeda, our "friends" in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and the almost irreversible decline of our natural environment.

Why don't the big corporations like ExxonMobil, GM, United Technologies, et al, simply retool to produce products that will help the planet.

Keep your bonuses. Make your Gazillion dollar profits. Continue to curry favor on K street. Keep taking money, under the table, from the Treasury. Keep on keepin' on. Don't change a damned thing.

Who cares? But just make stuff that will help rather than hinder.

If we all concentrated on manufacturing products that relied on alternative and sustainable fuels we would not only eliminate our need/dependency on foreign oil but we would, simultaneously, clean up the planet and make it inhabitable for many generations to come. Wouldn't it be fun to tell the Saudis to shove it the next time OPEC decides to cut production and we are forced to pay $5.oo/gallon?

Long term, multi-generational, visionary motivation. Your great-grandchildren's great-grandchildren. Not just you and your immediate needs.

But I suppose that's too much to ask of our great leaders, in and out of Washington.

My 12 year old knows that you can't sell what you don't have. You have to find something new to put in your lemondade stand if you run out of lemonade.
Apple juice...peach juice..Kool Aid.

But maybe we should save the Kool Aid until we really need it...

Jim Jones...we hardly knew ye!

No comments:

Post a Comment