The economy of the US is based on consumerism. 70% of GDP is due to American consumption. Meanwhile, a billion or more people in the world are starving and don't have access to clean water. What is wrong with this picture? If the human race were rational, it would seem that the first order of business would be to see to it that everyone in the world was at least adequately fed and had clean water. Instead there is a lopsided distribution of goods and services with the first world gluttonously hogging much more than its fair share. And for what? So they can die prematurely from obesity?
One third of Americans are overweight or obese. This is the first generation to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. While they die of malnutrition and disease in Africa, they die of meganutrition, supersized nutrition and disease in America. Americans are not only overconsumers; they are stupid consumers. If they were intelligent consumers, they would not consume excess calories. They would get off their butts and excercise, and they would organize in such a way as to offshore the extra calories, not their jobs.
This is why private enterprise doesn't work. Because it is only interested in profits, it doesn't see to it that goods, services and even calories are rationally distributed in the world. And that's to the detriment not only of the people who have too little but also to the detriment of the people who have too much. There's no reason why, once a technology is well developed, it can't be distributed throughout the world to bring its benefits to all people in the world. The only thing preventing this is the profit motive and the sheepishness of governments to interfere with private enterprise. For instance, the basic principles of how to obtain clean water and sanitation have been well known for centuries. Yet private companies want to capitalize on clean water by privatizing water systems throughout the world. Instead if governments just did the job in behalf of all their people, not just the ones who could pay, disease would be reduced.
Inequality is one of the biggest threats to peace in the world. The fact that there is a minority of haves and a majority of have nots contributes to tension and war among the world's peoples. Instead of the haves fighting the have nots in asymetrical wars - asymetrical because the haves have advanced weaponry and the have nots have improvised explosive devices - the advanced world would be better off sharing their resources and knowledge with the have nots. Reduction of inequality will make the world a more peaceful place. The only difference between terrorists and warmongers is that the terrorists are poor and hence have weapons-of-poverty while the warmongers of the advanced nations have all the weaponry money can buy.
The US needs to back off from worshipping the profit motive and devoting itself to the military-industrial complex, pouring money into war and weaponry, and to start redistributing its knowledge and resources to the rest of the world. It's not only the right thing to do; it will bring about more fruitful results. There is overconsumption in American life leading to death, and there is underconsumption in the poorest parts of the world leading to death.
War mongers and profiteers are literally sucking the life blood out of American society turning the US itself into a nation of haves and have nots. Capitalism is devouring itself while it is intent on devouring the rest of the world. The only problem is that the US is running out of natural resources so it must import them from the rest of the world, but the rest of the world is starting to realize that they can charge the US big bucks for these resources. It just doesn't have to give them away. Therefore, the US needs to become more self-sufficient at the same time that it needs to divulge its technology at the level of human needs to the rest of the world. Production of clean water and development of sanitation systems is not rocket science. It is infrastructure and infrastructure development is best undertaken by governments not private enterprise.
The US needs to discourage the rampant greed that now runs the country and results in banks hiring lobbyists - six for every Congressperson - to influence government to develop policies in the interest of banks. And its all for the purpose of making huge sums of money for some people in the right positions who contribute nothing in terms of production of real goods and services much less in terms of rationalizing the distribution of water, sanitation, food and medicines in the world. 'We are all in this together' applies to the whole world not just to arbitrarily drawn nation states on a map. National borders are artificial contrivances. The technology to develop a good and decent lifestyle for all the world's peoples has been known for some time. The systems for putting it in place have been held up by greed - wanting to profit off of basic goods and services - and lack of organizational smarts. The human race has been dumb in coming up with methods of organization that are beneficial to human well-being and selfishness accounts for the rest.
A post consumerist society would lay the emphasis on creating a basic, healthy decent way of life for all human beings. From this basic level of well being people could spread out to add the icing to the cake. What is necessary for a basic level of well being is well known: clean water, adequate sanitation, education, health care, decent housing, wholesome food. Those who aren't in a position to provide these things for themselves should be provided for. Those who are in a position to provide more than a basic level of well being for themselves should be free to do so, but this shouldn't be carried to the level where people can gluttonously overprovide for themselves to the detriment of their well being. Those who can afford to eat a zillion calories a day aren't doing any good for themselves. It's in their own best interest if someone steps in and takes away the spoon even if it's the government. Overconsumption just like underconsumption leads to ill health. It's not irrational for governments to step in and say 'Hey, you guys are eating (consuming) too much. You would be better off if you ate (consumed ) less and gave the excess to those guys over there who don't have enough.' Greed and overconsumption kill just as lack of ambition and underconsumption kill.
Free people, who aren't wise enough to limit their consumption and share with people who don't have enough, don't deserve to be free. They're not only killing others; they're killing themselves.
