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Give the gift economy
a chance
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by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News
August 21, 2007
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Here is how it works: With compound interest you end up with
a small group of people who own other peoples debts. This much
disparate wealth tends to drive people nuts.
Just think of how you
behave when you get a new car. Park in the corner? Far from the
front door? Glare at people you think might open their door into your
new finish. Nuts. I've been there. So have you, if only for a brief
moment you had something of value to protect.
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With massive wealth
you go nuts, but on a massively greater scale. With every turn of
the cycle wealth concentrates ever more. With every aggrandizement
new defenses for the treasure are sought and this provokes another
step in the arms race with others with treasures to protect. Chronic
intermittent war results.
Concentration of wealth causes war. When the concentration of wealth
decreases in a country, when wealth is more evenly shared, every
health statistic of that country improves. Just look at the record
for yourself. So, to a first approximation, anything decreasing
disparity is automatically more important to the country as a whole
than anything else. Everyone should ideally want it. Really.
Scroogle "national income disparity health." and you'll quickly understand that economic inequality is bad for everyone's health.
So to a first order certainty, based on the assumption that everyone
wants to maximize their health status, this becomes a very binary,
Manichean sort of thing, as in, "it presents an elaborate description of the conflict between the
spiritual world of light and the material world of
darkness."
So we construct a polarity that is strung between perfect sharing and
light on one end, with maximum health for everyone, and perfect
selfishness and darkness on the other, with minimal health for
everyone. Change toward more sharing is a positive thing. With every
polarity there exists a tension, a conflict in this case with forces
attempting to concentrate material wealth even further and thus harm
the health status of everyone.
On the outside, at the dark end of the polarity we see the King
Georges, the Grover Norquests, the Dick Cheneys, the Dick Nixons, the
Dick Helms, the Dick Armitages, the Dick Gephardts, gosh the list
gets long, let's just say all the Dicks, who seem to have the polarity
reversed. On the inside we see the little dick in ourselves that
those big Dicks are a reflection of.
In our materialistic societies, sharing is restrained by guilt imposed
by the sharer on the sharee, even if denied. Our little inner dick
needs restraining, badly. Less really does need to become more as
more rapidly induces less for everyone.
So, the doctor recommends that, for the proper maintenance of the
little dick within, one undertake a regular program of giving.
Possessions for sure, cash if possible, and time as available. Try
Freecycle. Along with a properly varied
diet and regular exercise routine, giving will likely result in a
less stressful experience for the body and the mind and lead to
greater longevity, greater physical health and enjoyment, and a
significantly improved environment.
© by the author.
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Concentration of wealth causes war.
When the concentration of wealth decreases in a country, when wealth is more evenly shared, every health statistic of that country improves.
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Dr. Herb Ruhs & grandson
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