Bill Mckibben's Deep Economy Chapter

¶ … Bill McKibben's Deep Economy Chapter 3: All for One and One for All In this section of McKibben's Deep Economy, the author examines the differences between individual benefit and community or group benefit. Though simple enough on the surface, McKibben examines and explains several very complex ways in which the two types of benefit work in our economy and society, and especially the fact that modern economic practice tends to only view individual benefit both as a benefit and as a motivator for human activity.

McKibben also discusses the way this concept plays out in the retail industry -- specifically with an overview of many of the oft-decried effects of Wal-Mart stores and company policies -- and in advertising, which exploits are unfulfilled need for affinity and community by promising products that will fill the void but failing to deliver.

I've seen the documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices and read a book that covered many of the same aspects, policies, and effects of the company, but found a much stronger resonance in the way McKibben connected this company to larger social trends. The fact that people can't see six months ahead and realize the way that shopping at Wal-Mart and other exploitative chains is harming them and their community is mind boggling to me.

At this point, most consumers are well aware that the low prices offered at such stores come at the expense of many other individuals, including the factory workers in China and other developing countries who endure terrible conditions and incredibly low wages to provide the products and the loss of American jobs as factories move overseas, not to mention the jobs, wages, and tax revenues lost in their communities. The current healthcare issue is reflective of the same basic problem that McKibben identifies in this chapter.

People look at the cost and other factors of a "public option" for healthcare and get scared for themselves, positive that this would mean bureaucrats making medical decisions and scared about the costs when the fact is this is exactly what happens now -- we just don't call private executives in insurance companies bureaucrats, and for some reason it feels like we're paying less if it's directly out of our pockets and not in the form of taxes.

The only real difference between public and private insurance would be the size of the pool, and the fact that there wouldn't need to be additional profits made on premiums. The benefit to joining together as a community is that there is a much larger cushion for everyone, but instead of seeing this people are concerned that their money will go to pay for someone else's healthcare, and this is.