Giving Back

drove amazing design and distribution of toys manufactured by ultra low wage paid employees in China, who work in pretty poor conditions, while amassing the largest private company cash pile known in history. His products are romanced as an “extension of yourself,” are nice and expensive... and alienating.

So, in fact, think about this: How is this picture different from that of the pharaohs that built the pyramids with super low cost (or free?) labor? Or how is it different from the sweatshops in China that British merchants exploited to make silk for the European bourgeois?

We see human living conditions as the prerequisite for any kind of progress to take place.  If people live without access to basic services; this automatically excludes them from participating in any meaningful way in their societies, they can’t study, they can’t work, they can't raise a healthy family... livable housing is the base of everything.

Individualistic mentalities are due to expire. They have to Everybody wants well-being for themselves and their families, no problem there, but when that is done at the cost of the well being of others, that creates an unsustainable chaos.

Look, today you have a human food chain that looks like this:

First, there’s the investors that demand ever increasing profits. Then, you have the boards and CEOs that are happy to cut corners on quality - even if that means putting employees and customers in harm’s way. There’s managers that will stop at nothing to impress their CEO in the hopes of that next pay raise - a pay raise that will help them acquire a larger home and sprawling backyard, “better” education for their children, and more financial security. Finally, there are the employees that aspire to achieve the same individualistic goals their managers “achieved.”

Just look at it - the entire focus of the whole chain is wrong!

More money won’t make you happier; a bigger house, and a newer car won’t either. A private backyard won’t make your city more livable. On the contrary, cities with the largest concentrations of single family homes with large, pretty backyards have the worst carbon footprints. They alsohave the most frustrated citizens because they need a car to get everywhere (cough, Mid America, cough).

Further, there is a tireless “pursuit of happiness” even though happiness isn’t something you pursue - it’s your journey and your being satisfied with where you are now and the significance of your existence. It has nothing to do with a shiny red Ferrari and everything to do with your understanding of your true self, life, inner happiness, and your neighbor.