It's not the economy stupid

Carville’s famous sound bite, which may have helped Bill Clinton win election in 1992, like karma, has come back to bite us. Now - it’s the economy that's stupid. What else can you say about an economy that causes us to forget our principles and ignore the pain being inflicted on people and our planet in the name of profits. We’re paying for having lost our way to an extent which makes the aforementioned president’s peccadilloes seem quaint.

It’s a stupid economy that has us thinking things which can’t be measured, like love, honesty, integrity, kindness, compassion, and neighborliness are somehow less valuable simply because they cannot be monetized. It’s a stupid economy that has us thinking the only way to get back on our feet is to consume ever more crap, spurring the use of our ever dwindling resources, and accelerating the degradation of our ever more stressed planet. It’s a stupid economy where those at the top make billions in bonuses for having screwed millions of honest people who trusted them. It’s a stupid economy when this type of behavior becomes business as usual. It’s a stupid economy when companies and their leaders are rewarded by Wall Street for laying off thousands and shipping jobs overseas. It’s a stupid economy when companies cannot legally do the right thing out of a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders. It’s a stupid economy when no value is registered if you volunteer to help solve some of the world’s problems, stay home to raise a child or take in a shelter dog bound for euthanasia, but which registers positive growth if you spend your time at the mall, put the child in day care or have the puppy destroyed; where building bombs and jails adds to our national bottom line. It’s a stupid economy where in the name of free trade, corporations are given the rights of citizens, but bear no responsibility for the damage and death they cause. It’s a stupid economy that forces companies to take unacceptable safety risks for the sake of profits. It’s a stupid economy that asks us to check our ethics, our values, and our hearts at the door of businesses which are likely to lay us off if we can’t continue adding to the bottom line by working harder for less (and probably even if we do).

Fortunately we’re beginning to wake up. We realize that it’s not about the economy or the bottom line. It’s about people, planet, and purpose. And we’re not calling anyone stupid.