In a recent TV examination of why Germany is the strongest economy in Europe, it was brought out that the heart of the German economy is the small, family-run business. It examined the work ethic of the small business, the feeling of belonging by the employees and the loyalty that engendered. It also spoke of the owners of companies who were just as concerned about the welfare of the people who actually did the producing as about the dollar (or euro) numbers. Over and over, the program interviewed employees who spoke of the company as a second home and the owners as second parents. There was also the investment of the owners in the education of the workers so that they could learn management skills for eventual promotion.
We used to have something like this.
When I was a lad in a small New Jersey town in the 1940's, there was only one large industry, Ciba Chemicals, that also was the largest area employer. The only stories I ever heard as a child about labor conflict occurred at Ciba. The rest of the businesses were family shops and small single proprietor or partnership establishments. Kids went to the Sweet Shop or to the local movie house and bought supplies at the local drug store. No chains. No huge supermarkets. If one store charged too much, people would tell the owner or go elsewhere. Same with gas stations. This was capitalism with a capital "C."
Before laughing off the ravings of an old man, pause and consider. Compared with today, the purchasing power of the average worker back then was just as high or higher than it is now. The United States was the strongest nation on earth. Our health as a country was higher than anywhere in the world, reeling from a war caused by a nation founded on the delusions of a madman - and financing from the biggest corporations in the world. Without the massive state capitalism behind Krupp, BMW, Daimler, Messerschmidt and Bayer, there wouldn't and couldn't have been World War II.
Tragically, the legacy of that war left us with the wrong message. Instead of going ahead and improving the personal economic recipe that won the war, we adopted the mantra of "bigger is better." Cars grew - and grew fins. Instead of housing for individuals, we got gigantic housing projects like Levittown, N.Y. and others like it all over the country. Small stores were swallowed up by big stores and, in order to protect their rights, workers formed big unions. Everything got bigger. And bigger.
Look around today. America, grown huge, has become the policeman of the world. For the first time in its history it invaded another country without being attacked. Our purchasing power has shifted to the highest income group, where people are judged not on their human worth, but on their net worth. We pay college coaches more than the professors and models more than the coaches. The news talks about political candidates' "war chests" instead of their policies. everything is BIG.
The Sweet Shop is gone. So is the family drug store. The local car dealer is part of a franchise. The store where the employees knew your name is in some mall three or four miles away, taking up a square block. Customer service on your cell phone is somewhere where wages are cheap. Small is gone. Look on your back and try not to notice the target painted on it. How have you been screwed lately?
And where is America? Still strong, yes, but so deeply in debt we're cutting vital services to the middle class and the poor while refusing to take away tax breaks for the top earners. Education is being cut to the bone, instead of being ramped up to train the next generation of workers. No wonder Germany is passing us by. Check our infant mortality next to theirs.
Big is not working. It didn't work for the cars of the 80's and it's not working for the economic system we're still calling capitalism. Comparing the old mom-and-pop grocery on the corner to the sprawling Wal-Mart which is China's fifth-largest customer is not only disingenuous, it's a flat-out lie. When politicians say capitalism is under attack, they mean unlimited greed.
Corporations are people. People like Exxon and Bank of America and Pfizer. All these "people" are getting together and voting for their favorite for President. Instead of the Greek "demos," we have the Latin "corpus." Not the people but the body, as in a corporate body. Instead of democracy, we have corpocracy. Like in a corporation, the more shares you have, the more votes you get. The bigger you are, the more say you have in our government. Pretty soon, I doubt we'll have a United States except in name.
The curse of Big is working.