The United States consistently ranks among the most “generous” countries in the world – we citizens routinely rank very high in the categories of helping someone we don’t know, donating money to charity, or volunteering our time to an organization. A Marketwatch article from December 2019 cites results from the World Giving Index, an instrument […]
hypercapitalism
So-called “Flushable Wipes:” A Case Study in Hyperindividualism and Striving for the Common Good
One of the more bizarre and annoying fallouts from the COVID-19 pandemic has been the hoarding of toilet paper and other essentials. For weeks, shoppers found the TP shelf of their grocery store completely empty, with only a meager supply of so-called “flushable wipes” available as a substitute. Many psychological reasons have been given for […]
Television Ads in the Age of COVID-19
Watching just a few hours of television in early April 2020 reveals dozens of advertisements for the whole range of goods and services available in our society. Whatever we may think of the American version of capitalism (more properly “hypercapitalism”), it is our economic reality. It is thus an interesting and instructive exercise to examine […]
Defining Our Terms: Essential for the 2020 Race
Terminology matters. As the 2020 presidential election cycle heats up, there is a great deal of banter in the air, among politicians, pundits, journalists, citizens, etc., about terms such as “socialism,” “Democratic Socialism,” “the radical left,” “welfare state,” capitalism and others. I am not an expert in economics or political science, but I offer the […]