Why Society Glorifies Cheaters and Speculators Who Bring Zero Value
In today’s market economy, speculation and cheating win over actual value providers.
Many self-help writers and gurus always preach: “Deliver value and you will get rich, and famous, etcetera!”
What all of those self-help writers forget in today’s capitalistic society is that those who bring true value are people like nurses, doctors, or teachers.
Those people are rarely celebrated.
Instead, we see business people, celebrities, and Wall Street hedge fund managers on the front pages of popular magazines and interviewed on television.
We don’t celebrate the people who bring humanity closer together or improve our lives, but those who make the most profit.
It doesn’t matter how they achieved their wealth, as long as they can show off their private yachts and multi-million dollar homes.
Some people just take photos of their asses and tits and we call that value! Really?!
Let’s examine that further.
For example, many writers often quote Steve Jobs. Yes, I agree he was a smart guy, et cetera, but as a human, he was an asshole.
If you aren’t aware, I invite you to read his biography or watch some movies portraying him. He treated his employees with no respect and his family, too.
Sorry, I will not tell my daughter this guy is a hero. But everyone, especially in America, praises and celebrates him. Many millennials think of him as a role model. Perhaps he is the creator of an Apple Computer and iPhone.
Also, he did not have to be an asshole. Besides, Apple, as a company, exploits cheap youth labor in China.
Some stories about how they treat workers are horrifying. But in our Western culture, we still celebrate Apple and buy its products.
Why do we need to upgrade our phone or computer every six months? We don’t need iPhone 10, 11, X, XX, XL.
Why can’t we have one phone or computer for years?
Why don’t we have more stores to fix broken phones?
It would be cheaper, more sustainable, and more humane. Those upgraded gadgets don’t deliver value to humanity.
Mark Zuckerberg is another so-called philanthropist. Yes, perhaps about how these entrepreneurs are altruistic and create jobs. But if you dig deeper, it is not the whole truth. Those heroes create more income disparity than sustainability.
It is easy to think of Zuckerberg as some kind of CEO hero — a once regular kid whose genius made him one of the richest men in the world, and who used that wealth for the benefit of others.
The image of his projects is of altruism untainted by self-interest. A quick scratch of the surface reveals that the structure of Zuckerberg’s charity enterprise is informed by much more than good-hearted altruism.
Kim Kardashian is the next popular celebrity which brings zero value to our planet or humanity. Why is she even a celebrity in the first place?
These are not my heroes and for me, the value they bring to humanity is dismissal.
Why are our firefighters, nurses, and teachers not equally valued?
The same can apply to best-selling authors. They don’t bring true value, but they know how to sell.
The same goes for many bloggers. Some bloggers bring enormous value to their readers, but their success depends more on their SEO and Social Media skills than how useful or interesting their content is.
Why aren’t service workers who bring value to humanity celebrated?
Under capitalism, value and price are confused. The public good is not fairly valued. It is not concerned with humanity or sustainability, but it does so for short-term gain or profit.
Our values are reversed and cheaters,speculators are acclaimed and promoted as role models. Instead, public workers contribute to society and should be recognized for their contribution.
Mariana Mazzucato is a Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at the University College London (UCL). She directs the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose.
In her book The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy, she has two principal arguments.
First, we have confused price with value, because much wealth flow today involves no creation of value.
Second, the government often creates “value”, by supporting those who claim to be wealth creators and have monopolized the attention of governments with the well-known mantra of giving us less tax, less regulation, and more market.
But much of the wealth generated today is not due to producing value.
As a result, if you contribute to the public good, such as in nursing, firefighting, or education, you will never be regarded as the ultimate success story or rewarded financially as “wealth creators” in the capitalist system.
I know this from my experience being a nurse, seeing my husband who is an ICU nurse and saved many lives. And many other coworkers. I know many teachers who are fighting only for a little raise and they are criticized, fired, and squashed by the government, which is busy bailing out banks and monopolies.
As Mariana Mazzucato concludes, if our current capitalistic system and governments don’t have clear value process creation in place, we will continue with a regressive tax policy that increases inequality.
That is why the CEO earns 340-times more than the average public service worker.
Maybe we as writers can change readers’ mindsets by writing more about those who deliver real values.
We should think more about our planet and the future of our kids. Teach them about the true value vs price.
