I did not write the following piece but I certainly have expressed these same sentiments many times. It is a clever way to put it though. I admit that.
What would the game of basketball look like if it followed the same rules as the “real world”?
First, I would charge an admission fee not only to watch the game but to play in it. And the more one pays, the longer one gets to stay in the game.
Second, there should be a price paid for each shot taken, and the easier the shot, the more it should cost.
Third, as for fouls, one should be able to pay the referees, so that they never call any fouls on you (or walking or double dribble violations for that matter).
Fourth – and maybe most important – there is no good reason that the baskets should be the same height for both teams. It should be possible for the team that pays more to have its basket lowered, and for double that amount to have the basket the other team is going for raised.
Under present rules, those players who are taller and better coordinated and can run faster and jump higher have all the advantages. My rules would exchange the advantages enjoyed by these people for other advantages that would benefit a different group, one that has been poorly served by basketball as now played. That group is the rich. With my rules, the rich would possess all the “talent” (what it takes to win) and – more in keeping with what occurs in the rest of society – never lose a game.
This illustrates pretty well the environment we’ve created in the US.
On the court in the real game of basketball, beside the fame and pay, the best TEAM wins. The best players are the ones that make the players around them better. That is why we love basketball. We are rewarded for what we know is the best in us.
We live in a world that rewards power and money, all the while preaching that the meek shall inherit the earth, that a camel shall pass through the eye of a needle before a rich man enters the kingdom of heaven, and what is done to the least of us is done to all of us.
Those values are in direct contradication.
That is my single biggest issue with Capitalism, the “profit motive”, and the “its just business” mentality. It somehow expects us to abandon our most dearly held values….so that we can buy and make more stuff.
For a lot of people that “stuff” is food….I understand that decision. There is no morality for a starving man. However, for alot of us…it isn’t food. We’re held hostage to a cycle that created the very spiritual bankruptcy we’re trying to escape.
Have you ever heard the term “business decision”? Why would a business decision be any different than any other decision? Does it need its own naming convention? Are “business decisions” some sort of justification for what would be considered immoral in private life??
It is unrealistic to expect people to be able to follow one set of values in private life and another in business. People are not so pluralistic. They break or become numb if there is no consistency between there values and their actions.
My point, and one that I have been thinking about for years, is that Capitalism is a value system….not an economic model.
Life looks like the game of Basketball described above, but we preach a game of Basketball much like the one we play, one that rewards teamwork and people who take care of each other…which is why it appeals to us so much.
If we leave the “free market” to do what it likes, we will continue to resemble the game of basketball described above. We must make it behave using laws and government….or it will make us immoral.
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Thanks for the earlier reply. I knew you’d wow me. As for the topic below, I love it. I believe I could listen to rhetoric about capitalism all day long.
According to our good ole boy Webster,
“Capitalism- an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decisions, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market.”
“Free-Market- an economic market operating by free competition”
And back to the obvious,
“Capitalist- a person who has capital esp. invested in business; broadly: a person of wealth”
and to capital,
“Capital- (pertaining to our conversation and my theme) Accumlated goods devoted to the production of other goods,(3) accumlated possessions calculated to bring income.”
Well, if Webster says capitalism is the private or corporate ownership of capital goods, I have none. And most people don’t. I guess to make myself feel better I could buy some penny stock.
If webster says capitalism is mainly determined by competition in a free market, based on your basketball theme, is it really free competition or are some people playing with loaded dice from the get-go. You know what say, the rich get rich and the poor stay poor.
As for my meek opinion, I don’t think we practice capitalism at all. At least not the majority of us. I could probably count the people I know on one hand that own their own private business or corporation ( that are successful, and I’m not talking about the lawn care or home repair business either ). I don’t know many people who have accumulated enough wealth from investments and the like, to sit back on easy street and not work. In fact, the only real capital I can think of that most people have is their home, and there again, most people don’t really own that.
“Investments made by private decisions…” Come now, you know as well as I do, in our country, if you go high enough, there is always one man/woman, and the buck ulitimately stops there! Mostly our opinions are asked to make us feel good or spread out the liability if a decision goes badly wrong.
Yeah, I guess you could say capitalism is what founded this country, and you’re right, it did. I guess you could say we live in a place where we have the opportunity to strike it rich on our own merit, do we really? I guess that’s why there are soooo many self-made millionaires walking around the streets.
Nah, the way I see it, I’m just a pawn in somebody else’s chess game. Maybe one day I’ll make it up to knight or rook, but the chances of king, doubt it. My blood line or bank account aren’t stacked in my favor.
Sounds gloomy doesn’t it? Not really. It is what it is. Kind of like we talked before, same as being a professional athelete. We can’t all be Michael Jordan no matter how hard we practice.
The more I look at capitalism, the more it disturbs me. At least how I see it. And the bad thing, I don’t think much of communism or socialism either, so I guess my options are limited.
And what most people always say, ” You should be damn proud to live in a country where you have your freedom!” I guess that’s a whole other topic.
Keep letting the thoughts flow, gives me something to do now that I’m married. 🙂
JHO
Swirl,
What is Polsky up to these days??
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Tending bar I suppose?!?! I went to Manchaster Tavern down in Rock Hill and he seems to be there most nights. Seems to be doing well. He still keeps in touch with several people from college.
I was a little sad when he told me Pat Cauldwell, I’m sure you remember him, was hit by a train in his car several years back. Polsky said he’s been a quadrapelgic(sp) for several years now. He said the cause was a faulty crossing guard that never went down.
That’s about all I know,
Later
jho
I can put like 10 or 11 marshmallows in my mouth at one time, depending on the brand. And every once in a while, during deer season, I like to go play Bingo. Sometimes if the moon is just right, I put on panties and run through my local supermarket asking for directions to the local Veterans of Foreign War Clubhouse. You can marinate on them green apples while you pontificate on whether or not Nafta is actually beneficial in respect to the decline of migrant workers on the Eastern Seaboard. I am paying $2.89 a pound for Beefstake Tomatoes. What the fuck??
Swirly – I’m coming up real soon to visit my old lady’s dad. I’m getting married in early April so I have to come before then. I’ll get your number from Dykes. Oh yeah Dykes – I’ll have my people call your people. Pencil me in for three weeks from next month.