Rich people have a lot of power
One of the key questions of modern economics and politics is therefore
What do the rich really want?
The standard of assumption is tended to be more money,
but the reality is stranger and more hopeful.
Ironically, the one thing that the rich general aren't much more motivated by
is money itself.
They have far more than enough of that already, enough to keep 10 generations going.
The rich are not therefore working to make more money with an eye to spending it.
They're making more money in order to keep scored.
To put it as simplest, in order to be respected and liked.
The rich are working for love, and for honor
They stay up late in the office out of vanity,
because they want to be able to walk into rooms full of strangers,
and be swiftly recognised by those that matter as miraculous and clever.
Surveying the problem of capitalism, the standard response of the left
has been to suggest that one should simply tax the rich more.
But this fails to grasp and therefore properly to exploit the real psychological motives of the rich.
The rich only pursue money frantically to a great collective cost,
because wealth appears to be the primary, most objective source of honor in the modern world.
But if only we can fix how honor is obtained,
we can be able to redirect their mania to more socially beneficial ends in ways the working sync with their deformed, ego-driven personalities
At present, a natural inclination is to force the rich to give up their wealth using the instrument of new taxes,
but this strategy is doomed.
The chances of people running away and taking their assets with them is too great.
We need to go down a different route.
The aim is to seduce the rich,
to make them want to benefit their society in return for giving them what we know they deep down really want.
but haven't until now, reliably been able to get,
except through money, namely, honour!
we know well enough that societies can motivate people very powerfully through honour
soldiers will perform extraordinary feats in the battlefield
in return for the highest gratitude from their countries
they don't even asked to be paid very much!
scientists will labour in poverty for decades
in the hope of winning a nobel prize
yet as societies, we're only just beginning to explore what good can come out of vanity
in the realm of business.
In the commercial world, there are at present, no systematic failsafe methods for gaining status
in return for doing what society desperately needs capitalists to do:
treat their workers well,
and produce useful, environmentally-sound goods and services
in some countries, there may be the odd hope of a medal from the president or a royal,
if one behaves well
but the chances of securing one are simply too remote and unpredictable
to motivate hard-headed capitalists in their actions from day to day
it remains far more rational to peg one's hopes for status on the verifiable criteria of money
rather than the vague chance of an invitation from the palace
this is precisely what needs to be changed
society should do a systematic deal with capitalists
it should give them the honour and love they so badly crave
in exchange for treating their workers as human beings;
not abusing customers, and properly looking after the planet
the prestige should be enormous!
A bit like winning the nobel prize, the victoria cross or the pulitzer prize
in other words, a fitting target for capitalists,
the most ambitious and narcissistically craven and damaged people in any society
the founding figure of modern economics, Adam Smith,
cleverly recognized the two chief motivating factors in human life:
the love of money, and the love of glory
he argued that a wiser society must learn how to harness the love of glory at times, like now,
when the public good come into conflict with the love of riches.
We need the energy of entrepreneurs, we need their drive and determination
but if these business people continue to be motivated by unchecked profit alone
we will all go to ruin.
to solve the problem, we don't have to wait until the rich miraculously grow magnanimous or kind,
we should target the vanity of the rich, and encourage them to act well from their most powerful of desires:
the desire to be loved <3
It will be a very small price to pay,
in return for a more humane version of capitalism