The life and durability of products and services are reduced and changed to intensify the purchasing cycle, and increasing levels of psychology are applied to motivate us to buy.
Every element in the operation is dictated by the pressure of attracting and retaining shareholders, and this is achieved by producing ever increasing levels of profit. Stock Markets add to the frenzy by intertwining rumour and doubt with profit forecasts, in an environment of nervous tension as marked as a gazelle unsure of the presence of a hungry lion.
The level of pressure generated in producing profits can become so intense that financial scandals are an inevitable by-product. Even that independent temple of financial probity, the accountant, has sometimes been induced to present corporate accounts in a positive light which does not represent the true financial state of the company.
As well as the spur for development and innovation, profit can provide the incentive for fraud. This is by no means a modern phenomenon, born out by the ancient oriental wisdom that, “When a financial value is applied to possessions, crime is created.”
We need as a society to confront this increasingly insatiable beast we have created and consider how it should operate for the benefit of all. To do this we need to look at the following:
1. Realize that profit contains addictive qualities.
2. That we are human and succumb to those qualities. This reduces our quality of life and overall wellbeing, by reducing our goals and perspective on how we view and live our lives to basic financial criteria.
3. At the root cause of global warming is a desire for profit which could threaten our future survival as a species.
4. Profit is a proven motivator, and to this extent is beneficial as a part of our personal development.
It is the beliefs we have evolved over millennia that determine how we conduct business practice and our attitude towards profit. The investment of capital demands a return, and the greater the return the more beneficial the perceived use of that capital.
Perhaps, but we are now seeing rapid expansion and profit growth within the corporate sector, as it enters the new global village, which cannot be continued once globalisation has settled down. Traditionally at this stage in the business cycle business turns to new markets and new products to continue growth.
However, by the very nature of globalisation we are reaching saturation point on this planet, which leaves us with outer space – and that is a whole new can of worms which we are already beginning to apply the can opener to!
Exciting as this prospect is, before we don our space suits maybe we need to carry out a review of where we are at as a species, to be sure we are ready and capable to tackle the boundless frontiers of the universe.
With this in mind maybe we should start looking at and reviewing what we are doing as a species at the moment. The goal of this inventory would be to gain as wide a perspective about how we live life as we possibly can.
In so doing we can develop a better understanding of who and what we are in preparation for the next giant step in our evolutionary progress. The spin off might also be that we better manage our desire for profit, rather than it increasingly managing us.
We cannot solve the problems we have created until we change the manner in which we treat our planet, each other, and our attitude to our political and corporate activity. It is these beliefs that are the primary cause of the problems we are now facing, and unless we review them how can they possibly provide any solutions?
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