Post 30 Growth is Good?

GROWTH

It’s strange to compare how we feel about ‘growth’
When related to publicised trends
But growth inside us can cause worry and fuss
And fears of the chance that life ends

The mantra all over is ‘bigger is best’
From gurus of business and state
But feral inflation can get out of hand
And will, if we leave it too late

We’re duped into thinking we need more and more
Never mind the phenomenal waste
The profit still builds to the top of the heap
With indifferent and unseemly haste

So when the economists tell us the facts
That growth has to always increase
Remember enlargement is not always right
When everything growing must cease

I have an increasing suspicion that the Capitalist system is the ultimate ‘pyramid selling’ model. We don’t hear so much about this moneymaking method as we used to, but it was (still is?) the direct opposite of the theory that increasing wealth would ultimately ‘trickle down’ to the deserving poor; espoused by Mrs Thatcher in the booming eighties.

My Hubby and I had personal experience of the Pyramid selling technique, when some neighbours invited us to an evening gathering at their smallholding, just up the road from us. We had met them via our daughter’s desire for horse riding lessons; which they supplied, in exchange for our horse Sam; an ungelded Welsh cob, that we had been given by some horse riding friends, in an attempt to avoid him going for meat; the usual end for unwanted horse flesh.

With us he was uncontrollable and a liability; only providing some comic relief when watching Pete trying to unsuccessfully corral him with our ancient Fergie tractor. At his new home he thrived; and went on to win many prizes at gymkhanas for his jumping abilities; which he had already mastered before he left our fields, by leaping over any gate or barrier in his way.

But I digress. Back to Pyramid selling. The written invitation was mysteriously unforthcoming; but stipulated formal attire; which included asking Pete to wear a suit! We ignored this request, and attended; more out of curiosity than anything else. We, along with various other neighbours, gathered in the front room, where an easel had been set up in front of a couple of rows of chairs. We had to wait for enlightenment until the ‘speaker’ turned up, in a rather beat up old Jaguar; this observation being relevant to further events.

As proceedings progressed it appeared that the audience were being encouraged to buy quantities of plastic storage products (tupperware, produced by a company called Amway International) But the real intent was to inveigle us into the method of marketing involved.

This consisted of future agents enrolling other agents to sell the ‘product’ from which they had a cut of the profits; and these agents, in their turn, enrolled more agents; from which they got a cut of their profits. Hence the agent at the top of the ‘pyramid’ ended up with the most available profit; culled off the back of the lower tiers; and which, in theory, would lead to significant monetary gain for all those committed to this selling technique, imported, of course, from the USA.

Far from expounding the desirability or usefulness of the many plastic containers (and a range of cleaning products, I seem to remember) the pep talk was focused on how the future agents presented themselves (hence the ‘formal attire’) and conducted their selling technique. According to the espousers significant money could be made, if potential ‘agents’ followed the rules; and this point was hammered home by the ‘successful’ speaker.

Pete sceptically regarded the beat up Jaguar, visible through the window, and commented that it wasn’t a very good advertisement for the ‘big sell’. When we left, all comers were presented with a tape of instructions on how to continue their induction into the world of successful marketing. When we got home we inserted said tape into our tape recorder (the ultimate high tech machine of the time!) and spent a happy hour falling about laughing at the instructions; which included such titbits as ‘walk faster and smile a lot’. And, despite us being vaguely agreeable to increasing our spending power, we understood, straight away, that this was the ‘scam’ of it’s day.

So, how does this experience relate to the present day? I contend that a glaring example of ‘pyramid’ selling is the upward flow of profit into the bank accounts of top executives, C.E.O.s, shareholders, International concerns and the like. The greater the money creamed off by those with the wherewithal to do so, the less there is available to ‘trickle’ down to those the most in need.

Money is no longer just a useful form of exchange for goods. It has evolved, via the machinations of financial obfuscation, into a predatory monster that gobbles up the small fry, and then spews out it’s ‘inflated’ worth for the benefit of the ‘already haves’; who seem to have lost any moral compass regarding financial dealings.

I know there is a lot more detail required to hammer this point home; and I am not a financial expert. But, to return to my original premise in the title, and poem, of this post, all growth is finite. We are becoming increasingly and uncomfortably aware of this incontrovertible fact; and sooner rather than later we need to take it on board. The ‘pyramid’ will collapse when the base support of ‘have nots’ finally give up the ghost.