Morality And Markets

Back in 2013, Pope Francis was called a Marxist by popular radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh. The pope had "earned" this by simply questioning capitalism's neglect of the poor... In one fell swoop Limbaugh shows he understands neither Jesus nor market economics.

_{Image by tangi bertin - source: Flickr}

Actually it's not just Limbaugh, but all who see a truly free market as the solution to many of our modern problems, which in their minds are caused by what they perceive to be "crony capitalism," an economy in which businesses are successful only through personal relationships and government intervention. Let me first define what a free market is: a market without economic intervention and regulation by government, except to regulate against force or fraud. Government is not necessary for the most part according to them, as they see free markets being able to somehow generate an equilibrium in which each individual gets what he rightly deserves. All this while operating under the laws of supply and demand where at some point the two meet, as if guided by an "invisible hand."

In the past decades, in fact all of my adult life the cry for less government has been a constant; although the split between left and right in politics has maintained its sharp contrast, it's also evident the the entirety of the spectrum has moved sharply to the right. There are no more communist parties. Gone are the socialist parties. The most leftist political entities left in western societies are of the social-democratic kind found in western Europe mostly; in the Scandinavian countries for example. And they amount to being proponents of a free market economy with heavy government regulation and a large social safety-net payed for by rather heavy taxation; from left to right, long term perspectives have all incorporated capitalism as the way forward.

Capitalism has no antagonist anymore, and maybe that's why I feel the need to regularly warn against its shortcomings and dangers. I feel disappointed that it's necessary to make the point that a truly free market, much like a completely government planned economy, is a pipe-dream, bound to fail. Unless you believe a return to child-labor and slavery is feasible of course, because regulating the economy already starts with collectively (not individually) agreeing upon what's ethical and what's not. You can trade cows, but you can't trade humans. And even in trading cows there's certain rules regarding the treatment of the bovine creatures. Our cultural evolution, which is closely intertwined with our biological evolution, won't allow for free markets.

Heralds of the truly free market detest demands coming from the elected government, but embrace "market demands." Besides the laws of supply and demand, there's also the law of growth in capitalism, the law of making a profit. Problems arise when we think about the systemic addiction to growth in relationship to ethics and moral behavior; the profitable thing to do is more often than not also the unethical thing to do. Behaving ethically means you're constrained, it limits the methods you allow yourself to use for making a profit. Competing in an ethical manner against a company that throws morals out the door, is a futile venture in most cases, although there are those rare occasions when the ethical choice is also the strategically sound choice. The ethical way to do business is to not move your place of production to a country where child-labor is legal and where environmental laws are non-existent, to not use "sweat shops," to pay a living wage, to try to not fire your employees, and so on. Market demands decide otherwise though.

_{source: Wikimedia Commons}

The above explains how businesses in a profit and growth driven market inevitably evolve in the direction of ruthlessness. Moral behavior ultimately is financial suicide in a free market. This is illustrated beautifully by recent developments at Google. For years the company motto was "Don't Be Evil." I think we're all old enough here to recognize how this company has become more ruthless throughout the years by increasing their focus on profits while slowly forgetting their initial promise to the customers. Since the company has been taken over by ABC, they all but removed this motto from their "code of conduct," except once as a throw away line at the very end. Luckily we have the Wayback Machine on the internet, so we can compare the opening paragraphs from before and after the change:

"Don't be evil." Googlers generally apply those words to how we serve our users. But "Don't be evil" is much more than that. Yes, it's about providing our users unbiased access to information, focusing on their needs and giving them the best products and services that we can. But it's also about doing the right thing more generally - following the law, acting honorably, and treating co-workers with courtesy and respect. The Google Code of Conduct is one of the ways we put "Don't be evil" into practice. It's built around the recognition that everything we do in connection with our work at Google will be, and should be, measured against the highest possible standards of ethical business conduct. We set the bar that high for practical as well as aspirational reasons: Our commitment to the highest standards helps us hire great people, build great products, and attract loyal users. Trust and mutual respect among employees and users are the foundation of our success, and they are something we need to earn every day.
_{source: Wayback Machine, April 21, 2018}

The Google Code of Conduct is one of the ways we put Google's values into practice. It's built around the recognition that everything we do in connection with our work at Google will be, and should be, measured against the highest possible standards of ethical business conduct. We set the bar that high for practical as well as aspirational reasons: Our commitment to the highest standards helps us hire great people, build great products, and attract loyal users. Respect for our users, for the opportunity, and for each other are foundational to our success, and are something we need to support every day.
_{source: Wayback Machine, May 4, 2018}

See the change in bias? Most interestingly, in the new version they add respect "for the opportunity," and give it the same importance, the same weight as respect for co-workers and customers; profits are at least as important as other human beings, because growth... Blind faith in market forces and blind hate for government intervention have brought us to a situation where we feel sad for our colleagues when they lose their jobs as a result of austerity or the company having to cut costs in murderous competition, but at the same time understand the company's need to cut costs. This is a sad state of affairs if you ask me, certainly when it's not the company's immediate survival that's at stake, but not meeting bottom-lines and the shareholder's ire are the cause of concern. Google now doesn't provide the best search results, but the results its algorithms have calculated to best suit you, so they can sell you. Even when you start with the best intentions, the market rewards those who are best at setting those good intentions aside.

Capitalism can be effective, yes. It can create wealth, yes. But is it good? Do market demands make for better people? Or is that up to us? And if so, is it up to us individually, as a society, or both? Given that we evolve culturally much faster than we do biologically, do we want our culture to be shaped by market demands, or do we want to restrain the market with said culture including its ethical aspects? Did you know that those Scandinavian countries score best on most "happiness-indexes," and that they score best in fields of education, crime numbers, drug use, suicide, depression, ...? The economy is not a force of nature, we are. Even the Pope understands as much.

_{Google - Don't be Evil (Hungry Beast) A must see}

---

Thanks so much for visiting my blog and reading my posts dear reader, I appreciate that a lot :-) If you like my content, please consider leaving a comment, upvote or resteem. I'll be back here tomorrow and sincerely hope you'll join me. Until then, keep steeming!

Recent articles you might be interested in:

Latest article >>>>>>>>>>>	Endgame: My Final Thoughts (Spoilers!)
Evolutionary Basis Of Religion	Reptilian Marketing
Avengers: Endgame, A Quick Reaction	Language, Smiles, Power And Empathy
The Natural Nature Of The Supernatural	Intellectual Monopoly

Thanks for stopping by and reading. If you really liked this content, if you disagree (or if you do agree), please leave a comment. Of course, upvotes, follows, resteems are all greatly appreciated, but nothing brings me and you more growth than sharing our ideas. It's what Steemit is made for!

I am a proud helpinaut! @Helpie is looking for new members! Helpie has been growing nicely and we are always on the lookout for new valuable members. We are very supportive and community oriented. If you would like to be scouted for @helpie , please drop a comment on THIS POST or contact @paintingangels on discord at paintingangels(serena)#3668.

Just for Full Disclosure, I'm invested in these crypto-currencies:

Bitcoin | Litecoin | EOS | OmiseGo | FunFair | KIN | Pillar | DENT | Polymath | XDCE | 0x | Decred | Ethereum | Carmel | XYO



@helpie is a WITNESS now! So please help @helpie help you by voting for us here!