What’s Good For Me…

Ron McBay

I wish there were a way for the self-interest profit motive of capitalism to actually do right by people as a whole. But it’s a zero-sum game. Reaping personal benefit from your individual hard work is a better incentive than doing the right thing on behalf of the greater good. History seems to have proven that. But having winners means having losers.

Having losers in business seems harmless because “you can always start over.” But in a world of finite resources and opportunities, that just isn’t true. While market segmentation is just good business, what it actually means is giving preferred treatment to some while giving unpreferred treatment to others. Those who are most able to pay back their loans get the lowest interest rates, while the least able “bad risks” have the highest interest rates piled on top of their debt. But that’s just “good business.” Take care of your best customers.

Make no mistake: “Market Segmentation” is really “Divide and Conquer.”

Now that we’re heading into the new world of Artificial Intelligence, that will only codify the inequities that are already built in to the capitalist system. But who can argue with a computer? “This decision wasn’t personal.”

Exploitation of “the least of these” is the inevitable conclusion of “me first.”

Don’t tell yourself you’re one of “the good guys” because “I’m just looking out for what’s best for me and mine.” The corollary is always “what’s worst for ‘them’.”