Well it is, isn’t it? Makes the world go round. Drives invention, progress, new and ever newer gleaming bright things. Provides a form and framework for our society, and makes everything wonderful for us all. Or at least, potentially.
Or does it?
After the EU decided that Apple owed enough in unpaid tax to finance a struggling ‘third world’ – hate that phrase – country, the fact didn’t surprise me, and neither did the amount. What I found astounding was that, along with Apple, the Irish and US governments were up in arms.
So, I wonder, exactly how wonderful is Capitalism? It certainly makes a lot of money for some people – not many, but some. It also provides jobs for a lot of others. So far so good. But when the organisation is bigger financially than a country maybe some form of restraint is needed.
If Apple needs to create a non-existent head office to save 14.5 billion in taxes then either they are very bad business people, or they are plain greedy. And implying that they can find a different country to operate from if you make too much fuss leads me to suspect the latter.
As we seem to have settled on the capitalist matrix as the standard societal form, does that mean that we have to accept the unjustified greed that goes with it. If someone starts a company, builds it up, develops and expands it, then a decent remuneration seems justified. But is it necessary to be so extreme? Is 100 times the average wage good enough? Does it need to be 200 times? 300?
The answer is, it seems, as much as you can get away with. The obscenity of inflated salaries is the norm, across any and every industry. And the divide it creates is the reason there is a disconnection in society. Interesting that if the masses complain about the pay gap it is from jealousy and greed. If a corporate director pockets millions it’s an indication of their value.
Maybe, just maybe, if the billions syphoned off by the few was spread wider, and further down the pyramid, then maybe, just maybe, large numbers in our society may feel a little more valued, and a bit more connected.
It’s not a universal panacea for all the world’s ills, but adjusting inequality just a little could go a long way to prove that we have moved forward, that we do value everyone, that we do live within an inclusive society.
I love being naive.
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