The Economist has a nice feature on the man whose psychological work is foundational to my own thinking, Abraham Maslow, in their October 10th, 2008 edition.
Abraham Maslow
This line from the article struck me:
"Maslow was described by Peter Drucker as “the father of humanist psychology”. But Drucker took issue with Maslow’s hierarchy, complaining that he had not seen that “a want changes in the act of being satisfied”. Hence “as a want approaches satiety its capacity to reward, and with it its power as an incentive, diminishes fast”. And so (as we now know well) top executives can never be paid enough for them to be satisfied."
Maslow actually does account for Drucker's criticism. He just regarded such people as insecure or D-value motivated people. Meaning, Maslow argued, correctly, I believe, that such people are trying to satisfy higher needs with lower need motivators. They are trying to be important and have more money and stuff when really what they want and need is more respect and appreciation of their efforts. They keep trying to use money to feel more important or appreciated than they really are or feel. And, sadly, all it serves to do is increase the level of envy and frustration that others have with them.
More than that, the current situation seriously undermines my confidence in either those executives or our political leaders to be responsible in situations like these financial hard times and the capacity for money to motivate real responsibility.
All those banking executives make all that money and they can't even manage their own businesses when they are failing, as much as when they are succeeding?
Pathetic.
And a sign of how little power or money really correlates with real responsibility or the courage to take it.
I work for a local school district and have to follow fairly prescriptive mandates from my state and Federal governments, and those assholes can't find the money to contribute money they've already promised and has already been legislated for special education? Those assholes can't find the 40% of special education expenses they've promised versus the 9% they've delivered (the last I saw numbers), but they can find fucking $700 billion for bankers who made shitty investments? I work much more directly for the Feds, and they can't find the money to pay for contributions or for those of us in my field, but they can find fucking $700 billion dollars to make sure that these banking executives get to take home their golden parachutes all in one piece and noone has to eat the fucking costs of mistakes that, to be fair, do lay at the feet of many of those in the Federal government, but, ultimately, lay at the feet of those who made the bad investments?
It's one of the biggest loads of shit I have ever had to watch in national politics in my entire fucking life.
I wish someone would pay me all that money to watch my business fail, not take any responsibility, and have the government step in keep me afloat.
I won't hold my breath.
But, apparently, according to folks in Washington, this is how the world is supposed to work.
Because they're all fucking lame is why. Scared little children looking around for Papa Government to come in and save them. No matter how much power folks in Washington have, they can never take responsibility. And no matter how much money folks on Wall Street have, they can never do the same.
Much of that has to do with how we treat people when they try to take honest responsibility for their mistakes. But, to be fair, many of these same people who are not willing to take responsibility are the same folks who advocate the kind of punitive treatment that makes people less willing to take responsibility more publicly and openly.
What Papa Government needs to do is to stop trying to nail people for their mistakes, except when a clear and present danger presents itself to the physical well-being of others - to avoid using force unless force is involved and there are no alternatives to stop it - and to get the hell out of the way and let his children fail and learn their lessons. And to stay out of their way, as much as possible, in the future.
But we're too scared to be that kind of grown-up.
So we let all those executives make off with millions while their businesses fail and let taxpayers pick up the tab. Government takes on a substantial proportion of the economy, Congress bets with our money that businesses will turn around, and if they don't, we eat the costs and those executives still get paid.
Congress and the President makes taxpayers take "ownership" (I say that in quotes, since it is pretty clear that Americans do not want to take on this venture), executives take none, they still get paid, whether the company fails or succeeds, and they do so in the name of steering their ship to higher tides.
No wonder kids would look out into this world and say to themselves, "This place is fucked up. And everyone looks prepared to keep it that way."
It backasswards, is what it is.
It is all kinds of good intentions with noone taking responsibility. It is the opposite of what a liberal democracy is supposed to be. But as long as peoples' pockets are being lined and politicians get to rationalize their power, it is all good, apparently.
Except it's not. It's a big fat lie, is what it is.
And I, for one, am tired of watching this poor excuse for a liberal democracy pretend like it is moving in the direction of "progress."
Progress is when we call out this bullshit for what it is. And stop making excuses for what self-centered lameasses the world has resigned itself to being. Progress is when we stop being self-centered shitheads and lameasses and start taking responsibility for ourselves and our actions and their consequences in a spirit of more genuine and collaborative community.
Progress is when we treat one anther better. All of us.
That is the standard for progress. And no amount of bullshit will ever compensate for that reality.
