Greediness: "What's the Deal?"

"Why do people try to consume lots of things even though it doesn't make them happier?"

The title of this blog is called "Greediness: What's the Deal?" It is named this because it answers the question asked; people are greedy. Now, why they are not happy with being greedy is another question and could be another blog, but we'll consolidate both answers...Here we go:

People usually consume things in excess because of a void that has been left in their life; something is missing. It could be love, friendship and/or companionship, whatever the case these people were not happy in the first place so hoarding becomes a habitual hobby, if you will. Wealthy people tend to consume things at an increased rate than a middle class, or impoverished individual just because they can; they have the funds and resources so consumption of anything becomes simple and easy whereas a individual like me would have to work, sometimes hard to get to the point where I could consume anything (LOL).
For example, if I were to buy an i-Pod for the first time I would be excited and satisfied with that i-Pod. Now if Apple came out with several different colors or versions of that same exact i-Pod I would be inclined to go and get that i-Pod just because it's a different color or version, not because it would make me happier.
My mom used to tell me that my eyes were bigger than my pockets. Well, in this case I can say that anyone who tries to consume lots of things have pockets that matches the size of their "big" eyes.

What is business for?

I have always seen the purpose of business as a means to serve the community by providing goods and services. If you look back in time to when humans started gathering in larger groups, you can see the necessity of business. A farmer provided food for weavers; weavers provided clothing for farmers. This is the simplest form of business – transaction of trade, seen as C-M-C in Marx. Surplus commodities are exchanged to serve use-values. Needs are met.

Business also provided an outlet for personal fulfillment and growth. People could specialize, which led to advancements in the production (both quantitative and qualitative) of goods. Business created a happier society, because people could excel at their specialty and generate a surplus of products of use-value for everyone.

Marx then talks about M-C-M’, which is the exchange of money for commodity to make more money, which removes business from its original purpose. In this equation, there is no focus on providing use-values to a community. We now see quantitative growth for the individual. This translates into exploitation of the commodity – the sale of an item for a cost higher than its original value, while the use-value is the same. In present day, people of the community have become the commodity in the form of labor and are thus exploited by the same means.

If an individual wanted to specialize in weaving today and set up a shop, they would be crushed by the corporate competition. People, who would have once specialized, are now wage earners for those corporations. Most wage-earner positions are similar, repetitive, and lack any individualization. A cashier at a Wal-Mart is the same as a cashier at Best Buy. There is no specialization – just a labor force to better serve the need of the individual in the pursuit of profit-making (M-C-M’). Thus business has moved away from its original purpose to serve the community and create specialization, and moved towards the gains of the individual, which in turn decreases the productivity and happiness of the community as a whole.

I used to think that business is for providing people with an increased standard of living. That is I believed that people created products to make the life of the rest of the world easier and more sustainable, which brings forth the term technology. Technological advances help make the life of people who need those technologies less difficult. Marx challenges this view by arguing that business is just a way for people to make money by spending it. He basically says that people invest (or appropriate) their money to a certain commodity in order to exchange it for a higher amount of money thus completing their cycle of business. He implies that every man’s main order of business is to increase their quantity of money. I agree with Marx’s claim that business is just buying to sell in order to increase one’s monetary value. I also feel that my views is important because these people are increasing their monetary value in order to increase their standard of living.

What business means

I think businesses are to satisfy peoples’ needs and to make a profit. When you have a business, it is basically a requirement to make profits. In actuality, if you have no profits, then you will either have a struggling business or no business at all. To make a profit, your consumers buy your products. If your product satisfies your consumer’s needs, then they will more than likely come back and purchase that same or more products considering you are a dependable business. Therefore, you make profits. From what I’ve understood from the reading, Marx and I have the same notion on business. Marx explains the C-M-C concept which is pretty much the idea of a business. C-M-C is “selling in order to buy”. For instance, the seller buys the product, consumers then “pay him back” by purchasing that product, and then the seller has more money to buy more products. The idea that business is important is because it satisfies our human needs and with that, businesses can satisfy us more by supplying more of what we need.

What is business?

Personally, I believe first and foremost that a business is bound to its literal definition, that being a profit seeking industry or enterprise. The most elementary and predominant goal of a business should be fundamentally to make money. Those in charge of operating the industry need to earn a living. So earning a profit is a necessity for the time and effort employed in producing a commodity, whether good or service, that can exhibit a use value for the public, but more importantly, an exchange value for the manufacturer in Marx’s M-C-M cycle. Marx seems to agree with this. Being in a profitless M-C-M cycle is redundant. In order for this cycle to be effective, money must be invested in a commodity or bundle of commodities that can ultimately be transformed into a new commodity, with a use value for the public, that can be sold for more than the commodities used to manufacture it. “But industrial capital too is money which has been changed into commodities, and reconverted into more money by the sale of these commodities” (Marx 256). If you purchase the ingredients and produce steel, you can sell it for more than the components used in it. “The ceaseless augmentation of value, which the miser seeks to attain by saving his money from circulation, is achieved by the more acute capitalist by means of throwing his money again and again into circulation” (255). In other words, what Marx is stating here is that if companies invest money into commodities to earn a profit upon resale, more money can be circulated and gained, benefiting the industries and the economy. Ultimately, I think my claim that businesses should be profit seeking is accurate, and I think that this is important because, as Marx said, it is the passion and drive for enrichment that fuel the markets and can benefit the businesses that are part of the market.