Economics 2101
I made up a story comparing the Predatory Capitalism of today with the mom and pop capitalism of 100 years ago. Let’s welcome Willard Suggins, a chicken farmer, a self sufficient farmer, from 1912. Also introducing CEO of Big Chicken Corporation, Melvin Pinholster the Third, representing 2012.
Go back to 1908 when there was still many independent farms and uncut,gigantic forests, and most of the Goddesses original brooks and streams were still intact, yet to be demolished by progress.
Willard Suggins was a young man with a small herd of chickens and a modest dream. His hard working youth netted him enough savings to buy a small 50 acre farm. Standing in his driveway one day he was watching the chickens and like his Mom and Dad he likes the way they run around the yard being mischievous, and being useful by eating excessive insect populations.
The free range chickens had a fun life till they needed to be eaten, and went through a humane death unlike todays factory production style of meat and its subsequent animal torture.
Willard Suggins was a young man with a small herd of chickens and a modest dream. His hard working youth netted him enough savings to buy a small 50 acre farm. Standing in his driveway one day he was watching the chickens and like his Mom and Dad he likes the way they run around the yard being mischievous, and being useful by eating excessive insect populations.
The free range chickens had a fun life till they needed to be eaten, and went through a humane death unlike todays factory production style of meat and its subsequent animal torture.
Shortly before Willard’s first winter on his new farm, his dad brought over some nicely seasoned firewood for smoking meat and keeping the house warm. There was so much to do with the harvest Willard didn’t have enough time to do this and his father was glad to help. They quietly knew that someday Willard would be helping his parents.
His initial herd of 30 chickens had gotten bigger, and by the end of ’09 he expanded to about 80 birds. In 2009, Melvin Pinholsters 55,000 chickens also live on about 50 acres, its attendant stench sometimes drifting in the air as the chickens squawk and cackle in the one square foot cage they spend their lives in and then yowl in pain as their beaks are cut off. Even to a greedmeister like Pinholster, whose only concern is profits, the stench and overcrowded conditions seem extreme. The boss of the “farm”, Toby Dogdrag, assures him that this is how everyone does it. Toby found some really cheap 3rd rate feed to save money. He jokingly calls it Cannibal Kibbles because it has chopped up chicken parts in the feed. He’s not even sure of the legality of it because he knows that cows are no longer allowed to eat chopped up cow parts because of the fear of mad cow disease.
I don’t know what you remember, but Kentucky Fried Chicken tasted much better 30 years ago. Tough veiny unhappy meat today, it doesn't taste the same, I swear. Factory farming is only about profits and the chickens are nothing more than bolts or boxes or packaging. The incredibly small area they live in is something Americans don’t want to think about. “Chickens are not supposed to be healthy, my bank account is supposed to be healthy. In fact, "I hate chickens”, said Melvin Pinholster the Third.
Willard Suggins has a growing list of customers and people visit on carts and horses. There are a couple automobiles out this way, but none at the farm yet, till finally one day someone drove in with a backfiring Oldsmobile and it didn’t seem to bother the chickens, despite the noise. Farmer Suggins approached the man as he stepped out of the car. “Hi Willard!, I got a barbeque tonight, how about a couple frisky ones.”
Local butchers visit and head chefs from downtown become customers and soon Willard is the go-to guy for quality. To keep cash flow going with his young business he also does chores and repairs for people. One day he fixed ‘widder’ Gladys water pump and the three dollars came in handy. He was able to buy nails he needed to finish another coop for next years expansion.
TWO years go by in each time period and both businesses are doing well financially, in fact Melvin’s tax shelter, a failing egg operation has ………turned a profit. Uh oh, he flies out to California to look at a new tax loss, a citrus grove. When offered an orange from his new grove he refuses to take it. A previous trip to the chemical storage shed nearly made him sick from the stench of spilled powdery poisons and chemical smells that bags cannot contain. He reminds himself to have the maid buy more organic vegetables, he can afford it after all, ironically, because factory produced meat has been good for the bottom line.
Back to 1912 and Willard was now selling 20 dozen eggs a week and his eatin’ chickens are known as the plumpest and juiciest around. By age 25 he eclipsed his dad’s success and his dad could not be prouder.
The question for all of us is which style of capitalism do we prefer for our world by 2101? Not sure? Pride in the product and service? Or profits of the product only? Low wages and animal cruelty accepted as the cost of doing business?
This goes for all products in the world. Cheap imported sneakers for us and grinding poverty for the people that make them is another example in a long list of corporate abuses masking as Capitalism and we accept this as the American Way? We build for the future, and our futures future. Economics 2101
This goes for all products in the world. Cheap imported sneakers for us and grinding poverty for the people that make them is another example in a long list of corporate abuses masking as Capitalism and we accept this as the American Way? We build for the future, and our futures future. Economics 2101
