Capitalism doesn’t work for social good

To the editor:

Capitalism may work well for generating or competing to have wealth, but it’s obtusely dysfunctional when it comes to sustaining and perpetuating humanity. The profit incentive works, if not unfair, for resource distribution when the resources available for extraction and the waste recombination seem unlimited. The enlightenment of global warming, however, has revealed this not to be the case. We can no longer waste our Mother’s gifts, and waste our own health in the process (or, more importantly, waste our children’s capacity to engage in this journey). Ultimately, health care and education are two necessities wherein capitalism and humanity do not mingle.

There is a different motivation behind those compelled to serve others and those driven by self-interest. Ergo, the profit motive won’t work for health care, nor will it for education. If capitalism and any virtue in its resource distribution were truly compensating merit, these careers would warrant a much larger share of the pie. When it comes to the essential priority of perpetuating our organic refinement, teachers, health care professionals and spiritual ministers would be the highest paid careers, but they’re not.

They’re not because those motivated to seek “human good,” seek only sustainable living before giving back, unmotivated to take more than needed in fear of tomorrow.

John S. Sonin

Juneau