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The outrage about the pretty mild student loan forgiveness program gives us a pretty good indication of the depth of the struggle ahead on redistribution. Redistribution of wealth is inevitable in the After Capitalism world. We have identified inequality as one of the 7 key drivers moving us toward After Capitalism. There is no rabbit in the hat for this – it requires redistribution. This may seem a bit jolting after last week’s post on not demonizing capitalism and not appearing too radical. But we also have to be truthful. And have some difficult conversations … but have them strategically, tactfully, and diplomatically. We did a scenario a few years back, K-16, which extended free public education through undergrad. This got some folks lathered up, but this is already happening in other countries.
We can start by anticipating the obstacles. Number one is the “fairness” argument. The assumption is that fairness means equal treatment. Everybody is treated exactly same way. Context does not matter in this interpretation. For year’s now, I have been using a slide “Fairness is Impossible” to directly confront the assumption fairness = equal treatment. It depends on the context really. I use an example where a firm I worked with had the opportunity to hire someone that would have brought some great skills and credibility our firm. But she needed “special treatment.” Not that she was a prima dona, but she was retired and doing lots of other things. We had to decide if we would give her special, aka unequal or unfair treatment, and the firm unanimously voted yes. My point then and now is that we live in a context where it depends and the same treatment for everybody doesn’t make sense.
Yes, I acknowledge this is going to be a hard sell. If a little student loan forgiveness lights a fire, we really need to be ready! – Andy Hines
[…] decisions, but we currently we are just stuck. A few weeks ago, we looked at how the framing of “fairness” presents an obstacle. Today we look at the framing of […]