CAPITALISM
Capitalism as practiced today seems to have, as a bi-product, a subtle kind of non-morality and seems to be encouraging class division.  I continue to kick around alternative ideas to capitalism. The goal is to find a way to minimize the gap between the classes that still encourages talent and hard work.
 
From the world of professional sports consider the salary cap. Wealth cannot be amassed for its own sake or handed down, passed on etc. Unless the individual creates jobs or expands potential business, a cap is in place.  Maybe at one point in a successful life, a salary cap is reached. The person reaches a point where everything is free; no need for money, now don’t even start me on how the heck that would work, but in effect, the person would have earned the top level so money is essentially not necessary. It’s about a rational and deliberate method of redistribution of wealth without the obvious ‘just tax the rich’.  For fun, try to imagine a system that protects the lower and middle strata with health care, lower taxes and rational social programs -- but a system that works without taking away rewards thus the incentives for hard work from those who excel and have the talent to innovate and create for the rest of us.

I read about the Social Capitalist award (type in to Goggle for details).  These awards are for innovative businesses that balance the creation of capital, with the bigger social consequences. Cigarettes and alcohol are examples of capitalists not prepared to consider the big picture of actual cost related to the formation of their profit. If the related social consequence, which reflects the related residual costs, were added, packs of cigarettes and your martini would be quite expensive.

So what would it be like if the costs of so many things reflected the “real” costs.  Shop better.  Save more.  Become more, by doing with less?