First of all, let me start by saying that I believe there really is good capitalism. I’ve never seen it, but I think it is possible. Good capitalism encourages innovation, promotes the well being of society across all classes, and has built in safe-guards to prevent worker exploitation, obscene hoarding of resources, and most importantly – works hard to blur economic stratification.
The disgusting system we have in the USA isn’t anything like what I”ve described above. Quite the oppossite. Our system creates artificial barriers to entry, uses crony-legislation to discourage innovation or change, tends to encourage scheming and lying to the public and the so-called watchdogs of society, and allows those with a head start to create rules which let them take more of the public domain – and increasingly is privatising (selling off) assets and institutions set aside for the public. This is not capitalism – pure and simple – it is Exploitism and we are deeply in it. It’s fucking disgusting.
People are blind to it and worse- they encourage it. Last night, my family and I went to a school fund raising function. It was a dinner and show and tickets were $30 each. The price was a little steep for the demographics of the school – so most families didn’t go – which was what I had expected to see. Since we are only three – it wasn’t terrible for us. Dinner was about what you would expect and the show was nice and overall it was pretty satisfying but I was bothered by something else so much that I won’t go to another function put on by this particular organization.
When we bought the tickets (about 2 weeks in advance) there were two options – individual tickets at $30 each or you could purchase an entire table for $300 which included tickets for ten – so the cost was the same but you had a table set aside. Well, some genius who was obviously indoctrinated in bad capitalism decided that since these were reserved tables, that they were VIP tables – as oppossed to the rest of us who were obvioulsy not very important people.
So they covered the reserved tables with gold paper (the rest of us had white) and they moved them to the front of the room in a big line (a solid line which blocked everyone elses view of the show) and they made all of the rest of us wait to get in line to eat until after the VIP tables had all gotten their food, and they gave them individual shout outs of thanks.
Now, keep in mind – we all paid the same price per head – these were simply bigger family groups. So, in that sense it was bad capitalism in that the person who set it all up was offering more for the same price. Since the event was under-attended – the 10-top tables were the only full tables – in fact we had a table to ourselves – just the three of us – which was nice. And as I mentioned, the food was so-so and the entertainment was good.
It was that bad economic thinking that bothered me – and that they had gone to such a huge trouble to stratify us. I didn’t like the lessons they were teaching the kids and I didn’t like the idea that the people who set this thing up were responsible for my daughter’s education. First of all – it was a school event – there shouldn’t be VIP tables unless they are for dignitaries or special guests of some kind. Second – the VIPS were singled out without actually having done anything beyond what the non-VIPS had done (paid $30 each to come support their kid’s school). Third – the fucking idiots set up the tables so that everyone who wasn’t at a ‘gold’ table had an obstructed view because they had set the tables up in a solid line in front of the stage (and half the stage was at the same level).
If anyone reading this should ever happen to set up an event like that here are a few suggestons:
Offer a private table if ten or more buy tickets together (not a VIP table, for crying out loud – which btw wasn’t what was offered anyway)
Create a game where each table has a chance of going first – i.e. Give the tables numbers and then draw them from a hat or have a trivia challenge.
Set up the tables like clamshells with staggered spaces.
If you actually have to have VIP tickets – make them more expensive i.e. $500 for the coveted gold tablecloth and first in line priveliges – not just a matter of scale.
I’m just thankful my daughter didn’t ask me why we couldn’t sit at the VIP tables – what answer could I give? Those are for bigger families? Those people are more important than us? Those people paid more money in total? Or maybe it would have been a good time to explain about the arbitrary exploitation of certain classes and the subtleteies of discrimination and privelige…because that’s something every six-year-old should probably hear about earlier rather than later.