Why local?

Why local?

A local economy is the key to a healthy community. Over the past hundred years, the United States has lost most of its local economies to the global economy, and the result has been loss of livelihood, loss of social cohesion, and loss of culture.

I. Livelihood
The global economy seeks to represent the well-being of its members through monetary symbols, such as “gross national product”. Reporters for the industrial economy tell us the result of increased efficiency has been unprecedented prosperity. However, profits which are reported on paper, however, do not in fact represent the well-being of our communities, families, and selves. In fact, an economy based on monetary profit is worse off when its communities thrive by living off of its own resources. “Subsistence is bad for the industrial economy and for the paper economy of the financiers; it is good for the actual, real-world economy by which people live and are fed, clothed, and housed.” Windell Berry. Therefore, as the industrial economy grows stronger, our communities are struggling more than ever. Industrial capitalism prospers by producing commodities at lower and lower prices, and by replacing labor with technology. This system forces country people to move to the cities so that industrial agriculture can expand. Meanwhile, communities are becoming more and more dependant on commodities that are produced elsewhere.
Besides the loss of self-sufficiency, communities have lost the power to choose products that sustain their needs. Whereas communities used to thrive by meeting their basic needs first, today families are surrounded by the cheaper and cheaper electronics while nutritional food is harder and harder to find. When communities produced their own food, they looked poor on paper, but their most important needs were met. Once, economy and community were synonymous, so that local activity met local need. Now, with one global economy, decisions on what is produced are made outside communities, and with monetary profit as the only goal. Profit makers can prey off communities by selling them products they don’t need, or selling products they do need for high prices. Only an economy that is alienated from communities can take advantage of people. When an economy is local, the workers are the decision makers, and the decisions are based off of first-hand experience of actual need.

II. Social cohesion
Social cohesion was lost in Western society when our local communities lost a sense of place. A sense of place is the feeling that you know who you are because you know where you live and that you are a part of the place you live in. This attribute has always been at risk in the US, where a culture of opportunity leaves us always looking for the next frontier. Communities with a sense of place, however, have a commitment to one another. When people interact on a daily basis, they are more likely to care for one another and want to help one another succeed. In old communities, this quality was an economic asset, and now days it is sorely lacking.
In addition, small, place-based communities passed knowledge and skills down through the generations. Work was a communal activity, and overlapped with play, such as when families harvested crops together and shared a meal afterwards. Today our work and play are segregated, and our work has little to do with the people around us. Loss of interaction with our neighbors has starved us of the economic and emotional support that comes from living in community.

III. Loss of culture
As we have lost connection with our neighbors, we have also lost a connection to the work we do. When economies were local, each product had meaning because of the connection it had to the person that made it. Products were not taken for granted, and were more likely to be given a proper value. Because they were made locally, products carried local culture and values with them.
In colonialism, the colony exported only raw goods and imported only finished goods. In our society’s version of colonialism, corporations take only labor from communities, and communities import only finished goods which they had no part in making. The result is one global culture, defined by the leaders of global corporations. Monoculture overwhelms local culture, and feeds itself by telling the world what to buy. Local knowledge, skill, and creativity, which once allowed communities to be self-sufficient, are now close to being lost forever.

Neo-liberalism: The Framework for a Global Economy

Globalization means that now, more than ever, we live in a global village. Multinational corporations, international banks, and international trade organizations have created one global economy. Neoliberalists propose the benefits of such an economy; there are also many dangers.
Neo-liberalism intends to create economic development for all nations through increasing global trade, thereby maximizing profits and efficiency. The theory grows out of classical economic liberalism as put forth by Adam Smith. Smith proposed that the market is most efficient when left untouched. According to his theory, market demand alone determines the most efficient allocation of capital. Therefore, Smith contended, any hindrance on a free market diminishes the efficiency and productivity of the economy.
Neo-liberalism takes Smith’s suggestion to an extreme by calling for a free market on a global scale. To increase international trade, neoliberalist policy calls for:
Freedom of trade (ex. Removal of tariffs)
Free flow of capital
Free ability to invest
Fiscal rectitude (limited government spending on health care and education)
Privatization of public-owned enterprises
Limited government regulation

The most contested assumption of economic liberalism is that the profit created from market productivity will “trickle down” and benefit all members of society. Other assumptions include:
sustained economic growth is the way to human progress; free markets without government interference is the most efficient allocation of resources; privatization removes inefficiencies of the public sector (Richard Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, Allyn and Bacon, 1999).
Despite the many assumptions and practical problems within free market capitalism, the theory itself is not the problem. The problem is that many atrocities occur under the shadow of neo-liberalism. Free-market rhetoric provides an excuse to put profit before people. The reality of human nature is: when profit is the goal and no regulation is in place, people will be exploited. As the global economy continues to grow, we have seen the lives of millions exploited. Governments and armies are used to make way for multinational corporations, all in the name of progress. Ironically, today’s so-called “development” resembles the unjust mercantilist policies that Adam Smith sought to overcome.

see: www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/FreeTrade/Neoliberalism.asp

Finding the Connection

Americans are unhappy, or so the statistics say. Sure, we have a robust economy and the power to purchase any product we like at the click of a button. But when consumerism is the goal and individuality is the method, it is no wonder we are feeling empty and alone. Our materialism has created a false reality --- a world where wealth is created at no expense to others, happiness flows from products made in unknown places, and our comfortable lives can be protected as long as we keep the greedy and undeserving out of our territory. Perhaps our misery comes from an underlying sense that maybe, just maybe, it’s all based on a lie.
Whether we realize it or not, our lives of materialism are void of meaning. We choose to live shallow lives because under our façade of happiness we may find that ours is a culture of destruction. If the world is in fact connected- if in fact my life has meaning in the life of another- then it is likely that my life has had a destructive impact on another’s life. When our culture is ready to see the painful consequences of consumerism, then we will be finally able to restore the meaning and depth we find missing in our lives.
If you venture to look, you will find there is a link between consumerism and global conflict. Poverty, genocide, natural disaster, even terrorism- are all intricately linked to the American consumer’s power. Does this sound unreasonable? Radical? Far-fetched? Read further, and find out if, after all, your everyday choices have meaning in an interconnected world.