Untitled Analytical Essay #2

Written for my english class. We were to compare any combination of essays that we read over the course of the semester in order to analyze their contents and make an argument using that analysis.

Greed runs every industry in capitalist societies. It is the driving force. The source of inspiration. It cannot be stopped easily. Money is like a hydra; cut one head off and two more grow back. That is how corporations are run in every industry, it is the standard. Greed is not just good; it is great. Greed corrupts. It does not seek to help little people, small fish, or average Joes. Greed only helps those on top, the cream of the crop, the man. Greed seeks to oppress people and uphold the hegemonic values of a capitalistic society. This causes a sorrowful way of life, it leaves everyone to struggle in some way or another. If greed is quicksand, sucking society into its deep dark pits then society must simply float. On the bright side, greed is not unwavering nor is it impenetrable. Greed is its own worst enemy. In both Karen Ho’s Biographies of Hegemony and Micheal Moss’s The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food, they prove how greedy corporations are and how little these industries care about the rest of society. Neither author leaves much room for hope in their writings but they speak the truth, harsh as it is. However, in The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food by Naomi Klein, there is room for hope. Klein manages to offer a bit of a solution to corporate greed and the harmful effects it has on society. Corporate greed runs deep within every industry and it always manages to hurt regular people the most, if these companies are hoping to stick around then they cannot completely drain their resources, in other words, the only way to stop this greed is by having these companies increase their longevity by limiting their annual growth.

Large food companies constantly seek to expand in such a way that consumers feel that there is almost no option other than buying their products. These companies do not care about their consumers; they only see buyers as cash cows. These companies chip away at the pockets of purchasers in a relentless manner. Targeting them in every aspect of life. Consumers never have a break from advertisements and product placement. Something is being sold to them constantly. Everywhere consumers look, a can of coke is being pushed into their hands and they have been made to think that they have no choice but to grab on for dear life. “What I found, over four years of research and reporting, was a conscious effort-taking place in labs and marketing meetings and grocery-store aisles-to get people hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive” (Moss 260). Convenience and price point. That is all that these large food companies sell. That is all that they advertise. Whether it be the grab-and-go quickness of a Lunchable or the price of coke being competitive with the price of water, these companies are selling people products that they do not need. A Lunchable and coke does not make a healthy lunch option for school children. These companies do not care about the health of their consumers. They will work against the health of the consumer so long as it has high-profit margins. 

Continuously, large food companies will profit until they stop but if they wish to profit in perpetuity then they must degrow. Degrowth, as defined by Klein, is the process in which companies reduce their use of resources to help the quality of life. There is no possible way for food companies to continue their growth and expansion if they infiltrate every possible market and kill off all their consumers with their unhealthy food products as they so clearly intend to do. “Coca-Cola strove to outsell every other thing people drank, including milk and water” (Moss 272). The health of the public is at stake if it is not already declining and these large food companies do not care. Here Coca-Cola makes clear that nothing is more important than selling soda. They want more people drinking coke than water. This company does not care about the well-being of its consumers so long as they keep filling their pockets. Large food companies will care when it begins to affect their bottom line. When their profits are at stake and they realize that they have no future because they have no one left to sell to. Once these companies have no one left to sell to they will understand the damage they have done. But it makes no sense for them to wait for that outcome. To wait for their inevitable downfall is nonsensical. These companies should begin taking actions now to reduce overusing their resources. 

Similarly, Wall Street recruiters are taking the alleged cream of the crop so that people who could make a positive change in society are sucked into a world of corporate greed. These recruiters infiltrate ivy league college campuses on a widespread scale and suffocate students. They make these students think that joining Wall Street is their best and only option from day one. “Investment banks and consulting firms dominate the early fall career fairs, setting the terms for what constitutes a successful career (and what it looks like), and monopolize the attention of the student body by showing up with the most polish, fanfare, and numbers” (Ho 166). No matter what the students wanted to do initially, recruiters ensure that when they graduate students join Wall Street. These recruiters weasel their way into the minds of students. They seek to infiltrate the student body to a point where there is no reason to join any profession other than Wall Street. This tactic is harmful enough, but the profession they are being sucked into is not just any profession. It is one full of greed. This greed is terminal to society but these students are not aware of that in the slightest. Once they are aware of this greed it will be too late and they will be too far gone. By the time these students realize what sort of profession they have entered they will have taken on the role of recruiters. 

On that same note, if these recruiters left students to make their own choices they will certainly reap the benefits later on. This process of greed indoctrination is ultimately what will undo this industry. Wall Street recruiters are taking the alleged cream of the crop so that people who could make a positive change in society are sucked into a world of corporate greed. If Wall Street wants to continue running the way it is then they have to allow for some of these “elites'' to go out on ventures that Wall Street can invest in. After all, Wall Street recruitment companies cannot invest in each other. This is where the idea of degrowth comes to play. Using resources wisely instead of in excess will do more to help preserve the longevity of these investment companies than overusing them. No matter the commodity it is crucial, vital even, that these industries do not run them dry. If these commodities are dried up then the industries will be quick to follow. The students who attend these high-brow universities are often at the forefront of American success stories. They are considered to be innovators, pioneers, and masterminds of whatever profession they go into. “Implicit in this transformation from undergraduate to investment banker is Wall Street's notion that if students do not choose Wall Street postgraduation, they are somehow ‘less smart,’ as smartness is defined by continued aggressive striving to perpetuate elite status” (Ho 175.) So why would most graduates go into a field that lacks such innovation? The answer is that these students were sold their accolades. They were spoon-fed the narrative that they are the elites of the world and that as elites they should make as much money as they can because that is the smart thing to do. This narrative sucks the passion out of these students and replaces it with greed. The problem arises once these recruiters realize that they are indoctrinating so many students to be investors on Wall Street that soon Wall Street will run out of companies to invest in. The students who were being primed to contribute to society are now sucking the life out of it. This could all be stopped, however, if these recruiters simply cut back on their recruiting efforts. By recruiting fewer students they would ensure the longevity of their industry. The more students they recruit the fewer ventures they will be able to invest in later; the fewer students they recruit the more ventures they will be able to invest in later.

Correspondingly, these big governments are using natural resources recklessly at the expense of the human population. They are doing so out of greed and nothing else. Like the large food companies and Wall Street, they are money-hungry. These governments are perpetuating greed at the sake of their own citizens. Klein describes how these governments are acting as though they are benefiting the well-being of the public all the while going behind the public’s back and deceiving them. While the public is under one influence the government is doing a whole other thing. These governments are privatizing industries, providing tax breaks, and removing restrictions (Klein 212). None of these actions are indicative of governments that want to save the global climate. These are the actions of governments that are operating to make money and grow their economic value. It is clear that these national governments do not care about the state of the climate and natural resources more than the economy. Governments want to ensure the future of their nations but they also want to have a successful economy. These governments do not believe that both of these things can coexist. At least, not equally. 

Moreover, Klein makes clear the overuse of natural resources is draining the Earth ⎯⎯ if these national governments want to boost their economies in the long term then they need to cut back on what they are using right now. Resources are not endless. They will not be there forever. Governments that seek to bolster their economy in both a profitable and sustainable way should treat resources for what they are; precious. Yet they do the exact opposite, “rather than compete for the best, most effective supports for green energy, the biggest emitters in the world are rushing to the WTO to knock down each other's windmills” (Klein 207). These governments are proving that they are operating in the short term, sacrificing the sanctity of the environment and using it as a political pawn to make more money and boost their economies. It is reasonable to assume that once a national government’s source of income, in other words, their resource, dries up then the government’s economy itself will soon follow. This "using as much as possible as fast as possible" tactic will never benefit the economy in the long run. Degrowth would allow these national economies to have a concrete future; meaning profits in perpetuity. 

In conclusion, no matter the resource at hand it is clear that industries across the board are sucking the resource dry. In some cases, literally. Large food companies are marketing to every group imaginable and soon there will be no one left to market to. Wall Street recruiters are employing all the ivy league elites to work as stockbrokers and soon there will be no promising companies to invest in. National economies are using up all the natural resources and soon the wells will run dry. There is a chance to prevent all of this from happening though. Each organization within all of those industries must cut back on their avid use of their specific resource. These groups are greedy, and greed does not allow for humanitarianism, but they must recognize that not one of their industries will still exist if they continue to racketeer at this rate. This greed will end up being their demise if they do not fall in line and begin the process of selective degrowth. These industries simply cannot continue to expand and grow at their current rates while expecting to last in the long term. Greed is its own worst enemy. It will expand and expand, sucking up everything it can until all that is left to consume, is greed itself. If not for the sake of humanity, which these industries have proven they do not care for, then they must cut back for themselves. They must reduce their use for their own survival. 

Works Cited

Ho, Karen. “Biographies of Hegemony.” The New Humanities Reader, 6th ed., edited by Miller, Richard E. and Kurt Spellmeyer. Cengage Learning, 2019. pp. 160-184.

Klein, Naomi “Hot Money”. The New Humanities Reader, 6th ed., edited by Miller, Richard E. and Kurt Spellmeyer. Cengage Learning, 2019. pp. 206-228.

Moss, Michael. "The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food." The New Humanities Reader, 6th ed., edited by Miller, Richard E. and Kurt Spellmeyer. Cengage Learning, 2019. pp. 256-275.