Chapter 495 Broken Window Effect
For more than two hundred years, the "American Dream" has been inspiring countless young people with dreams all over the world, either immigrating, studying or smuggling. They gave up their homeland and went through untold hardships, only to create their own value in this land .
In a broad sense, the American dream refers to the equality, freedom, and democracy of the United States; in a narrow sense, it refers to an ideal that believes that as long as you work hard in the United States, you can get a better life. and determination to prosper without being dependent on a particular social class and assistance from others.
It sounds perfect, but it's not. This country instills a value in the world, that success can be achieved through hard work.
But doing the right thing and doing things right is not the same concept, choice is more important than hard work, Hitler wrote a book called My Struggle, through "struggle" to get *** to power, he "worked hard" to massacre Jews and rob them of their money , Using the money to "work hard" to strengthen the Third Reich, the final result was to divide Germany again.
The real American dream is a bubble, a fiction. For example, a cup of coffee costs 3 RMB a cup in Ethiopia, but it costs 30 RMB a cup in Starbucks in BJ and Shanghai. No one goes to Ethiopia for cheap coffee, but some people do. Starbucks enjoys the quiet years, while China's own teahouse culture is abandoned by young people.
If someone proposes to reduce the price of Starbucks, there will be others who will defend that the price reduction is not allowed, because it represents a symbol of consumption. In China, only the rich can drink Starbucks. This is the phenomenon that occurs after the brainwashing of consumerism.
What people ultimately love is their own desires, not what they want. Showing off their own value and sense of existence is the reason for spending high prices. That feeling can make people addicted, and "drug cream" is smoked by rich people. It is the same reason, after satisfying this kind of psychological need, no matter it is the coffee that makes people sober or the opium that makes people dreamy and dreamy, people will buy it.
The spread of consumerism in the UK is not as fast as in China, mainly because the UK is a Protestant country, and capitalism came into being only after Protestantism emerged. Before that, there was only the germination of capitalism, and it was impossible to produce a complete capitalism in the strict sense.
The Protestant view of work and labor is an indispensable activity for human beings to engage in economic activities. But Catholicism before the Reformation had a great disdain for secular economic activities.
Before the emergence of capitalism, the highest status in European society was not the kings and nobles, but the priests and monks headed by the Pope. They were the first class in society. And those business people who support social and economic development can only be in the third level. After Protestantism came out, while holding high the banner of God, it sanctified labor. According to Protestantism, everyone is a unique life created by God, and everyone's work is meaningful. Secular labor and work are the ways and manifestations of human beings to glorify God. Man works according to God's instructions, and the purpose of labor is to serve God. Labor is not only God's will, but also man's obligation to God. When such a purpose is given to labor, the labor itself and the people engaged in labor will be sublimated. This is the Protestant view of labor and work.
Protestantism endows wealth and money with a positive meaning. Protestantism believes that money is wealth. There is no good or evil in wealth itself, and there is no harm in having more money. The key is not whether you have money or not, but what method you use to obtain the money, the wealth you obtain, and what you use this wealth for. If you use improper means to make profits, at the same time your purpose of making profits is for the enjoyment of the flesh and to satisfy selfish desires. Then your wealth is straight up evil.
The wealth bestowed by God is not a sin. Human life is bestowed by God, and the wealth created by man is also bestowed by God. People should strive to create wealth, keep wealth, and use wealth for God. Otherwise, if people accumulate wealth for themselves and make money for themselves not for God, then even if they "earn the whole world", they will lose their lives.
The chance of sudden death in a capitalist society is much lower than that in a consumerist society. Protestantism proposed "rational asceticism", not against all pleasure-seeking activities, but against waste, extravagance, and the use of money to satisfy personal desires. Funds are used for investment, economic development, for the poor, for charity, and for meeting social needs.
Once wrong values are formed, it is very difficult to change them. Irrational impulsive consumption led to a serious subprime mortgage crisis in the United States. At the beginning, the story was beautiful. Banks earn intermediate fees, management fees and interest rate differences. With stable investment income, the poor bought houses with loans. Occasionally, a few people do not repay the loan, because the house price has been rising, the bank will take the house back for auction, and the bank feels that there is no risk. As a result, banks are getting bolder, and interest rates have been falling, so anyone can get a loan to buy a house. In the past, the down payment was 30%, and income proof was required, but now the down payment is 5% or even 0, and you can get a loan by standing on the street and taking a photo. The house bought with a loan can also be used as a mortgage to refinance to buy a second house. Under the background of excess liquidity, the real estate bubble popped up.
This time London Chinatown resisted the demolition because they were afraid that the real estate developers would raise the rent and protested in the name of protecting multiculturalism. It has become a 500+100ml bottle, and it feels like there is no difference. After a while, it will become a 500ml bottle.
If a window is broken in a house and no one repairs it, other windows will be broken inexplicably after a while; if some graffiti on a wall is not cleaned off, the wall will soon be covered with messes, Unsightly things; in a very clean place, people are embarrassed to throw rubbish, but once there is rubbish on the ground, people will throw it without hesitation, without any shame.
As long as real estate developers raise prices for tenants on the grounds of renovation, other real estate developers in Chinatown will also increase the rent, and the rent will also rise. The cost of operating tenants will increase, and they will have to save money by turning tea restaurants into fast food restaurants. Lay off staff and reduce expenditure to avoid losses, so that some people will lose their jobs.
Splurging to satisfy selfish desires is not advocated, whether it is religion or morality, but can you control how others use money? This is one of the results of Martina's human nature experiment. Under the boundless freedom, people will pursue their own desires, exert unlimited creativity, and spend energy on pleasure. What does development and progress have to do with him? It would be good if the country that requires people to sacrifice for it is destroyed.
The United States is not only free and equal, but also prohibits guns. Who knows if there will be a lunatic who will shoot the crowd with a submachine gun at a concert, the rumbling music, the high-density crowd, and young people shaking their heads to the music, How many people can bear the ups and downs of extreme joy begets sorrow?
Coffee can't wake you up, what about death?
Borrowing the morning sun, Pomona is drinking coffee at home while looking at the scenery. There is a diamond advertisement in the distance: Diamonds are forever, and one piece will last forever.
There are many reserves of diamonds in the world, and they can also be manufactured artificially, but the developers have not let go of the mining. There are only a small part of them on the market, and they equate it with love. A man must buy a diamond ring if he wants to propose marriage. After buying a diamond ring at a high price, no one recycles the diamond, only people recycle the gold, and they deceive women.
She caressed the summoning ring on her hand, it was very Slytherin style, and more importantly, as soon as she saw him, he would come right away, this kind of ring was more precious than a diamond ring even if it was silver.
You can't wake up a person who pretends to be asleep.
She sighed melancholy. Human beings who have lost their faith and morality live like wild beasts. When fighting monsters, be careful not to become monsters yourself. Aura masters have become as ruthless as dark wizards. Kingsley Shacklebolt was undoubtedly a human being, but was Auror Chief of Staff Gadvin Robards a Protestant or a beast?
The world can become better or worse, it all depends on people's choices. When one day they have to choose between the right choice and the simple choice, most people will choose the simple way—— Cheating, cheating is the tradition of the Triwizard Tournament, but Cedric didn't, and Harry probably didn't want to, it was Ron who missed the question and gave it to him.
Fortunately, Ron helped him, otherwise Harry would have died in the first game.
"What are you looking at?" Her husband came over and hugged her from behind.
"This world, and good morning." She brought the coffee cup to his mouth. "Want to drink some water of life?"
He leaned over to the glass and took a sip.
"It's too sweet." The person who likes black coffee frowned, and then gave her a good morning kiss with a mouth full of sweetness.
