Monetized morals

The use of our budgets – individual budgets, household, city, state and nation (global?) – is varied.  On a basic level we spend money in order to survive – think of good old Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, I guess.  But just as it doesn’t take long for the association of income with happiness to decouple in the upper income brackets, money quickly breaks the gravitational pull of bare survival and becomes an expression of beliefs, a palette with which to express aesthetic choices.

So, topically, how do you feel about spending more on consumer goods typically bought from Mexico in order to put up a wall between that country and the US?  One rebuttal has stated that Americans will end up effectively paying for the wall through increased consumer goods products.  Now, obviously not everyone supports the construction of this (un?)aesthetic perimeter.  Of those that do, how many would up-front agree to paying more for cars, trucks, avocados and beer?  Would this expense be accepted by those in favor of the wall?  I would say yes, some people would find a rallying cry in this expense, especially with (or in anticipation of) their new-found spending power since the wall would (assumedly) limit contests for jobs.

That one would spend more on goods to promote something they want is akin to people going out of their way to purchase organic foods – a positive thing, wrought by one’s values.  But this voting with one’s dollar takes a turn for the pragmatic when you consider the willingness we have to promote violence just to provide jobs – which lets people have money to spend on those avocadoes, organic or otherwise.  That we have military contractors that are big employers is something everyone is familiar with.  And limited our military actions overseas is kind of equivalent to the choice we may make to build a wall. 

Rambling, I know.  But one thing every American should hear, understand and make their peace with is the comments of Wolf Blitzer during an interview with Rand Paul which you can read about here.  The headline reads “Wolf Blitzer Is Worried Defense Contractors Will Lose Jobs if U.S. Stops Arming Saudi Arabia” and that says it all.  Another aesthetic choice.  An aesthetic choice of work to complement the aesthetic choice of how we spend our money.  If the more expensive avocadoes provide food for thought then the choice of mil. contractor jobs perhaps fucking-countries-up-overseas for thought.