Brandy Reagan Faustian Economics Essay Macroeconomics- Huenneke 3 November 2013 My View of Faustian Economics After reading the essay, Faustian Economics: Hell Hath No Limits, and then seeing the date of when it was written (during the financial crisis of 2007-2008) I realized why it seemed that Wendell Berry had such a negative view of our economy and the way it seemed Americans were carrying out their values. Berry is a man with many opinions and shows these through writings of his life in general and other short stories. He is a southern gentleman, which leads me to believe he is very conservative and believes there is only a right or wrong way of doing things; there is no gray area in between. Berry is very involved in religion and teaching others how to respect their values. He is a fifth generation farmer and has grown up with the belief that working hard is the way to earn your keep and give back to your community. I think that Berry is partly correct with the way he viewed the current economic condition in 2008 and more so now, but there are still a few things he is wrong about. To begin with, Berry was right when he said, We will keep consuming, spending, wasting, and driving, as before, at any cost to anything and everybody by ourselves. I took this statement to mean that as Americans we are always concerned about our general well-being and that we want to keep creating what will be best for us, and we will stop at nothing. In business ethics we went over a case about Enron (as discussed in the film, The Smartest Guys in the Room), where growing in the company was very cut throat and you had to step on everyone to continue
climbing up the corporate ladder; that is the message I thought Berry was portraying. He states that we are, free to be as conspicuously greedy and wasteful as the most corrupt of kings and queens. In this sense Berry is correct. The values instilled in my generation and the generation above mine have been to go for the best, be the best, and let nothing stop you. Defeat is not an option and to lose or to be wrong is something of high embarrassment. Americans view themselves as the top dog, the number one nation just because at the current time we have the highest GDP and the most worth. Berry was implying that we act like limitless animals who have no concern for saving resources or conserving our environment, that we are all about the next big gain and do not have time to think about the consequences of our actions, or how something may make you feel. Most Americans have no concern for the future because there s always more. There s always more resources or ideas to be had and created, more people to add to our workforce, more land to expand on. Why would our country think any differently? We have gotten where we are by pushing people out of our way or with the distribution of our wealth and how it seems the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer. Berry is wrong about his view in our economy because he implies that we as Americans will always be this way, but I think we have started to come to terms with what we need to do to continue to have growth within our economy. As Americans we are realizing that we are not limitless and that some resources you can never get back. Although some trends are newly founded, Americans have started to turn to alternative energy sources, recycling and giving back to the land so not as much waste is produced and our resources are more reserved. In our society, as I mentioned before, our ways are very cut throat. We care about the advancement of ourselves and how we will get to be the best before thinking about the care of
others or how a decision will affect someone else. We live in a society where it s okay to throw everything out the door and to not finish all the food on your plate. We know there will always be more. If this was contrasted with a society that had limits I think you would see a more compassionate way of life. As Americans we can survive on our own and are very independent. With other societies that have limits there is a general concern for the well-being of others and there is a support system for everyone. The members of this society rely on each other and rely on their limits to know when to stop or when trying to create something new would be a waste. It seems in our limitless society we try and try again, always waiting to discover the next best thing, no matter how many failed attempts there may be. In a society with limits it is understood that you can only try so many times before the wasted time and resources aren t worth the benefit any longer. The way Berry describes our economy as limitless is a way of saying it s unsustainable and not valid. No one society or being can be limitless, no matter what his or her own personal opinion is. It s impossible. There is no such thing in the world that is limitless; eventually resources run out, in an extreme case not even people are limitless. We could develop a disease that affects reproduction and not be able to reproduce and create new beings anymore. When Berry describes Americans as not seeing any wrong to what is happening, or forgetting our values he is telling us why this society will crash and burn. If other countries start to notice our ruthlessness and need for power they may cut America out of the trading they do, they could decide to just isolate us as a country since they think we re just in it for ourselves and can t be trusted to work on economic issues for the greater good. Another point to be made about how this is unsustainable is the fact that if Americans continue to have the mindset about not needing others or being self-reliant then Berry was
correct when he said, the doctrine of limitlessness has produced a sort of moral minimalism: The minimization of neighborliness, respect, reverence, responsibility, accountability, and selfsubordination Americans have forgotten that we did not begin by being a nation of individualists or people only concerned about themselves. Americans joined together for survival in a new world by developing items they could trade to others and by growing food and crops to share for food. New technologies were invented and then shared so everyone could enhance their production with these new technologies or become more efficient. We rely on others for our food, clothes, cars, gasoline, education, and even trade. The society that Berry described Americans having will lead to our demise and ultimately it will be every Americans fault for not stopping these behaviors/these independent views sooner. Our economy does not have the potential for limitless growth. I feel like many people believe limitless growth is possible because they look at China as an example. In reality China is experiencing catch-up growth and replicating our way of doing things, which is making their economy s growth increase sustainably and all at one time. If you look at statistics from recent years you can see that China s growth was rapid at first, but now they are converging with everyone else and their growth has continued to increase, but at a decreasing rate. Limitless growth is impossible because resources are limited, production is limited, technology is limited, and capital is only worth something when it is limited. With all these limited attributes to our economy how could Americans even begin to think we are limitless? In a global sense we are not limitless either. As mentioned before the items that weigh our economy like production, capital, trade, spending, and income are not limitless. We are only advanced in technology has someone has made us, or came up with the next best thing. I m sure
there are tons of uncapped markets of technology or other resources but we have yet to find them. Globally we are as limited as our most limited resource/link. Berry describes our limits in an easy to understand way. He says we are limited naturally by, earth or ecosystem or watershed or place. And that as humans we give ourselves personal restraints, implied in neighborliness, stewardship, thrift, temperance, generosity, care, kindness, friendship, loyalty, and love. Berry also talks about the very nature of human beings and how, We set our friends free by our love for them, with the implied restraints of faithfulness or loyalty. With these wise words in mine, Berry is just trying to stress his point that even though we think we are limitless and can do whatever we want, we are not. This is not a sustainable lifestyle or efficient way of living. We are producing more waste and using up resources, like money, which could be used on something other than finding the new and best technology. Berry is saying we should dig deep and find the values instilled in our ancestors, the ones that helped create the United States so many centuries ago. Our country should look beyond our own wealth and help others before we outcast ourselves with the other nations who will think poorly of our character as a whole, if they don t already.