The Slippery Slope Of Freedom

You'll hear the term "slippery-slope" used a lot as an excuse why something is bad, because it may or will inevitably lead to things obviously bad. Sometimes that's a valid argument.

But there are other slippery slopes, just as obvious, that aren't necessarily a danger inasmuch as we can guard against that first step into the downward slope. Take for example freedom.

Freedom, as we know it in the west, leads to license or the attitude that we can do things considered immoral, because we have the right to choose to do so. But license leads to debauchery which leads to corruption which leads to the removal of your freedom either by jail or excessive government regulation. But that slope is avoided by the simple act of self-control. Self-control is the act of surrendering your freedom to a higher, moral law, so that that freedom can remain and be strong. Sort of like the idea of putting your money in a bank, so it can be protected. Jim Eliot once said, "he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Complete freedom is an illusion because ultimately you'll either be a slave to your own self-control or a slave to the consequences of your immorality.

The most powerful tool for sustaining a free society is capitalism. But capitalism also becomes a pathway toward a slippery-slope. If company A can increase their profits or market share with unethical shortcuts, then eventually most if not all its competitors will be forced to also adopt those same tactics unless the government steps in. And when the government steps in, it brings big problems with it. Short term profits at the expense of long term bureaucratic headaches.

As I've been exploring ways of making money with Google's AdSense, I see the same pattern, over and over again. The White-Hat AdSense people try to stay consistent with Google's policies and general philosophy, but have to continually adjust their methodology to keep up with new regulations Google implements to counter the unethical tactics of the Black-Hat AdSense people. The Black-Hats make quick money exploiting holes in Google's system, holes that exist because Google relies so heavily on computers to determine the way it treats sites listed in its search engine, and displayed in its ads.

I'm also seeing that when businesses get large enough, the personal touch vanishes. Not because it can't be done, it can, but because they don't see the need for it. When facing the choice of a quality product and a quality service at an average price or a cheap product and a bland, cookie-cutter service for a lower price, people gravitate toward the bargains, driving businesses also toward lower quality and impersonal service. Which also means the low quality and low price become the new standards. If the company can compensate with marketing, so much the better. Too few people can or are willing to discern that crap in a fancy package is still crap. What happens when the crap becomes really bad? Government regulation. Thus economic freedom becomes economic license which becomes economic chaos which leads to government controls which stifle economic freedom. All because so many abandoned self-control for a few extra bucks.

Whirlpool Corporation is in a constant fight with unions, trying to keep them out of the plants not unionized, trying to keep them in check in plants that are unionized. One solution has been to simply open plants in other countries where they not only don't have to worry about unions, but can pay workers there based on the local, impoverished economy, thereby also becoming a contributor to the mess that drives many of those foreigners to the US as illegal aliens. A reasonable tactic would be to treat their non-union employees decently and fairly, but as we've seen, they don't and apparently have little interest in doing so. They seem to care only about appearances.

While the Whirlpool Corporation may appear to be an American company it has manufacturing plants in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico; Monterrey, Mexico; Puebla, Mexico; Reynosa, Mexico; Joinville, Brazil; Manaus, Brazil; Rio Claro, Brazil; São Paulo, Brazil; Beijing, China; Shanghai, China; Shunde, China; Faridabad, India; Pondicherry, India; Pune, India; Ranjangaon, India and Spisska Nová Ves, Slovakia. Only 10 of its 39 manufacturing plants are actually in the United States. (the Whirlpool Corporation also seems to think that Italy and Slovakia are in "Latin America") Yet according to Motley Fool, North America accounts for 60% of it's roughly $18 billion in annual sales. If Americans can't get decent jobs, Americans can't buy things like washers, dryers, refrigerators, stoves, yet for some reason the Whirlpool Corporation opts for short term profits at the expense of the long term economic stability of its primary market. Does that make sense?

The Whirlpool Corporation's myopic business model will eventually cost them sales, but for now, like so many other businesses, they rush to the low side of the boat because it's easier to slide down than climb up, and simply ignore the logic that would tell anyone that by doing so they help capsize the very boat that keeps them afloat.