Scarcity scares people. When we see that there might be a lack of goodies, there is an immediate reaction. We compete aggressively or fade into the woodwork – the old fight-or-flight response. There are some who struggle a bit and give up after that initial energy surge. Others attach themselves to more aggressive folks. Still others gang up and drag down the guys on top. Some simply die.
In certain contexts, competition for scarce resources is appropriate. Sports teams compete aggressively for the “trophy”. The individual athletes compete for fame, more money in their next contracts, and perhaps for the love of the competition. The sports team owners compete for revenue and prestige and who knows what else. That seems like a reasonable kind of competition and there is real scarcity at the top to make it worthwhile.
In other contexts, there is no scarcity. Love, affection, caring, and understanding are arenas of plenty. People can do those without running out or having to compete. Of course, if an individual doesn’t replenish their own supplies, it is difficult to pass out the supplies to others. If people believe that these commodities are limited they set up artificial markets wherein we have to compete with each other for limited supplies.
In still other contexts, there are questions about scarcity. Resources like oil, gas, and coal seem to have a limit. The question is often about when they will run out or how much is left. Land, water, clean air, and other kinds of natural resources are also subject to manipulations of fears. Healthcare, jobs, manufacturing, and other aspects of life often get defined in terms of scarcity also.
For example, many conservative politicians and corporate interests say healthcare is rationed or unresponsive to patients in countries with universal health programs. Research by various groups shows that universal health care does work and quite well. Many of the studies show that the U. S. lags behind in many health care categories. We are no longer number one.
On the other hand, many of us believe that all politicians and corporate bigwigs are “crooks” anyway but we can’t do anything about it. Folks like that dig in and do the best they can while trying to ignore any looming catastrophe.
Whether you see it as good, bad, or are indifferent, the practitioners of the scarcity model in human activity neglect to deal with their basic assumption that there are throwaway people. Throwaway people are unskilled, evil, stupid, careless, or worthless for a variety of reasons according to the greedy. Once you make that assumption – that is, that there are certain people who are not OK – all sorts of greed, avarice, neglect, corruption, or disdain are justified.
Most human responses to scarcity are automatic and don’t involve much real thinking. Most of the “successful” people seem to be adopting a survival-of-the-fittest attitude – “Whatever I do is justified by results.” Since they are successful, they start trying to define what is good or bad for the rest of us. That reality is competitive, cold, and solitary.
At best they show pride in participation in a winter coat drive for the needy or serving Thanksgiving dinner in a rescue mission. They don’t have to question how “those people” came to be there. They already know – these are throwaways, they must have some character flaw. Some of these successful folks may even share with family members and close acquaintances as long as these folks accept paternalistic direction and restrictions. At worst, their care-less behaviors cause great harm and even death.
Are there throwaways? If you support corporate health insurance, your basic belief is that there are. If you support universal healthcare, you see that people are OK and deserve consideration no matter their circumstance. There are no throwaways. If it turns out that there are some areas of scarcity, we marshal our resources and fix them. We have the resources, energy, and creativity for all people.