Vince Lombardi once said, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.”
Is winning really the only thing that matters? Vince Lombardi’s name was synonymous with winning; he won six football championships and the first two Super Bowls. However, he paid a price. He suffered from depression and an assortment of digestive disorders. He died at age 57 from colon cancer.
There is evidence that the winner-take-all mentality takes a toll on one’s health and mental state, yet many insist that coming out on top is the only thing that matters.
Nowhere is this attitude more pervasive than in corporate America. To the results-oriented boss who is driven by the bottom line without regard for the employee’s overall well being, performance is all that matters. Effort isn’t enough; if you don’t produce, you are replaced.
In a world where all rewards go to the winner, there is a downside. Every megamerger costs people their jobs. Someone’s private gain means a public resource has been depleted.
The question that remains is, should everything go to the highest bidder? Is suggesting policies such as living wages, rent controls and price caps, extreme and socialistic? Should there be affordable space for those who don’t win but show up every day to play?
In Washington DC they have a solution. They just price the poor out of the District and force them to live in neighboring counties in Maryland and Virginia. Should that be a model for the country? As a resident of 14th Street, I have seen a bidding war and land speculation transform my neighborhood from a poor working class area into a place where the rewards go to those whose pockets are already deep. As the District’s long term residents are priced out of the city, it’s becoming all too apparent that more people are becoming the losers. It’s all about who has the cash and not about working people
Many will say that what is happening to our city is just the marketplace at work. Free Marketeers claim although that this is cruel and harsh capitalism, it is win-win for the consumer. They assert that this is the only system where the individual can find independence and that any attempts by government to regulate or intervene smack of socialism and should be vigorously deterred.
Land developers and multinational companies such as Wal-Mart have used this philosophy to roll over the city councils and residents in cities such as Washington, Detroit and Chicago. They bully, threaten and shame anyone that advocates for affordable housing and higher wages. They argue against policies that can correct income disparities, and behind the scenes they continue to raise the cost of essential services such as gas, rent and utilities. Truth is, these corporations have been undercutting not only their workforce but the citizens that have to foot the bill for social services because they refuse to pay decent wages or employ people full time.
The duplicitousness of these corporations has turned the American dream into a cycle of dependency from cradle to grave. Everything has become a hustle, from college education to looking for fulltime employment. You are told to go to college and get a degree, only to end up with huge debt, searching for work in a job market where your diploma is useless and employers are looking for someone with experience. Many college grads will end up working as waiters or at low wage jobs at places like Walmart or McDonalds.
Something eventually needs to give. No system can continue where a few win and everyone else loses.
