Socialist Progressives
In reply to the discussion: What led you to socialism? [View all]PETRUS
(3,678 posts)My dad was a preacher/activist and his ministry involved a lot of anti-war and anti-poverty work. So I give him (and my family in general) a fair amount of credit (or blame, ha!) for the way I see things. Unless you live in a bubble it's pretty hard to go through life and not realize that often enough people's circumstances have little to do with their abilities, efforts, morals, etc.
A little later in life it became obvious that we are destroying the planet for a few people's short-term economic gain.
Then I worked for ten years sourcing consumer goods and discovered it cost far less money to have my products manufactured where environmental and labor regulations were lax or nonexistent. This meant using factories that consumed more inputs (energy, raw materials), used more labor, and produced more waste - plus I had to freight stuff all over the globe. Why does this cost LESS? "The market" is clearly not giving us the whole picture.
I look around today and see one example after the other where the profit motive produces horrible results - healthcare, schools, prisons, etc.