Uber-luxury values : Today's signal looks at how rich journalists and op ed writers in the wealthy world are now saying that remittences (that is flows from migrant workers back to their home nations) are "bad" because they help support autocratic regimens back home. Presumably, the argument goes, that it is better that the people back home in poor, chaotic nations are better off poor and starving because their being poor and starving makes their bad governments more uncomfortable, whereas if these poor people get gifts from abroad, they will be too comfortable to rebel against their overlords (history of course, tells a different story). The subtext of this contemporary "let them eat cake" story is even worse, as it is a disgusted argument against migration from poor to rich nations - why? Without migrants there are no remittences.
(It is also worth noting that poor nations in Africa receive more capital flows from working migrant remittences than from all international aid put together.)
I bring up this signal because it touches on so many wicked problems - migration, autocracy, poverty and global inequality and it challenges conventional assumptions, forcing open uncomfortable but necessary conversations about our collective values and shared futures.
It's also an excellent example of "luxury values", which are best understood as values preached and promoted by the wealthiest, more powerful members of our society without being practiced by them (like for example, Bill Gates telling people, without shame, to stop flying commercial while he flies around doing climate work in his private jet).
What are you thoughts on this?
Where have you spotted luxury values (do what I say, not what I do)?
Are remittences morally good or bad? - or merely necessary for survival?
What are some of the best businesses / services offering cheap and effective remittence services to the world's growing migrant worker population? (If anything there are too many options these days, bit which are the good ones?)
Where else have you noticed apparently "moral" arguments against helping those who need help? And how do you counter them?
And most importantly, how can we build a future where gross inequalities between nations stop growing and start shrinking? How can we build global societies and nation states that no one needs to run away from, or receive external aid (private or public) to survive?
Wicked problems need collaborative solutions, not finger pointing.
Read more:
Let them (not) eat cake : https://www.wsj.com/articles/record-amounts-of-money-sent-back-home-end-upaiding-autocratic-regimes-5bd9cdd9?page=1
Do as I say, not as I do : https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-gates-private-jet-doesnt-make-him-hypocrite-because-he-invests-billions-into-climate-change/
The future of us and our broken social contracts : https://fluxtrends.com/our-future-of-us-salon-is-coming-to-cape-town/
Luxury beliefs :
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