How Capitalism Loses Its Teeth

Dental care is not just about cosmetics. Lack of affordable care can lead to serious health problems such as diabetes, heart disease and debilitating infections (some can actually cause blindness). Bad dental care also blocks economic success due to the rather obvious fact that most employers don’t hire applicants with rotten teeth.

 

 

I love the teeth example, because it highlights the fact that we base our decisions more on surface than cognitive substance.  It's as true of policy-makers ignoring the issues of non-voters (who will still impact the lives of voters) as it is of employers hiring the pretty people as it is of low-income folk; we all have to make choices and for the most part, there's little rational about these choices.

 

The devil is in the details that we choose to neglect; these days, we justify this neglect by saying "we're busy" or "they're not relevant" or even "nobody communicated them to me in a sound-bite sort of way."  What happens as a result?  The collapse of the GOP.  The European debt crisis.  In worst case scenarios, social atrocities like genocide.

 

When we think this way, though, we all pay.  Except it's more than just our teeth that's rotting.