If You Want to Save the World Then the First Step Is to Stop Destroying It. In Other Words: Don’t Be a Dick.

“But even if you don’t have hope, it doesn’t really matter. This is about defiance. It’s about doing the right thing, fighting for democracy and for people to not be exploited. And even if we fail, at the very least, we didn’t contribute to the problem.”

What a namby-pamby point of view. Not contributing to the problem isn’t nearly enough.

Both the title of this essay, and its opening paragraph are direct quotes from a book titled Goliath’s Curse by Luke Kemp. Kemp argues that “Goliath” societies—large, hierarchical civilizations built on exploitation—are inherently fragile. While these Goliaths wield tremendous power, their dominance relies on oppressive structures that ultimately sow the seeds of their own collapse.

Possibly. But the collapse of society, at least in America, is reparable.

At least that’s my take on it. Super wealth, which you might term as a goliath, bought American government. It’s my opinion that societal salvation depends upon their ‘un-buying’ it, not because they’re altruistic, but because future profits depend upon it.

My premise depends upon the fact that American society, as a whole, is so broke that it can no longer consume…and we are, or have become, a consumer-based society. Loss of our manufacturing base is another argument, but we’ve fallen to the fact that selling one another material goods is what we do.

But, the air is leaking out of the consumer balloon, and it’s well past time for a Henry Ford five-dollar day.

Ford introduced that terrifying piece of social engineering in 1914, when line-workers typically earned half that amount. His peers in the auto industry shit their pants and called him a communist, and Ford was stingy, but he had a plan. There were not sufficient low-end buyers to afford the hugely popular Model T, and the well-off were buying more expensive cars.

Does that ring a bell in the present economy?

Old stingy Henry immediately made his ‘tin lizzies’ affordable to line workers and the Model T went on to sell more than fifteen million units and establish Ford as the working man’s car.

So, America’s retailers need to emulate Ford, and double the $15 hourly wage.

Costco has already done so, with a starting salary of $20 for entry level employees and average wages of $32. If you run the numbers, that’s a $40-60,000 annual wage. You don't have to be a full-time Costco employee to get benefits like health and dental insurance -- part-time employees get the same full-time benefits package. Add 401-K contributions, paid sick leave, paid vacation time, eight paid holidays, and one paid "floating" holiday that employees can choose for themselves. Costco also has paid "bonding" leave for new parents.

So, what’s the program’s effect on profits? In the last quarter, Costco's profits rose 12.3 percent.

Getting back to core reasons why the 1% need to undo their damage, in a consumer-based society, those dudes are dead in the water when consumers can no longer afford to consume. And we’re there right now, even before the impact of senseless tariff policies drive us further underwater. In February 2025, the average hourly earnings of all employees in the United States was $11.24.

Consumption stops at that rate, and families simply hang on. The old car simply gets older, the new sofa is out of reach, just tape down the spring, and any thought of other purchases is out the window. Sorry about that, Amazon. Too bad, Walmart, but there’s always your Christmas food collections for employees.

Never has the need for purchases been so great and the ability to purchase so low.

The ball’s in your court, Bezos and friends…

In another essay, I’ll talk about how to end the deficit in terms the rich will support.