Professor Trompsky #3

Professor Trompsky, welcome. I guess you are a regular on our show now.
– Yes you could say that [chuckles]
Just  before this interview, you said you had a mediocre ephiphany. Care to elaborate?
– Yes. Consider thissimple question. Would you increase your happiness at the cost of another’s happiness?
I guess not.
– But isn’t this what the market allows us to do?
You mean the exploitation? The slaves of the modern age who produce our clothes and cell phones?
– Precisely. Consider what is going on in places like Bangladesh [fashion industry, red.] or the coltan mines of the Congo.
Is it not a bit cynical to reduce the function of the market to that?
– Isn’t cynicism the only correct position to occupy these days?
Occupy? Nobody talks about occupy anymore.
– That’s because the movement was never design to last. It was a little steam vent for the neoliberal machinery is what it was. [Huffs and puffs]
Would you like some water, professor Trompsky?
– Yes, please, thank you. But I want you and our listeners to think about my mediocre epiphany. What if [systemically, red.] the function of the market is to make invisible the decrease of other people’s happiness, so we can perceive our own increased happiness as the surplus of capitalism. It allows us to ignore the fact that, to a large extent, the economy is still a zero sum game.
Isn’t that indeed a very trivial observation?
– Surely my darling. But I ain’t getting any younger. Allow me my trivialities.
We thank you for this candid conversation, Mr. Trompsky.
– Thank you. [hums and chuckles]