Enter the salesman…..

Or Saleswoman….

We may think of used cars salesmen [if we are in the West] and Tupperware lady [internationally] or more recently nearer home, being subject to the financial expose, we may think of relationship managers or financial counsellors / consultants at the banks, when we hear the term 'salesmen'.

Businesses have successfully created distribution channels, set up reward system to increase sales, build network of distributors / re-sellers / consultants and direct marketing strategies to increase their revenue targets and reach. Grow, grow and grow!

Add to teams of ‘commandos’ whose mission is to persuade people to spend, the tools such as websites, social networks [physical / online], rewards systems, and ….a commando centre, we are bombarded by a strong force from which we have no or little defence.

What am I talking about?

Think Lehman Brothers / Structured Products – that is the mantra of the ‘must have’s / promise of best returns / centre of attention / assured results / believe in it etc; then think empowered, hungry and greedy sales personnel – who are motivated to ‘sell more – get more money’ and are told ‘don’t meet target don’t keep job / ‘use whatever methods or means, just get the numbers / just do it’. Get my point?

There are on-going investigations in several states in the US on election fraud. It seems that an organisation had manipulated the staff they hired [across several states last year] to ‘get out there and get as many people to vote for Obama’ using the same financial incentives – ‘get more votes, get more money and use whatever means’ [It is reported that officials found such instruction in their staff manual in one state].

Young folks who want / need the extra money will rise up to the challenge to be great salesmen [like those in the financial industry now].

My point of discussion is not Obama. Rather, that politics is run like a business and such money politics [unlike those of the past] are infiltrating every sector of a country.

As long as there are eager, needy, bright and driven individuals who want the monies [not necessarily aligning to a cause] and there are the Commando Centre – bingo! Commando centre? The advertising / marketing media decision-makers who are behind the scene scheming the strategies.

A few unknown individuals can mobilise an entire contingent of 'locusts' to achieve a targeted outcome. That is what I am seeing as a pattern of things to come.

Interestingly, I got a chance to see some of the most interesting BBC video footages of how rich men who had lived a lavish lifestyle paid for by shareholders / pensioners hard-earned monies without them knowing, ended up behind bars. […in the last 15 years]

Money again! That piece of synthesized paper given an arbitrary value, seemingly harmless, seems to dictate the power dynamics in every strategic decision and strip human kind of its ability for rational thinking, or personal dignity and stewardship.

Capitalism, unleashed without control, has no sense of proportion, of right and wrong, or of moral courage to leave behind some gleanings for the poor, fatherless, widow and stranger in the midst!!!