A race to the bottom

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis was the first to use the phrase “race to the bottom” to describe how American states would compromise their values to attract a corporation. Brandeis said this 100 years ago, in 1933. Today, the problem is even worse. In a race to the bottom, if we don’t do it, someone else will. We treat people as statistics, assign value by profit, and try to quantify happiness. The problem with a race to the bottom is that you might win. We sell out thinking the answer is to do what Walmart and Amazon do. But you can’t. No one can out Walmart Walmart or out Amazon Amazon—why then are we selling out and emulating like corporations?