Economic Multipliers (90)
Do you know what these are?
They help CREATE wealth in systems.
Can disease be an economic multiplier?
I don’t recommend ever getting sick.  I hope you, your family members, friends and neighbors are all as physically, mentally and emotionally healthy today as possible and that you stay that way for many years to come.
That said, did you ever notice that many wealthy people have kids who end up becoming drug addicts and alcoholics?  Perhaps it’s not a high percentage relative to the general population but wealthy people’s kids tend to be ‘high profile:’  People pay attention to them.
If you sold drugs or alcohol, would your target market be a kid who may not yet have developed good judgment who was wealthy or a kid who had less spare change in their pocket?  It’s not that kids with less change aren’t targeted:  The dealers probably expect those kids to become thieves and just spend the rest of their lives popping in and out of jail.  Know that your end result is irrelevant to them as long as they get their money (or whatever) from you today.
Because the high profile cases of the wealthy many times show up in the media, it’s possible to say that society benefits when some child or adult decides that they do not want to become like that person.
People with any disease that’s preventable can be an economic multiplier.  When enough data show up that says there is some sort of problem related to any activity (lack of exercise, poor diet, smoking, etc.), lots of people start looking for ways to minimize the problems.  When the problems are minimized, so are the costs.
People who get STD’s (sexually transmitted diseases) can also be an economic multiplier (in a most unusual way).  It is possible to say today that ANY abnormal encounter with anyone could create a problem and quite honestly, I’m hoping that thought will curb the ‘appetite’ of individuals who would target kids, women and even men.
  • Kids:  Can you be absolutely sure that a child wasn’t born with or already have acquired something that could be passed on?  What if that child had been assaulted in some way by a family member, friend, teacher, coach or stranger and anything that they had could also become yours?
  • Women and men:  You can ask the same questions as those related to kids.  Blood tests used to be required before people got married so problems could be caught ahead of time.  Now, in comparison, so few people get married that it really seems like extra societal protections need to be put in place.
  • ‘Gang’ assaults:  Aside from knowing nothing about the status of the victim, what do you really know about the ‘members’ of your gang?  Do you share drinks, cigarettes, food or drugs with them?  Are you second or third or etc. in line for the assault?  Do any bodily fluids get spilled along the way?
People who’ve identified toxic exposures (environmental, industrial, etc.) through their disease can also be an economic multiplier.  When toxic exposures are identified, it’s possible for societies to start working backward and minimize and/or remediate the problems.
Likewise, people who get well are also an economic multiplier.  When people who get diseases also get well, we learn more about the nature of curing diseases … and those individuals just might provide the antidote / antibodies / genetic markers required to prevent disease in current and future generations.
Some problems in life (like illness) can only be minimized.
The questions always are … when you look at economic multipliers …
  • Have we set up systems that help keep and get people well?
  • Do we see our environment as an extension of our health?
  • When things do go wrong … and we identify that we’ve somehow as a society done something to create illness versus health … do we correct the problems?
Positive economic multipliers aren’t that hard to create if you know what they are.
P.S.  ‘Doctor dramas’ on television many times feature a lot of people having what seems to be spontaneous unprotected sex.  Most actors and actresses today (who help create those shows and then go home to their real lives) know that their jobs require them to be healthy.  As a result, many if not most of those actresses and actors pursue (although they don’t always get) stable relationships with children.
Unfortunately the young adult looking for ‘guidance’ only sees the ‘drama’ … not their off-the-set healthier lifestyles.  Likewise, the healthiest of lifestyles (the most boring) usually don’t show up in the tabloids.
If you ever think ‘spontaneous unprotected sex’ is the most exciting thing you could possibly imagine (movies and television shows would have you believe that it is), take time to imagine explaining to every person you could potentially date in the future that you ‘acquired something’ in your youth that you could pass on.
Smokers normally only get to date smokers:  It’s that way with a number of other things.
Likewise, it is perfectly OK to say to someone (if you really do want to have sex with them and you aren’t planning on waiting for a number of things … like a longterm commitment or marriage):  ‘Let’s go get tested first.’
Not very spontaneous perhaps … but many older people and couples think it’s quite exciting to have grown old (together) in relatively good health.