What is it with this culture that needs to commodify everything? Having just went through the big business wet dream that is marriage, now my wife and I are in the process of having our first child. There is no aspect of our culture that hasn't been exploited for profit is there? The wedding at least was primarily an orgy of small capitalism, as most of the transactions were with local businesses but babies require vast amounts of, uh, stuff. Makes you wonder how people reproduced before the modern corporation, somehow they must have though because we're all here. Huge numbers of gadgets, movies, books, classes, accesories and every one gets a healthy slice of profit for this company or that one.
What has really got my goat today though was the realization last night of just what the corporate establishment will do to punish parents for not depending on their wonderful products like formula. I remember reading once that Nestle was able to weasel their way into IMF structural loans and convince African mothers to stop breastfeeding in favor of Nestle's brand powdered formula. Only unsanitary local water supplies ended up poisoning lots of babies, ugh. Here however, propaganda and the extremely family-unfriendly American workplace have convinced an awful lot of Moms to use formula instead of breast-feeding like nature intended. As yet, American water supplies are still pretty safe (for now) due largely to the legacy of socialism in the early 20th Century that meant many municipal waterworks were owned by the public.
The lousy privatized water service I am stuck with will have to wait for another entry. We went to the breastfeeding class last night and got the standard shock lesson, this time about pumps. Apparently, commercial breastpumps are made in such a way that "they cannot be reused" because of the possibility of contamination. However, the rental pumps used by the hospital have a filter to prevent this. So, if new Moms refuse to cough up the huge outlay for artifical formula, corporate America will punish you by forcing a big outlay for a brand new pump. My first thought was, "what could the excuse possibly be for not putting filters into these things?" I mean, my friggin' aquarium air pump has a filter! Every baby gets a brand new pump, or you can cough up money for a rental, or just give in and buy formula.
No opportunity for profit goes unexploited. Until now, I had no idea of the immense shadow economy that revolves around strollers, cribs, carseats, MOTHERF%CKINGNONBIODEGRADABLE DISPOSABLE DIAPERS and so on. I wonder what the punishment will be for using cloth diapers?
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