Tags
Capitalism, Climate Change, Consumerism, Corporate State, Ecological Overshoot, Economic Collapse, Economic Growth, Environmental Collapse, Exponential Growth, Fiat Money, Monetary Policy, Neoliberal Capitalism, Peak Debt, Private Debt, Public Debt, Steve Keens
The following is a comment left by Rhiter a couple of months ago (his last comment in fact) on a now defunct thread at the ‘prepping-for-profit’ site Peak Prosperity. It’s food for thought when we think about the non-viability of capitalism, an economic system dependent on growth and infinite resources.
For those not familiar with Steve Keen, the following interviews from last month are a good introduction for the layperson:
[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl4LPeQGnJo%5D
I’ll leave the post there because my internet sucks right now. Thank you Hughesnet. I’ll be switching this Friday to another internet provider.
Collapse of Industrial Civilization 
there is a difference between socialism and pure Communism. i sort of agree with Rhiter about pure communism, it runs the danger of substituting one oligarchy for another (or the cold war indoctrination is talking), be that as it may; the glaring problem is trans-national corps. putting the arm on the worldwide working class.
you can be a marxist and be reasonable.
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My own view is that we need emergency plans to be carried out immediately, completely scrapping the current capitalist system.
1.) Fast transition away from an industrial agricultural system, which creates a third of global greenhouse gases, to something like permaculture farming.
2.) The construction of a public transportation system like what Europe has with the Eurorail. The car transportation system would be dismantled.
3.) A massive public works project to restore grasslands, wetlands, and other areas destroyed by mankind in order to drastically reduce/mitigate CO2 pollution as discussed in the following interview with scientist Thomas Lovejoy: http://www.ecoshock.info/2013/02/living-on-edge.html
4.) The reconfiguration of our political system and mass media networks into institutions based on real representation and truth-telling and not monied interests and lies, i.e. corporations and the oligarch class.
5.) Drastic reduction in military spending with the dismantling of the military industrial complex.
6.) The institution of a gun policy similar to that of Australia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Australia
That’s a partial list off the top of my head and there would be a lot more, but this is not a perfect world and the Earth does not care about timelines or human inconvenience/self-interest.
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i’m down with all of these ideas, except the part about gun control, more on that later.
the river deltas are destroyed by our levee systems. used to be farmers wanted nice black bottomland, which gets that way thru flooding, kinda killing the goose that layed the golden egg.
instead of handing out “welfare” checks we should be organizing people to go back out onto the land, small farms connected by railways, as you say.
to me corporate personhood is the elephant in the room, this single issue affects all the others. the special status granted corps. has subverted what little democracy we ever had. as per “The reconfiguration of our political system and mass media networks into institutions based on real representation and truth-telling and not monied interests and lies, i.e. corporations and the oligarch class.”
i realize that my stance of gun control is odd for the left, it’s always seemed to me the “left” is who should want people to be armed. i just don’t think guns will ever go away, and that people should have the right to self-defense. me? i have no firearms, used to, never used them, then i had kids and it just seemed a good idea to get them out of the house, but that’s just me.
i would rather agree with part of someones ideas, such as yours, than to reject agreement over one issue. anyhow, it serves wealthy interests to keep everything centralized in a controlled market, insures their power and privilege.
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Die-hard revolutionists will get guns no matter what restrictions are put on them.
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“The institution of a gun policy similar to that of Australia”…
The only “My Take” I’ve ever saved – “…blindingly obvious”
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I suppose a mouthpiece for the corporatocracy can be right at least once, but he didn’t say the real reason why guns will never go away – they’re Big Business.
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More recent interview with Keen which clarifies his thinking:
and
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oh my god, it all comes clear. once again it is so nice to hear someone put into words what i have only had half-formed in my mind. Reagan, Clinton, Rubin, and the incestuous relationship continues to this day. Securitization, synthetic financial instruments, what a scam.
Debt levels higher than the 20’s, but we have used up the resources which got us out of that one. My only quibble is that he seems to endorse Keynesian stimulus which i just don’t trust. The plain fact is that our economic system is built on shifting sands. All of these economies are built upon what we can harvest from the earth, the length of time grain can be stored, timber, energy, these are the real currencies.
No surprise this was on RT, you are damn sure not going to see it on MSNBC.
There won’t be any miracles, we live in scary times for those with the eyes to see, and those that don’t will go absolutely ballistic when the truth sinks in.
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To Restore Democracy: First Abolish Corporate Personhood
http://www.thomhartmann.com/articles/2001/12/restore-democracy-first-abolish-corporate-personhood
hartmann is one of the few who gets it. it was gratifying when i was researching the travesty of corporate citizens to find his work on the web.
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