although i don’t know him personally, i have a great deal of respect for John Perkins, and I’m so glad that you posted this. it is too easy, when someone talks about the widespread destruction of environment, bodies, and minds that the american brand of capitalism has caused during at least the past half century, to cast aspersions and vilify the messenger. but Perkins so clearly lays out the facts about this deadly exploitation, that one has to reconsider the irresponsible thinking that characterizes blind support for that regime. fantastic post, AL!
While I thought this was interesting like most posts it lacks one thing. A proposal of what the solution is? I would agree on some of the points made but the failure to actually address the solution makes it seem like another just over simplifing and illustrating the reality of our world as we have created it.
At this point it has so much self generated inertia that attempting to stop it might cause more destruction than good.
I put this is in an analogy that I have been able to frame. Let’s say you are building this house all of you are living in? Ok so you build this house and as your building it you know their is something off but there is no time to stop and change it. So the builders continue to build and tell you it is ok. So then FINALLY after a very long amount of time the house gets done. When you step out side and look at it you realize they did a hugely shitty job of doing this and it was obviously rushed. Well rain and cold are coming so you swallow it and just decide you have to deal with it another day. So you live in the house, it is difficult but doable until you notice some fundemental structual issues that eventually if not addressed will cause the house to come crashing down around you. Well the problem is now the weather outside is really harsh and not livable. The builder is unwilling to fix the issues because he simply does not know how. And you know you are living in a really fucked up house but have little or no choice because to go outside would be basically suicide and you keep patching the house to keep it up the best you can but you know eventually you are screwed.
SOOOOOO so now that I have set the record for the worlds longest analogy anyone have any thoughts? I know I usually get blasted for my opinions, that was a joke fyi, but I am not seeing how my analogy is flawed, I truly believe the house has literally become to big to fix.
firstly, it seems you’ve grown comfortable enough to actually lay out your arguments, so i want to be encouraging because your argument is very well articulated.
however, i contest the idea that a solution is not presented, because the solution is implied….and it is all about unfair debt structures…
there is absolutely no need for the extreme interest rates that are used to build up obscene wealth…there are much lower interest rates, that help the borrower and still profit the lender…overly high interest rates have been considered a SIN since the beginning of history…and it is always understood by intelligent people as a way of taking property and rights from desperate people….
This is the first time I’ve seen this illustrated so easily. Illustration does wonders to a story. I’ve watched him speak in length in interviews and his book outlines this world problem in detail.
Greg that’s a great analogy by the way and that really is the house I feel we all live in. Akbar your solution is correct but it again comes down to the “greed” of corporations. Not the common man Greg but huge global corporations that do not think about the house we live in. That is the problem I would hope we can all one day agree on.
While I understand the concept of what you guys are saying, it really just fuels my irritation and frustration to ponder how completely powerless we are to effect a solution. I also am conflicted because I am huge supporter of the free market and the capitalist system but it is has become an unsupportable structure to its own end.
Let me put in simple terms, its like 6 people playing monopoly and they have been playing a while and now only one person has about 90% of the property and everyone else has no money because they paid the one guy all the rents (with hotels of course). Soooooo what is the point of contining to play. The game is over and essentially you have a winner. Except now in life and reality we are talking about billions of people and how do you just say the game is over, you won, none of the rest of us have anything. I mean when no one has anything left to pay what is the point of selling something?
Please do not get me wrong, I am not saying I am against the capitalist system at all, I am a firm believer in self sufficientcy and earn your own way. But when the game gets the lopsided how do you REALLY effect it. You might a well be trying to move a mountain by throwing a water balloon at it. Just seems so pointless and futile most of time, hence why I just try and laugh. It seems either laugh or subcumb to utter dispair. Great fucking choice.
So if some of my previous posts have been someone in the defensive vain it because this reality haunts me daily. Oh well. I have to go back to earning a paycheck. Happy Friday all.
great commentary, vulnerable and honest…that is what we treasure here at globatron…so i am happy to see that you have stuck around and found your voice…
now to the content…it is well known that Adam Smith, writer of The Wealth of Nations never intended capitalism to equate to an unregulated market…like all games, a healthy capitalism requires judicious regulation…here, this is from his wiki entry:
“Smith opposed any form of economic concentration because he believed that it distorts the market’s natural ability to establish a price that provides a reasonable return on land, labor, and capital.”
greg, i think most people in the world would be happy to see a well-regulated capitalism….with ethical business practices, etc. so, you will not find me arguing with that. but it is well known that for the last 30 years or so people have been actively conspiring to deregulate the markets more and more to allow deeper and deeper levels of economic exploitation..
many people are frustrated, as you are…but it is important to always point out that, even though we lack the power to put these solutions in place…there are very simple solutions out there…because with awareness grows unity, and with unity grows political power and with political power comes the possibility for change.
am i happy that my world is so fucked right now that i spend all this time arguing politics, when i’d rather be painting…HELL NO…but you know what, we are given the world we are given, and sometimes these challenges reveal our fate…so, i share your frustration, but my sanity demands that i not give up hope, even though i accept that the hope is a silver lining on a very dark cloud…
6 Comments
Logocentric
June 3, 2010although i don’t know him personally, i have a great deal of respect for John Perkins, and I’m so glad that you posted this. it is too easy, when someone talks about the widespread destruction of environment, bodies, and minds that the american brand of capitalism has caused during at least the past half century, to cast aspersions and vilify the messenger. but Perkins so clearly lays out the facts about this deadly exploitation, that one has to reconsider the irresponsible thinking that characterizes blind support for that regime. fantastic post, AL!
Greg
June 4, 2010While I thought this was interesting like most posts it lacks one thing. A proposal of what the solution is? I would agree on some of the points made but the failure to actually address the solution makes it seem like another just over simplifing and illustrating the reality of our world as we have created it.
At this point it has so much self generated inertia that attempting to stop it might cause more destruction than good.
I put this is in an analogy that I have been able to frame. Let’s say you are building this house all of you are living in? Ok so you build this house and as your building it you know their is something off but there is no time to stop and change it. So the builders continue to build and tell you it is ok. So then FINALLY after a very long amount of time the house gets done. When you step out side and look at it you realize they did a hugely shitty job of doing this and it was obviously rushed. Well rain and cold are coming so you swallow it and just decide you have to deal with it another day. So you live in the house, it is difficult but doable until you notice some fundemental structual issues that eventually if not addressed will cause the house to come crashing down around you. Well the problem is now the weather outside is really harsh and not livable. The builder is unwilling to fix the issues because he simply does not know how. And you know you are living in a really fucked up house but have little or no choice because to go outside would be basically suicide and you keep patching the house to keep it up the best you can but you know eventually you are screwed.
SOOOOOO so now that I have set the record for the worlds longest analogy anyone have any thoughts? I know I usually get blasted for my opinions, that was a joke fyi, but I am not seeing how my analogy is flawed, I truly believe the house has literally become to big to fix.
Welll with that Happy Friday.
Akbar Lightning
June 4, 2010greg,
firstly, it seems you’ve grown comfortable enough to actually lay out your arguments, so i want to be encouraging because your argument is very well articulated.
however, i contest the idea that a solution is not presented, because the solution is implied….and it is all about unfair debt structures…
there is absolutely no need for the extreme interest rates that are used to build up obscene wealth…there are much lower interest rates, that help the borrower and still profit the lender…overly high interest rates have been considered a SIN since the beginning of history…and it is always understood by intelligent people as a way of taking property and rights from desperate people….
the solution is simple, ethical lending…
globatron
June 4, 2010This is the first time I’ve seen this illustrated so easily. Illustration does wonders to a story. I’ve watched him speak in length in interviews and his book outlines this world problem in detail.
Greg that’s a great analogy by the way and that really is the house I feel we all live in. Akbar your solution is correct but it again comes down to the “greed” of corporations. Not the common man Greg but huge global corporations that do not think about the house we live in. That is the problem I would hope we can all one day agree on.
http://www.globatron.org/choken-word/machete-vs-machine
above is a post i did after hearing about Perkin’s book “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” which I have not read but a good friend of mine went on and on about after reading and continues to prod me to pick it up and give it a read. I hope to one day soon.
http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-HitMan-John-Perkins/dp/B002N71L2O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275661299&sr=8-1
Greg
June 4, 2010While I understand the concept of what you guys are saying, it really just fuels my irritation and frustration to ponder how completely powerless we are to effect a solution. I also am conflicted because I am huge supporter of the free market and the capitalist system but it is has become an unsupportable structure to its own end.
Let me put in simple terms, its like 6 people playing monopoly and they have been playing a while and now only one person has about 90% of the property and everyone else has no money because they paid the one guy all the rents (with hotels of course). Soooooo what is the point of contining to play. The game is over and essentially you have a winner. Except now in life and reality we are talking about billions of people and how do you just say the game is over, you won, none of the rest of us have anything. I mean when no one has anything left to pay what is the point of selling something?
Please do not get me wrong, I am not saying I am against the capitalist system at all, I am a firm believer in self sufficientcy and earn your own way. But when the game gets the lopsided how do you REALLY effect it. You might a well be trying to move a mountain by throwing a water balloon at it. Just seems so pointless and futile most of time, hence why I just try and laugh. It seems either laugh or subcumb to utter dispair. Great fucking choice.
So if some of my previous posts have been someone in the defensive vain it because this reality haunts me daily. Oh well. I have to go back to earning a paycheck. Happy Friday all.
Akbar Lightning
June 4, 2010sir greg,
great commentary, vulnerable and honest…that is what we treasure here at globatron…so i am happy to see that you have stuck around and found your voice…
now to the content…it is well known that Adam Smith, writer of The Wealth of Nations never intended capitalism to equate to an unregulated market…like all games, a healthy capitalism requires judicious regulation…here, this is from his wiki entry:
“Smith opposed any form of economic concentration because he believed that it distorts the market’s natural ability to establish a price that provides a reasonable return on land, labor, and capital.”
greg, i think most people in the world would be happy to see a well-regulated capitalism….with ethical business practices, etc. so, you will not find me arguing with that. but it is well known that for the last 30 years or so people have been actively conspiring to deregulate the markets more and more to allow deeper and deeper levels of economic exploitation..
many people are frustrated, as you are…but it is important to always point out that, even though we lack the power to put these solutions in place…there are very simple solutions out there…because with awareness grows unity, and with unity grows political power and with political power comes the possibility for change.
am i happy that my world is so fucked right now that i spend all this time arguing politics, when i’d rather be painting…HELL NO…but you know what, we are given the world we are given, and sometimes these challenges reveal our fate…so, i share your frustration, but my sanity demands that i not give up hope, even though i accept that the hope is a silver lining on a very dark cloud…