@broadbent @HC_Richardson The unspoken, hidden truth about capitalism is that in its global/large mechanisms it becomes a ponzi scheme, where the wealth starts flowing toward the top of the pyramid. Its not as easy see to see in local examples, though it is there. It is why Capitalsim needs a container.
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 1/ One reason why in local examples capitalism works, like the relationship between the trades, say of farmer, mill, baker, mechanic, banker and etc... the functions of a working/thriving local economy, is due to a) the value tends to stay in the community. Ie,
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 2/ That is, the money paid to one business for services or goods (especially goods made within the community) tends to stay in the community. Whereas in a national, or even global versions of Capitalism the money is instantly siphoned out of the community in a one-way flow.
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 3/ This is the story of WalMart, for a clear and well known example. The trade off of "lower prices" [itself a ruse] was that the money earned & then spent did no more work within the community thus shuttering the community over time. The only way to get back some of that money
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 4/ going to Walmart HQ, and the Walton family, was to go to work for them. And again, eviscerating the local economy. Limiting the range of experiences, businesses, and relationships that were enabled in the more local "eco-system". One major casualty of the this transition
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 5/ of economic relationships of meeting the needs for goods & services by the simple metric of "lower prices" is exactly analogous to the wasting of the environment. Like the environment, it needs a complex of life to function and thrive. In order to have a global economy
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 6/ too often what it requires is the complexity of life, with all its variants and possibilities has to be constricted to a few "strains". Thinking of how we have reduced the seed strains from the amazing variety to a few that are "economically viable". And etc....From here
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 7/ Starting down that line, or any of the hundreds of other lines that could be followed from this article, and these few simple ideas invites, again, the overwhelming confusion of the complexity of what we have, and what is being decimated by how we are living out lives.
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 8/ Not only these local issues. But the planetary ones. And of course, the political aspects as well. As seen in the seemingly irresistible gravitational pull toward authoritarianism insinuating itself world wide. From this POV, I take that movement as a desire to reduce or
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 9/ eliminate the confusing complexity of "all that stuff I don't understand". Those who know who their tribe is, their group, and thus what is and what is not allowed to think, or how to act. It’s the well written story both in history - in the well known, and well worn
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 10/ and well worn examples of Germany, Russia, China & their lesser versions...Examples well known but not very well understood. [ref @TimothyDSnyder], and written in the great literature of Orwell, Dostoevsky & others, recently retold in more current language by Margret Atwood.
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 11/ So. Capitalism. To bring this unexpected discourse to a close...I suppose I meant to point out two things. 1) Capitalism works when it is in a container, and becomes a monster when it is released from constraints & becomes the foundational power, purpose & engine
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 12/ of a society. Rather than being a servant for the commonweal, it becomes a rather cruel and unfeeling task master. Ref the Robber Baron era. Slavery and its replacements, the cycle of financial crisis',and how it can so effectively destroy the environment. All (and more)
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 13/ Contributing to the essence of the original article and its encapsulation in the observation "The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer". 2) How we not only should but must deal with this "beast" that is increasingly slipping its constraints is a mandatory conversation.
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 14/ 3) If we choose to not have that conversation, or have it in a way that is unwilling, or perhaps unable to look squarely at the problem and understand it, and then to come up with strategies to reinvent our economies on a different basis....Well. we are confronted daily with
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 15/ We are confronted with the consequences of not doing so daily. Increasingly shrill are the warnings that we have only a few short years to make necessary changes to how we function and are organized in the world before major catastrophe will be unavoidable.
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 16/ To reiterate my point in this context: Of course it is overwhelming and beyond the comprehension of anyone to understand much less fix. So when someone like a Trump comes along in such a time, people of course are predisposed to believe in the simple descriptions of the
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 17/ issues...and the equally simplistic, and wrong, blame for the cause of those problems. In our case, as is the historical pattern, Immigrants, and any number of groups of "those people". Never ourselves, do not self reflect, and do not think deeper than ones self interest.
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 18/ in one way to understand this level of response, It is described in Maslow's pyramid. If one is unable to think/be better than "what is in it for me", there is no permeability to the other who is not in your tribe, family. [Another deep/complex line provoked by the article]
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 19/ We are in a tumultuous time of transition. From what and to what remains as yet undetermined, though the options seem to be taking more tangible shape. I hope, but am not confident, we have the resources, wisdom& resilience to rightly navigate our way through these perils.
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 20/ While not yet fully in the hellstorm of the many "Category 5+ Hurricanes" that threaten to make landfall, the storms are there, having effect, & are threatening more. I think this article unwittingly points to at least the complexity of the problem. Sadly not its solutions.
@broadbent @HC_Richardson 21/ Lincoln said:"If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it".
Now, like then, we do not know how to "disenthrall ourselves" fr the causes of our troubles. Now, as then, if we do not,"the war will come"
Now, like then, we do not know how to "disenthrall ourselves" fr the causes of our troubles. Now, as then, if we do not,"the war will come"
