Thread by @nrgomes

X: What's your take on #ClimateChange?

Me: The real issues are not about it.

X: But climate change/crisis is everywhere, in the news.

Me: So what?

X: What are the real issues then?

Me: It's about wrong intent, imbalance, and negative externalities.

X: ?!?

Me: In short we are consuming more resources than the Earth's replenishment capacity (unbalancing its natural cycles), polluting more than the Earth's regenerative capacity (causing negative externalities everywhere like loss of biodiversity and plastic accumulation), and...

... we are doing all of this to acquire more money, stuff, GDP growth, and so forth (wrong intent) in an arms race against each other (individuals, companies, states), increasingly distancing ourselves from the natural world by our own abstractions (money, borders, etc).

X: Well... are you against capitalism then?

Me: As a belief system, an ideology to govern a society, yes I'm against it, but as a tool no.

X: Sorry, I don't follow you.

Me: If we use capitalism (the system) as a tool to spur innovation through competition, I'm all in favour.

X: Isn't capitalism the best ideology ever invented to govern a whole society and pull millions out of poverty?

Me: If you are a liberal/neoliberal you may think that way. But you are wrong.

X: Prove me wrong.

Me: Look at the Scandinavian countries and especially China: all these countries use capitalism as a tool to drive innovation, and in the case of China, to also dominate other countries by buying important stakes in big western corporations through their state-owned companies.

Also, don't forget that still today in all Western countries most of the scientific breakthroughs don't come from the private sector, but from the public sector. Think Internet, vaccines, space technologies and so forth, all paid by the taxpayer.

X: But the private sector is much better than the public sector in managing all kinds of assets.

Me: If you think that way, you really don't know the huge amount of waste that exists in most companies. There's a reason why big consultancy companies are, well... big.

X: But even so, the private sector is great in managing infrastructure assets like communication networks, roads, hospitals, schools, ...

Me: No they aren't. What they are great at, is on extracting huge profits from those strategic assets already paid by the taxpayer.

It's called rent-seeking.

And by the way, China state-owned companies will be more than happy to buy western states' strategic assets by acquiring those western rent-seeking companies, I'm sure.

X: So, what you are saying is that every western state needs a public sector?

Me: Not only that but a strong public sector that owns and manages the #state's #strategic #assets like roads, railways, ports, airports, communication networks, hospitals, schools, and so forth.

Call it "national interests" if you want.

And this is not capitalism, is it?

X: No. That's #socialism.

Me: Exactly.

X: But is #capitalism compatible with #socialism?

Me: Remember the wrong intent at the beginning: if you look at capitalism and socialism as mere tools that we can use for a greater common good, yes, states/societies should use both.

X: Explain.

Me: Use #socialism as a platform to enable #capitalism.

#Platform means the rule of law, security & opportunities for all, and of course, all state's strategic assets in the hands of the societies that paid them in the first place to protect your national interests.

And by #capitalism I mean the right to control your life and own assets (excluding the strategic ones owned by the society at large, the national interests) and #FreeMarkets to spur innovation through competition, meaning markets free from monopolies, oligopolies & rent-seekers.

X: How that relates to #ClimateChange and the underlying factors you enumerated in the beginning: wrong intent, imbalance, and negative externalities?

Me: Let's start with #intent: societies need a new one. As of today, the new intent should be the #Earth #Regeneration.

Only by helping #Earth #regenerate itself in a fast way we may have a chance to survive as a species this century.

If we don't embody this new bold #intent today as a society, we all be gone due to #environmental #pollution, destruction of #biodiversity, and yes, #ClimateChange.

And how can we do that?

My answer was given above:

Use #socialism as a platform to enable #capitalism.

#Socialism is about our collective interests, in this case, our own survivability as a species, and protecting national & world interests, aka, the planet #Earth we inhabit.

Some examples of what states and @UN should do today to protect and #regenerate planet #Earth:

- Protect rainforests worldwide by international law: these are sacred biodiversity places.

- Regenerate degraded native forests everywhere and also protect them by international law.

@UN - Fund the rebuilding of local socio-natural ecosystems around the world using validated practices like #ForestGardening and #Permaculture to regenerate the land and help local people earn a decent yield.

- Make #Ecocide an international crime and a crime against humanity.

@UN - Prohibit by law, with huge fines, the production & use of plastics for packaging and distributing food and drinks: use glass and completely biodegradable materials as an alternative. Change this system from the inside (production and distribution) and not the edges (citizens).

@UN - Prohibit by law, with huge fines, the production & use of pesticides and herbicides to produce food: work with natural #Earth cycles instead and use #ForestGardening and #Permaculture practices instead. This is key to regenerate #Earth pollinators' populations (bees) worldwide.

@UN - Stop subsidizing oil & mining companies worldwide and make them accountable (meaning: paying) for the negative environmental impacts they cause locally & worldwide, and for the regeneration of the ecosystems they explore, for at least a 50 year period after closing operations.

@UN Me: I think you did get the picture, am I right? Should we switch now to the other side of the equation and talk a little about capitalism?

X: Yes, using #socialism as a platform to enable #capitalism and our new collective #intent to #regenerate #Earth. Please proceed.

@UN Me: Let's talk first about free markets then.

In #economics, a #freemarket is a system in which the prices for goods and services are self-regulated by the #openmarket and by consumers, meaning, they are set freely by the forces of #supply and #demand and...

@UN ... allowed to reach their point of equilibrium.

But more importantly, a #freemarket is #free #from all forms of #economic #privilege, monopolies, and artificial scarcities, as per Adam Smith, the "Father of #Capitalism".

More at Wikipedia:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_mark…

@UN So, in short, when we have some sort of #EconomicPrivilege in a given market (think #monopolies, #oligopolies, and so forth), that market doesn't work properly, that is, prices cannot be set by the forces of supply and demand, leading to #RentSeeking.

@UN Unfortunately, and as we know, this is the case of many markets/industries in many Western democratic countries.

In other words, those #nonfree #markets were #captured by 1-3 players. Think telecommunications, electricity, roads, retail distribution, cloud computing...

@UN Now, if you have a minimal understanding of #strategy, you already now that #everything #evolves into #commoditization (and #utility) sooner or later, regardless of the predominant socio-economic system, where efficiency at scale matters.

Read #wardleymaps by @swardley for more.

@UN @swardley X: And what can we, as a society, do about #evolution?

Me: #Embrace it and #take #advantage of it, don't fight it. If you do, you will lose. Remember the old #USSR.

X: But how can we, as a society, do that?

Me: Again, it depends on what our collective #intent is and...

@UN @swardley ... on how we look into #capitalism and #socialism.

X: How so?

Me: If our collective #intent is the pursuit of GDP growth alone as a country, and the acquisition of more wealth as individuals, then, and in short, we tend to believe #liberalism, capitalism and #LaissezFaire...

@UN @swardley ... (Friedrich Hayek) combined is the best and only ideology we need to survive and manage our collective affairs.

But if we look into #capitalism and #socialism as mere tools that we can leverage to achieve a completely different #intent, than we start to think differently.

@UN @swardley X: How so?

Me: If our new #collective #intent becomes #Earth #regeneration in order for our species to survive on this planet as discussed above, then what will be the most valuable #economic #asset in the near future?

@UN @swardley X: Biodiversity? People? Land? Air? Water?

Me: The current answer is the #Earth #surface #area, including landmasses, lakes, rivers, and oceans, which is a finite resource as we know, as Earth doesn't grow.

@UN @swardley And here lies the #fundamental #contradiction with the predominant current worldwide economic view of infinite growth by exploiting our #planet's #finite #resources.

It's a sure recipe for disaster: we all (humanity) crash in the ground if we continue down this destructive path.

@UN @swardley By the way, an #economic #asset is a durable good that can only be partially consumed or input as a factor of production.

Hence #People are not assets or, for that matter, resources.

To learn more:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_(ec…

@UN @swardley X: Are you saying that the most #valuable #economic #asset in this new world is the limited #Earth #surface #area?

Me: Yes because we and the #biodiversity we depend on need space, but not only that. It's also the most #strategic #asset from a country's "national interests" PoV.

@UN @swardley That's why countries around the world should:

- Legally protect their share of #Earth #surface #area against foreign or corporate interference (read: acquisition).

- Heavily regulate the use of land & water surfaces for economical purposes (read: #strict #environmental #laws).

@UN @swardley - Raise (by a lot) the taxes on land usage ownership and usage, and reduce the taxes on income (IRS), trade (tariffs) and purchases (sales tax).

Combined these actions have the potential to reduce property speculation & increase the economic efficiency of productive #capitalism.

@UN @swardley But for that #Countries need to be #Socialists on their most #valuable and #strategic #assets, namely:

- Their share of #Earth #surface #area as stated above.

- Their #NaturalMonopolies, that is, their big and expensive infrastructures, which are all commodities today...

@UN @swardley ...per the #evolution #law stated above (electricity, water, and communication grids, roads, railways, ...).

- Their core state services to #secure and #protect their own #population & #culture (healthcare and educational systems, social security, police, army, justice).

@UN @swardley If countries fail to do this, #China, #Norway, and the big #corporations worldwide will happily buy those #valuable and #strategic #country #assets for rent-seeking or political pressure. Be my guest.

By the way, nothing of this is new: it's happening for decades.

@UN @swardley X: Explain to me how #capitalism and the private sector can thrive within that #socialist framework for states.

Me: Well, apart from the protection of their #Earth #surface #area, #NaturalMonopolies, and #core #security #services stated above, almost all markets left are...

@UN @swardley ... #FreeMarkets as per Adam Smith:
- Agriculture, fishing, mining.
- All sorts of manufacturing.
- Almost all services we know of.

We can even have multiple businesses operating on top of the #naturalmonopolies' infrastructures owned by the state..

@UN @swardley And remember the reduction of taxes regarding income (IRS), trade (tariffs) and purchases (sales tax), by trading-off with the rising of taxes on land ownership and usage?

Well, that as we know today, will boost the private sector by a lot, and also the larger country's economy.

@UN @swardley X: But aren't we #constraining the private sector?

Me: Yes, but for all good reasons (read: our #commons and the common good):

- Our #species' #survivability, by heavily protecting through law and strict regulations a country's #Earth #surface #area against...

@UN @swardley ... serious #unbalances of #Earth natural cycles (water, carbon, nitrogen, ...) and the #negative #externalities caused by our economic activities such as loss of biodiversity and environmental pollution.

- The country's #independence, by owning the big infrastructures...

@UN @swardley ...behind #naturalmonopolies. We should all definitely think like #China and #Norway.

- The #population's #security and its #culture's #protection, by providing core state-services like education and healthcare.

@UN @swardley - And finally, by #constraining #capitalism to real #freemarkets and strict law & regulations, we are in fact giving the #privatesector the best possible conditions to #innovate and #thrive.

X: How so?

@UN @swardley Me: In short, #complexity #science, meaning, it's by manipulating a system's constraints that we are able to guide society towards a good direction, in this case, our survivability as a species.

This is a too wide topic, but you can start with the #Cynefin framework by @Snowden.