No common ground, no common future. In fact, no future at all. by SIGNYM

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

No common ground, no common future. In fact, no future at all.

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Monday, April 14, 2014 16:02
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VIEWED: 1178
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Sunday, April 13, 2014 1:53 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Despite all of the happy talk that our "economy" is "recovering", our economy no longer aims at producing goods and services for people. Instead it produces - literally- "money". People are superfluous. Only loans and speculation count.

And it seems we mere people are in an economic and political dead zone. Nothing is for us anymore - our rights are disappearing (but corporations have them!), our economy just bleeds us dry. We may want single- payer healthcare and a strong Social Security, to get out of endless wars and be able to have good jobs ... but our needs just don't count. We're powerless and silent. It's like we're the zombies in a zombie apocalypse - not dead, but not living either, unable to do anything except mutely consume the landscape around us. I just came across these three related items which explain to me how this wasteland was created.

I know these will take a great deal of time to listen to, so I've transcribed a few parts which I hope convey at least some of their essence. I'll try to describe for you the truth in their intersection, but can only pray to do it justice:

Former trader and economist Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert: Why The Young Haven't Risen Up.
http://rt.com/shows/keiser-report/episode-586-max-keiser-385/

How the Corporate Takeover of Society is Leaving Us Feeling Empty Inside
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/23037-how-the-corporate
-takeover-of-society-is-leaving-us-feeling-empty-inside

And finally, Fukushima: Bringing Focus Back to Life
http://fairewinds.org/bringing-focus-back-life/

Keiser report

We're all atomized, all a derivative in some database somewhere ...
Public space has been diminished ...
Because of intellectual property, there is nowhere to stand not dominated by the corporate agenda ...
Because of the perpetual and omnipresent surveillance of the state (working on behalf of the corporations) the right of assembly has been destroyed.

Corporate Takeover

How do you engineer a bland, depoliticized world, a consensus built around consumption and endless growth, a dream world of materialism and debt and atomization, in which all relations can be prefixed with a dollar sign, in which we cease to fight for change? You delegate your powers to companies whose profits depend on this model.

Power is shifting: to places in which we have no voice or vote... The self-hating state withdraws its own authority to regulate and direct. Simultaneously, the democratic vacuum at the heart of global governance is being filled, without anything resembling consent, by international bureaucrats and corporate executives. The NGOs permitted – often as an afterthought – to join them intelligibly represent neither civil society nor electorates.

Fukushima: Bringing Focus Back to Life

It's not a mere Japanese crisis. It is a crisis that transcends geography and time.
People do get used to things, even when they are extremely abnormal.
... A covert USA military operation called Castle Bravo ... March 1, 1954... the fishing vessel called Number One Lucky Dragon ... pure white ash descended on him and other crew members ... They still didn't know what it was. Any skin which was exposed to the ash was burned... They intentionally did not send SOS signals because they feared the possibility of being sunk by the US Navy.
In April 1954 ... Eisenhower ... "US Actions to Offset Unfavorable Japanese Attitudes to the H-Bomb and Related Developments" ... "Atoms For Peace"
For all of these decades, each one of us has been forced to allow more and more radiation into our environment and into our bodies, radiation which we cannot smell, taste or see ... from depleted uranium... from abandoned radiation mines in the upper great plains [and to everyone] who eats the food that comes from there ...
Most of the real information from past disasters is classified and manipulated ... Officially, the US government has refused to recognize [the effects of Three Mile Island]
The most important choice of our lives was never available to any of us. We were not allowed to choose whether or not we wanted to accept all of the unearthed uranium and the resulting radionuclides in our life.
It's not a mere Japanese crisis. It's a crisis that transcends geography and time.
It's hard to stop the march of heavily armed people with a prayer. But I [still] dare say every life is sacred, no matter how small it is.
Your compassion has given me so much strength.
I hope to keep witnessing what's happening, and seek truth, and I pray for all the souls of this planet.

---------------------------
What I found in all of these was a description of how we have become profoundly utterly disconnected ... atomized... from each other, from our environment, and even from our own lives.

Max and Stacy riff on that disconnection- they trace it to “privatization”- where everything is made private property. And as I thought about it, it seemed to be an awful truth: EVERY action ... whether we’re finding food, or eating, or exercising, or making something, or playing, or learning, or planning for the future, even coming up with an idea ... has got a dollar sign next to it. And every INTERaction has got a price too, whether we’re seeking comfort in church, or comparing notes about our children, or one-upping a friend. In almost every encounter that we have, and everything that we do, money changes hands. (I paid DSL good money for crappy Verizon service just to get this idea out to you. And you paid to get it, too. I hope you found it ”worth it”.)

Why?? Because it is impossible to “make a profit" unless something is being bought or sold. Therefore businesses have interposed themselves into EVERY aspect of our lives, insinuating themselves into every moment as a source of profit. “Monetizing” our hopes and dreams though advertising, our memories and self-worth though Facebook, our communication through the media, and our desirability through porn. I can’t think of a single thing that people do.. literally... that business hasn’t found a way to own and make money on, in some way or another.

But there is one thing that can’t be owned and monetized, because privatization and monetization are its complete antithesis, and that is the common space.

In the old days, it used to be called “the commons”- places that everybody used but nobody owned: the high summer pastures for grazing cows, the reefs where villages fished, the river where everyone drew water from. Dealing with a commons requires a different kind of interaction. It requires that affected parties agree to a plan. It requires that the interests of many people to be reconciled, like the Swiss herders who - to this day- agree on how the high pastures will be maintained. It demands connection, and requires that people exercise their combined authority as well as their combined responsibility.

In our society, that approach is -literally- unthinkable: we are unable to imagine an approach which doesn’t somehow involve private ownership and the transfer of money. (Libertarianism is the essence of this propertarian approach.) But as “the commons” gets smaller and smaller ... as our connections get weaker and weaker ... so does our combined imagination.

When we think of our future, we imagine where WE will be, five or ten years from now. We’ll have a house, or a maybe even a cabin. A refuge. It will be in a nice place. It might even have security features.

But do we imagine where our city will be? Our nation? Our globe? Even our children? We no longer believe we even have a common future, or a common future that we can affect. All we can seem to do is find our “private” niche. And so we remain, isolated, and mute and consuming.

I included the Fukushima video because it represents the antithesis of the profound disconnection that we have from each other, our environment, and our future. This woman from Japan, whose northeast people have experienced (and continues to experience) profound tragedy and trauma, is praying FOR US. For the fleas and the frogs and all souls, no matter how small.

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Sunday, April 13, 2014 2:10 PM

CHRISISALL

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Sunday, April 13, 2014 2:17 PM

JONGSSTRAW

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

our economy no longer aims at producing goods and services for people. Instead it produces - literally- "money". People are superfluous. Only loans and speculation count.

What a load of delusional elitist crap!

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Sunday, April 13, 2014 2:20 PM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
What a load of delusional elitist crap!

Jongs, how is that 'elitist'? Just curious as to how you're using it here.

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Sunday, April 13, 2014 2:39 PM

JONGSSTRAW

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
What a load of delusional elitist crap!
Jongs, how is that 'elitist'? Just curious as to how you're using it here.

Only a detached from everyday reality "elitist" would believe that our economy is based on "speculation" rather than goods and services.

I drive to the gas station. I get gas at the pump and I buy a Snickers Bar inside and pay for it all with money I've earned from working a job. That's a "goods and services" reality if there ever was one. No speculation and no Gordon Gekko in sight. "Elitists" always want to make the simple seem complicated.

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Sunday, April 13, 2014 2:50 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Jongsstraw- world hedge fund valuation is approximately 3-10X world GDP. There is no way a real (producing) economy can support that kind of speculative debt. YOU, of course, would never "see" that kind of speculation. It's done in boardrooms and investment firms, not at the 7-11.

AFA the USA economy, manufacturing has decreased from about 40% of GDP to less than 10%, while "financial services" have increased from negligible to about 25%. I'm not being an elitist, I'm being a realist.

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Sunday, April 13, 2014 3:06 PM

JONGSSTRAW

Stock and commodity markets have been around forever. Hedging, speculating, going long, going short, whatever your game is, it's still nothing but gambling. They could all go to Vegas and bet Red or Black at the roulette wheel with similar results.

But beneath all that, beneath the CNBC speculating suits that produce nothing, are real companies making real products and providing real services to real customers. Some succeed, some fail, but it's real. And ultimately it's THAT reality that matters. It's THAT reality that moves the markets. And those markets pay dividends to investors, provide growth for worker's 401k plans, provide venture capital for new projects, etc.

The real elitists are the banks. They make all the rules. Time and time again they've proven that they can and will tank the economy to get what they want.

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Sunday, April 13, 2014 3:13 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

No, THAT no longer move markets. Are you kidding? We're in a situation when new unemployment claims fall, and the stock market DROPS. Yanno, that's counterintuitive ... theoretically, a robust economy of rising employment should signal a stock market rise.

But stock market speculators (and really, that's all the stock market is; it has nothing to do with investment in future production) know that once unemployment falls (to some unspecified level) The Fed will shut off the Money Spigot, and once the Money Spigot dries up the current stock values (floating on a sea of cheap money) will fall.

It's all a game. And since the Jamie Diamons of the world have all that $$ passing through their hands, it's just so easy to sway government policy to encourage more of the same. Too big too fail? It doesn't apply to real businesses, but it DOES apply to banks.

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Sunday, April 13, 2014 3:21 PM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

It's all a game.

Yeah, but these guys know what's what- they've hired the best to explain it to them. It's rigged so they CAN'T lose. Win- you win. Lose- you write it off as a loss & take it off taxes plus collect a non-acruable temporary tax lien fee reduction (under the restrictive loss regenerative filing fee clause), and you STILL win!

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Monday, April 14, 2014 11:45 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Yeah a rigged game.

Hubby and I invest conservatively for the most part, but every now and then I take some money and toss it at something different- gold, the Forex, foreign bonds, commodities... so I keep my eye on different markets and different news items. And I gotta say, the news items about the amount of rigging is pretty encompassing.

It started with an investigation into the rigging of the London Interbank Overnight Rate (LIBOR) which depends simply on banks self-reporting what they charged for their overnight loans. Well, once there is a structure where banks provide the information which allows them to do well, collusion and mis-reporting occur.

Then there was the aluminum price rigging, with banks buying up- and storing- aluminum to raise the price so they could dump it quickly for a profit- the old Hunt brothers technique.

Gold price rigging, to keep the price of gold low. Forex rigging... "banging the bell"... collusion to put a crap-ton of orders in just before the exchange rates are "fixed" at the end of the trading day, to swing the rates in a preferred direction for the next day's trading. High frequency day-trading... computerized stock trades which put in massive orders on small stock movements... being used to disguise insider trading. And then there's financial product misrepresentation... "independent" auditors like KPMG being beholden to the corporations they're auditing. Accounting redefinitions. Investment firms pushing THEIR failed stocks or bonds investments on their customers. Complex derivatives. Hedge funds, open only to millionaires. Tax shaving. Lobbying for preferential treatment. Lobbying for new, favorable laws.

These "markets" - which are supposed to represent the atomistic behavior of individual self-interested investors- are anything but. They are complex games which are dominated by the biggest players, who cheat, flout, or rig the rules in their favor.

If there is a way to scam the public -and apparently there are MYRIAD ways- banks, investment firms, and businesses hire mathematicians and lawyers who do nothing every day except think about how to do that!

When all else fails- literally- there IS "to big too fail".

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Monday, April 14, 2014 12:01 PM

STORYMARK

Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
What a load of delusional elitist crap!
Jongs, how is that 'elitist'? Just curious as to how you're using it here.

Only a detached from everyday reality "elitist" would believe that our economy is based on "speculation" rather than goods and services.

I drive to the gas station. I get gas at the pump and I buy a Snickers Bar inside and pay for it all with money I've earned from working a job. That's a "goods and services" reality if there ever was one. No speculation and no Gordon Gekko in sight. "Elitists" always want to make the simple seem complicated.

And what goods are actually made in this country, anymore? Having it on the shelf at the gas station doesn't count.

"Goram it kid, let's frak this thing and go home! Engage!"

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Monday, April 14, 2014 1:15 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

CHRIS

Quote:
non-acruable temporary tax lien fee reduction (under the restrictive loss regenerative filing fee clause)

WOW Chris. You sure you're not a tax lawyer??? That sounded impressive as hell!!!

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Monday, April 14, 2014 2:06 PM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
CHRIS
Quote:
non-acruable temporary tax lien fee reduction (under the restrictive loss regenerative filing fee clause)
WOW Chris. You sure you're not a tax lawyer??? That sounded impressive as hell!!!

Nah, I just made that shit up. But after all, that's what tax lawyers do all the time, just with better sounding double-talk.

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Monday, April 14, 2014 2:14 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

That's what I mean.... made-up shit that sounds impressive as hell! Whatever you're doing now, your talents are wasted. You should be a lobbyist!

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Monday, April 14, 2014 2:27 PM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
You should be a lobbyist!

Anyone can learn how to bullshit well enough, NOT everyone can make good Robots from crappy 1985 kits, or phasers from scratch!

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Monday, April 14, 2014 2:30 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

WOOAAAHH!!!

THAT is the size of the robot you posted in another thread? I (ahem) thought it was more like life-sized. It looks so .... substantial. And even. And detailed.

To argue with a man who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. - Thomas Paine The American Crisis

OONJERAH - We are too dumb to live and smart enough to wipe ourselves out.

"You, who live in any kind of comfort or convenience, do not know how these people can survive these things, do you? They will endure because there is no immediate escape from endurance. Some will die, the rest must live."

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Monday, April 14, 2014 2:44 PM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by 1kiki:
It looks so .... substantial. And even. And detailed.

Yeah, it came out pretty good considering what I had to work with, but that phaser he's holding started off as a block of wood. That, I'm actually proud of.

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Monday, April 14, 2014 4:02 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

That phaser is awesome.

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