Tag Archives: capitalism

Why Are Capitalists So Lazy?

... Conservatism is So Counterintuitive and Ideologues are Lazy, Part 2Entrepreneurialism, innovation, competition, insight, optimization, excellence?

These are the self-satisfying hallmarks of our jackboot triumphal capitalism.

But what’s with the laziest of the lazy capitalists?

You know, the ones who run the fossil fuel sector. The science is in. They’re causing much of the climate change we’re seeing, except of course for the spoutings of the scientists they pay to say it’s just that the sun is, you know, hot.

But if capitalism is supposed to be this wealth of innovation and better mouse traps, why are these lazy folks sitting around STILL extracting oil, gas and coal from the ground for easy profit when they should show us how awesome they are by spending probably less than a decade converting everything to green energy and leaving the rest of the carbon in the ground.

And despite how there are pods of eco-entrepreneurs all over the place who want to build the post-carbon energy infrastructure and keep capitalism alive, it’s them, the lazy energy ones, and the politicians they fund who are doing it to us. They’re not innovative. They’re:

a.) lazy,

b.) psychopaths,

c.) not all that bright, or

d.) is it that they just believe in optimization and utilitarianism SO MUCH that the most efficient thing to do is get every last drop of dinosaur tears out of the ground because their processing, energy and transportation infrastructure is already in place and it would mean dismantling it to build the post-carbon energy infrastructure? And who cares about the ecological consequences.

Or is it

e.) All of the above?

Capitalism: Swing Your Sledgehammer

It’s all about vision and hope, in an effort to envision how economics and markets can exist after the toxicity of capitalism is gone, gone gone. Are you up for it?

Last night, John Holloway, author of Crack Capitalism, was the SFU Institute for the Humanities‘ guest lecturer, skyped in from Mexico. He was full of inspiration and clarity. Enjoy my twitter reflections below.

Continue reading Capitalism: Swing Your Sledgehammer

How the Occupy Movement is Enriching People’s Lives

Tiny house
Imagine an eco-community of micro-homes designed as a first step out of homelessness.

Housing, easy to get into, if people care. Occupy Madison in Wisconsin has come up with an innovative first step of a solution [see below].

These 96 square foot homes are no long term solution, at all. But if you’re struggling to get some stability in your life and you’re homeless, it’s that much harder. Just having a roof over your head can give you warmth and a good night sleep to help you be more capable of doing everything else you need to improve your life.

Continue reading How the Occupy Movement is Enriching People’s Lives

Austerity Leads to Suicide Rate Increase

Friday’s Vancouver Sun had a short item that you might have missed, “Suicides up, road deaths down due to recession.” It’s in the bottom corner of page B5:

Suicides rates rose sharply in Europe in 2007 to 2009 as the financial crisis drove unemployment up and squeezed incomes, with the worst hit countries like Greece and Ireland seeing the most dramatic increases, researchers said Thursday. But rates of road deaths in the region fell during the same period, possibly because higher numbers of jobless people led to lower car use, according to an initial analysis of data from 10 European Union countries.

via Suicides up, road deaths down due to recession.

If one were to extrapolate from this data, one could hypothesize that as more harsh “austerity” measures – including pay cuts and fewer public services in addition to even higher unemployment – are imposed on the Greek people, that the suicide rate will grow even higher.

One might further speculate that, if such severe punishment is also imposed on Spain, Portugal, and other countries which are in economic difficulties, that the suicide rates will increase there as well.

Many economists, including Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman, argue that savage cuts to these countries will only make their economies worse, and inflict more pain on their populations.

On the other hand, the “good” side of the story is that, “rates of road deaths in the region fell during the same period, possibly because higher numbers of jobless people led to lower car use.

Even better, the speculators (gamblers) who have bought the Greek and Irish bonds will get their money back.

And to top it off, the “royal” couple is having SUCH a good time as they visit Los Angeles to party with other “celebrities”!

Isn’t it great to have some good news once in a while?

Capitalist Anti-Social Quote of the Day

“They will continue to change the rules and we will continue to find ways around them.”

via Landlords dodge new CMHC rule.

In April, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation changed some rules about how people obtain mortgages for rental income properties.

I’m sure they had their reasons, but for today, they don’t matter.

The Financial Post ran a story on Saturday explaining how one landlord with eight rental properties adjusted her game plan to deal with the new changes.

The article didn’t bother to explore why the CMHC made changes. Regulations are bad, don’t you know. The only story was the quote above.

Regulations are obstacles. They exist, but they shouldn’t. When they do exist, it is right to find ways around them.

Amen.