Moosa also alludes to the point that our present system is unsustainable on its own merits, and becuase it completely depends on the political and economic subjugation of most of the world. (Interesting point from Harper's Index: Total GNP of the Developed World compared to the Developing World taken as a whole: 52, 48.) The second point is obvious: that's why there's been ethical consumer movements and those new green funds to invest in. But the first point, let me ramble a bit here. Economists, hush for a second. I know this sounds like freshman class nonsense to you. I'm not an economist. I'm a semiotitian of sorts and an armchair historian, so bear with me.
Here is my randomly compiled evidence: recent books on 30something Gen Xer's not being able to keep up as Consumers, and depending on their 'rents. Recent blips of news all over the mainstream media (which I know like to scare us as much as Bush does) about the economic dangers of the truly massive personal debt levels of US consumers (we are not citizens in a economy) and the really apocalyptic national deficits, rising thanks to the wars we are fighting. The huge cuts to Pell grants and other federal financial aid Designed To Help the Working and Lower Middle Class Get Through College so they can join the "new economy." I won't even go into the cuts in other services because I can't think straight when I do that. And now, the article in the May issue of Harper's about the housing bubble, which is not so much a bubble as a massive sink hole about to open up and swallow the middle class whole. The houses they are mortaged and equity loaned into are, apparently, very soon going to be worth less than consumers paid for them (much less the total mortgage), and so they'll never be able to get out from under their "investment". This seems to have happened in Japan, and it ain't pretty. Now, you put all that together and what it boils down to is this: our fantastic-amazing-world-envy-creating economy and lifestyle in the US is built almost entirely on ... nothing. On fake money, borrowing, and shilling cash (which has only relative value assigned by mathmatical equations, not real value tied to real things in the world, the gold standard, recall, is Long Gone, doubt me? read this about the value of the penny) from one spot to another. One simple example is that we do not pay the Real price of goods we purchace. Walmart and other retail coporations strong-arm producers to keep costs so low the producers sometimes go out of business. Another is that because part-time fast food and restaurant empolyees have no health insurance through their employers, we do not pay the Real price of hamburgers. And the oil thing is obvious, right? Ok.
There is no "free market." This whole market is highly engineered, and in a clearly unsustainable way. My generation, X, owes $55,000 each over our lives to pay off the S&L Bail-out from the 1980s (yes, that went down on a Republican watch). I don't even know what we each will pay for the wars and economic incompetence of an Administration hell bent on believing its own ideology over facts. Markets are decisions. These decisions have not been good.
What I know from these signs and from history is this: all civilations are ultimately brought down by their own success. (This is not my idea, btw, and if I could remember where I read it I would let you know.) All of them. Our success is not landgrabbing (not anymore, there not being any left to just grab) like the Romans and the other more recent Empires (England, France, Holland, Germany, the USSR, &c.). Our success has been in money, in economic empire. And that isn't even made of real stuff anymore. Art of War, kids, Sun Tsu, one's strength is also one's weakness...because one does not pay too much of the right kind of attention where one feels strong. This is very bad turf.
And now, oh joy, our Decider (gahf) is shaking his nuclear sword at Iran (who is behaving badly), and that situation boils down to apocalyptic fundamentalists from two different religions squaring off with each other to see whose savior comes back from the Beyond to rule the earth. Nukes again. Iran again. Shakey economy again. I remember this. I remember it really well. I don't fear a hail of nukes like I did then. (Hell, I had Ground Zero routes planned from every place I could drive when I was in high school. I was going to die in the flash. I lived smack between three of them: McDonald-Douglas, Scott's Air Force Base, and one other -- in case you want to know one reason why my generation was pretty low on affect for a long time there -- cuz we knew the air would catch fire one day and there would be no 'duck and cover' ....) What I see is weakness that will not serve in the short or long run. I see a bombing and nuke pleased president squaring off against a mad man (they're both mad, but that's beside the point), and an economy teetering on the edge of some massive reallocation of funds to creditors both foreign and domestic, and a terrorist network that is still panting with hateful lust to hit us hard, and more than once. The only "source" that tells me that we're making any progress against the T-networks is the Administration, and I'm afraid I don't believe them. Gosh, why wouldn't I?
It's simply time to change all of our priorities. All of them. Scale down the consumerism, work to let liberty take the shapes of the people who want it according to their desire and within the frame work of human rights, build more public transportation and make cars really expensive, outlaw urban and sub-urban driven SUVs (nobody driving on Pavement actually needs one), develop hydrogen fuel cells and attach them to our homes and businesses and send scads of them over to the developing world so that they can skip that nasty industrial revolution that made us so dependent on fossil fuels, and well, a few other things having to do with human decency and compassion and all that. We are not, as a nation or a society, making the kinds of moves that will make our lives, lifestyles, or the well-being of the world's population sustainable, forget flourishing or good. This is our success, and if we are not very wise, and quick, and careful, it will also be our failure.
Wish I could be more optimistic on this Sunday morning, but there is no snow on Kilamanjaro anymore. No way to write "The Snows of...." anymore. Gone. And there is no getting around that -- because it's real.
No comments:
Post a Comment