Ray, You may think me a "Johnny One-note", but the only innovative, constructive idea I can see addressing the ills this list addresses weekly is population shrinkage. Redistribution of money creates not one iota of sustainable well-being; it would give an instantanious burst of consumption, and then slow depletion/burnout. Latent consumption (savings of the rich) would be converted to immediate consumption with its concomitant waste production. The growth paradigm is cancerous. If there were 1B instead of 6.2, everyone would, on average, have 6 times the natural wealth including waste sinks, clean air, pure water, fuel, timber, topsoil, and opportunity. And labor would be revalued upwards, as capital would still seek to be employed in enterprise.
Values are most difficult to change. Pain is the normal route, as humans are stubborn & hang on to old ways until the bitter end. Don't begrudge the active listmembers here. If anything, urge the lurkers to express themselves. Frankly, I'm tired of hearing a dozen at most express themselves, although I've learned alot from them, you included. Assertions of universal truths, though, we could do without. While I agree with your aesthetic judgements to a large degree, they are no more than taste and opinion as I see things. There are NO objective standards that aren't learned/taught anthropogenic evaluations, just like the dictates of the Ten Commandments. Stick around, Ray. We'd miss you. Steve -- http://magma.ca/~gpco/ http://www.scientists4pr.org/ Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.--Kenneth Boulding
