That was about as spot on as one can be on stuff like this Slip - along with such obvious hard facts as Growthbuster put forward. I'm particularly interested in the notion that there is plenty to capitalise on after basics - especially as the bastards only seem capable of screwing profit from the very basic. My local is owned by Punch Taverns, in turn owned by Middle Eastern concerns. The rent charge is £2K per week. I guess this may mean as much as 50 pence per pint (from an average of £2.50) goes for the "franchise". When one takes off government charges, we are probably paying half our non-tax cost to "owners". I really don't care about pubs, but it is noticeable hardly an alternatives have sprung up since they began to decline. I typically pay about £10 for trousers and tops that would cost £2 a dozen direct from the sweatshop. A dozen assorted of each would keep me going better than I manage now. I don't need retailing.
State control communism is an oxymoron. I hate the experiments in it. Yet our consumer societies are equally dismal now. West Germany used to be called the Bundes Republik - Gabby will put us right - I think this meant "coloured". We don't have capitalism - we have "daft trinketism". Brecht may have taken the piss with plays about "ash grey pyjamas" - but there are probably more people like me around who don't give a damn about clothes and the rest than we think. Strangely, I'd guess we'd be more resistant to communist oppression than the fashion conscious. What would we lose if basics were not part of our motivation needs? (no Maslow for god's sake) I think constraining us to need at this level is really slavery - a spectre (Derrida) still with us. There are other ways to get the "idle" to do what we need them to do. We know all about this through idiot World Bank and other projects so badly run they demotivated everyone. Sue and I are very close to tossing out the television and watching-listening to programmes we schedule via the Internet. We'd like to see shops disappear in favour of direct pre-ordering and delivery. We could use existing cars to ferry people about by Internet ordering. Sure some complexities would arise, but we could knock them out. Banking could and should be much easier. I believe the "capitalists" have to screw on basics because they are lying, thieving vermin with very small brains and the cunning of street thieves. The idea that somehow we need their complex of motivation and innovation is a myth - I have not been able to ground this in more than 20 years research, but seen much surreal drivel and retrospective accounts of "success". We've been suckered on mass as surely as anyone who has lost their money in a Ponzi. I'd like to rebuild societies around our Primary schools and reinvent villages and towns with shared facilities. People generally go wrong after they are kids and I don't believe this is because they grow up, but rather is because they are kept in perpetual childhood and forced into worlds meant to be unfair and concerned with idiocy like war. I can't smoke in my pub, but I can own a gas-guzzler. Idiots offer grandiose plans on public transport, yet sensible solutions are ignored. Things are so bad that our Prime Minister is telling us the growth in China and India (etc) is a good thing and Britain is globally placed to benefit. What I lying toad Brown must be - no educated man could puke this rot these days an remain honest. On 21 Jan, 14:02, Growthbuster <[email protected]> wrote: > Few are talking about the most basic problem with our current economic > system: it is intent on having more throughput year over year, yet it > exists in a finite environment. The resources it consumes are not > unlimited. I think one of the prime reasons for such a big meltdown > this time is that we really are up against the "limits to growth." > That's in quotes because you ought to Google that phrase. Think peak > oil, peak food, peak water and perhaps now peak money! > > Dave Gardner > Producer/Director > Hooked on Growth: Our Misguided Quest for Prosperity --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
