aquascoot wrote on Mar 4
th, 2024 at 2:26pm:
power wealth and liberty are past their zenith and probably on the way down.
Yes, the idea of shared prosperity is ascendent.
Quote:as the prime minister of malaysia said at the world economic forum in 2019
"the idea that several billion east asians can rise to the level of wealth and liberty that the west claim is not practical"
the west must descend to out level of consumption
Sustainable mobilization of resources is required for a functioning global economy, going forward. Happiness resides in sufficient
quality, not excessive
quantity of consumption.
Quote:the power is moving more and more to the stakeholder (not shareholder) capitalists.
the idea is that businesses respond, not to their shareholders , but to a management team , a coalition of elites and governments who will dictate the trajectory of people lives.
Correct, but attending to shareholders interests alone is insufficient.
Quote:personal freedom is not possible in a world where the elites have now decided that sustainability is priority numero uno.
Well sustainabilty is no.1, past dead civilizations attest to that.
As for "personal freedom": 60 million died in WW2 to "preserve" it, but we were all promptly imprisoned in the Cold War.
Quote:you will be free to buy what they allow you to buy, go where they allow you to go, own what they allow you to own.
Unless you are Musk or Bezoz etc?
Quote:as an advocate of "personal responsibility" who belives that governments should obey a 3 word constitution "leave me alone", i find that this mode of being(personal agency) is unattractive to most people.
"No man is an island".
Quote:when shwabb says "by 2030 , you will own nothing but you will be happy",
well....if all the necessities are available in sufficiency, and everyone can participate in communal life (free from poverty) and you can choose your annual holiday destinations, what's not to like?
Quote: he is really saying
reject personal responsibility
behave like a child
let big government and the big brains on campus(gates, zuck,clinton, merkel, trudeau,bezos,cook ,sundar,greta
) decide what is good for you
and get on with pleasuring yourself
thats a very easy sell and most people will buy it. [/quote]
Er.... Yanis Varoufakas, in his new book
Technofeudalism:
What Killed Capitalism" also argues those people from Musk down (except Thunberg) are responsible for crippling inequality and destruction of the social cohesion needed for democracy to work.
Quote:the immigration crisis faceing almost every western country is just lubrication to move this process along. it makes everyone a bit poorer and less tribal (thats the theory)
Solution? Fix the failing eeconomies of developing countries. Not everyone can go down the Chinese route by becoming the world's factory.
Quote:when everyone is moderately poor and everyone is about equal and there is little to no prospect to shine , then people will just comply
Diversity, equity and inclusion are a big part of this
its a drive to the "lowest common denominator", but when i leave my farm and my alpha neighbours and go into town and walk around a shopping mall looking at all the fat sloppy "dead in the eyes" zombies , on their phones watching tiktok and chowing down on fries and coke, it is absolutely obvious that no one in such a durr state is able to put up any resitance and they will comply as long as they are fed and entertained.
So how do you propose to achieve shared prosperity, and good health, given the prevalent
junk consumer society beloved by capitalists, amid the current cost of living crises?
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