Our Belief in Separateness is Leading Us To Serfdom Joseph Stilitz has done it again. He succinctly outlines the causes and impacts of the increasing disparity between those who have and those who don’t. The title of his article brilliantly says a lot: “Of the 1%, By the 1%, For the 1%”. There are some amazing statistics out that illuminate this disparity in a way that make it more personal for us living in the United States. For example, that 400 families in the US have the same wealth as the bottom 150,000,000 million Americans. On the world stage, the top 1 % own 97% of the wealth. In the US, that percentage is 1% owns 40%, but it is a growing disparity. In the 1980’s , those percentages were 12% and 33%. So, we are being impacted too by this disparity and the statistics are changing at an alarming rate. As Sitiglitz pints out “we’re doing inequality on a world-class level”. In my experience, we in the first world were congratulating ourselves for not feeling subject to the lack that so many people in the world have been experiencing, which has been denial of the worst kind- we are special and it won’t happen to us- that’s what happens to “them”. Evidence of our belief that we are separate. Even as we watch protests in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, we are not recognizing it is increasingly the same situation at home. This is hubris and narcissism, not of the [...]
Serfdom
Opting Out of Serfdom
Day to Day Living in the New Paradigm In my last two blogs I talked at length about predatory lending and the debt economy getting us into trouble as a nation and as individuals. We need to step out of the culture of easy money and magical thinking that allowed Ponzi schemes like Bernie Madoff- but not just him. If you look at the whole bubble created by the debt system, you could say the whole of the state of Florida was a Ponzi scheme (look at the details of their real estate bubble). You could say all hedgefunds and therefore the fund managers were a Ponzi scheme. You could say the whole country (supported by Greenspan and the Bush Administration) has been living a national Ponzi scheme. Maybe ( and I believe) the whole world economy has been a Ponzi scheme. Bernie Madoff was just the starting bell in this horserace. I have an acquaintance here in Marin County who thought he was a multimillionaire. He had a thriving tax preparation business. Then he got into the investment business so his tax clients could invest in pension plans. And then he invested his own earnings in Florida real estate. The whole thing (except his tax practice- as taxes, like death, are inevitable) has fallen like a deck of cards. Now he is deeply suffering from his delusion and is having great difficulty in accepting that. There are many people who are in the same boat and they are [...]
Serfdom in the Global Economy
Obama Bailing Out the Banks In my last post, I talked about debt from the point of view of the individual getting off the wheel of bondage. Today I want to talk about debt again, but from the point of view of the Macro. Why? Because we can’t talk intelligently about our own money actions without talking about the canvass upon which these money actions are being played. Also, because we can’t really be conscious with money without this knowledge. And finally, we won’t really know what right action is. With respect to what is going on, both in our country, and in the bigger field of the world, I have run into two very powerful articles this recently. One was entitled ” Financial War Against Iceland” by Michael Hudson. Michael is a Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri. He is also a Wall Street analyst and president of the Institute for the Study of Long-term Economic Trends. So he knows what he is talking about. I have been reading his articles for years about the true effects of the US Treasury policies and the resulting inevitable current financial crisis. His is a voice of intelligence, true intelligence, not just intellectual analysis, in a sea of self- serving rhetoric. The other article was “Resist Or Become Serfs” by Chris Hedges. Both of these articles talk about the bondage of our creditor society. The real issue in this economic crisis should be overall the health of [...]