Category: Status Quo

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The Incongruence of Government Departments

I was just watching a bit of a show on the ABC ( Australia ), in which they were talking about the recent fish kill in the Murray-Darling river system, and in which they were interviewing a guy from the environmental office of The Department of Primary Industries NSW ( www.dpi.nsw.gov.au ).

Now, think about that for a minute: here’s a guy whose role is supposed to be ecological concerns, but he works in a department which has an economically based prime directive. If that doesn’t scream incongruence to you, then you understand neither economics nor ecology.

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Strategic transition vs. uncontrolled collapse

Many people advocate for the immediate collapse of the status quo of capitalism, without regard to the consequences of that collapse, so I want to go over the reasons why this is not a good idea.

In brief: we currently have organisations that are in control of such things as biological, chemical, and nuclear hazards;

— so ask yourself this:

  • IF wages cease being paid tomorrow because capitalism collapses;
  • THEN whom will turn up to work to decommission these hazards?

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Poverty is a full-time job

I’m disappointed in my fellow humans that after everything we’ve seen over the past few decades — and all the history that came before — that what I’m writing about here still needs to be explained to some people … I cannot fathom how anyone could actually genuinely be stupid enough not to get it, without actually suffering from some kind of serious brain damage, birth defect of mental retardation — or perhaps brainwashing … and that’s it, isn’t it … people are indeed brainwashed.

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Imagining waste

So you’ve just done Christmas with the family eh?

  • How many presents were bought by one family member or friend of the family for another ( on average )?
  • How much wrapping paper, synthetics, sticky-tape, ribbons, and other superfluous package was used per gift?
  • How many component parts of the present, and how much of the packaging & wrapping were biodegradable?
  • What is the lifespan of the utility of the gift?

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Natural state of being

I’ve read several people recently claiming that “poverty is the natural state of human beings”, and I’m not sure if this is new bullshit or just old bullshit being rehashed, but I am sure it is bullshit … allow me to explain.

Humans are just another mammal, that’s all we are, and prior to the invention of the gun and the industrial revolution, lets have a look at what was going on with our various species of sentient mammalian cousins.

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Input efficieny: consumption per unit of consumption

If we were to make a generic unit of resource, such that all units of energy, matter, space, and time could be converted to this standard unit, we could more easily analyse how efficient our processes are. I’ve written a couple of articles over the last few weeks about this ( just have a look back through the blog roll ), but I want to in this article discuss the general concept of efficiency itself from an input resource perspective.

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Flaws of Capitalism: redundant professions

As I walked home from the cafe where I sometimes go to do writing, I saw a tradesman’s car signage, and which stimulated the thought for this article.

How many houses exist in all the cities of the world? Many millions right? Of those houses in the wealthier cities, how many of them have roof guttering that collects leaves and other things that need to be cleared out so that the guttering doesn’t overflow into the ceiling or wall cavities, and doesn’t rust through? Of those houses, how many are owned &/or occupied by people unable ( or unwilling ) to get up and clear them from time to time? Well … enough to keep some roof guttering guys in work anyway. Continue reading “Flaws of Capitalism: redundant professions”

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