Monday, April 4, 2011
A Letter to the Congressional Black Caucus regarding "Redistricting"
"Redistricting" needs to be seen within the context of a transition to Economic Democracy. We need to reorganize and reallocate to and within locales, neighborhoods, villages,based on need and consistent with a mission and principles of inclusion, humanity, equity, peace and well-being, altruism, and sedenarianism (sustainability). Current Governments must play the role in the transition to foster and facilitate and help fund the reorganization and acceptance of their responsibilities and stewardship of the so-called "Private" Sector as they become Quasi-public in relation to a Plan of demand side management and supply side reallocation based on the principles enunciated above and on strategies and programs of ecological economic redevelopment. The neighborhoods/villages must be the starting points, and inter-community, inter-regional, States and National (as we eventually transition away fron such super-structures), and world around cooperation, equity, and solidarity inculcated and implemented with the goal of communitry betterment for ALL communities. Metropolitan areas need to be be viewed as Planning and Inter-Community entities within the context of Regional Watersheds. We need to abolish the Federal Reserve and establish Direct Control of the Treasury to allocate dollars directly to Equity Union(s), which would be a transitioned Banking and Insurance Sharing and Holding Company working in concert with Governments. To reiterate somewhat the new association of Worker/Community Coops would be a unified economic culture dedicated to Community Betterment of all communities within a needs based, equitable, humane, inclusive comprehensive demand side energy and supply side reorganization and reallocation plan of Ecological Economic Redevelopment.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Gender Issues?
Yes, community is a very elusive treasure that is seriously lacking in our male dominated, industrial, militaristic "culture".
In the early days, when it was presented to youth (you are about eleven years my elder) that the women's "movement" (as part of the peoples' "movement") was a good thing because women are more communal than men. I got it. I still do. It got seriously twisted by a Bourgeois Capitalist decadence and many women just became a huge cadre of more "pricks" like their fathers. I have worked in Business with women and in such venues they exhibit very twisted, bizarre, insidious, cutthroat behavior.
I grew up playing and watching sports. I still like to watch and play occasionally, though seldom. It has long been said that sports are a good outlet for warrior instincts that I believe most boys and men exhibit innately. Many years ago, the comparison of the City-States of the Roman Empire and the gladiatorial aspect of sports was pointed out to me and I pointed it out to others, but still enjoyed participation in the sports culture. When men have friendly, but competitive interactions in playing, it builds a feeling of camaradarie and mutual respect that seems to be a proclivity of the gender.
With the growth of Inter-Collegiate and Professional Atheletics as Big Business has come the building of Sports Empires and their absurd "fans" (short for fanatics) and it is as inane and ridiculous as every aspect of our Militaristic, Industrial, Automotive, Exploitative, Genocidal, Ecocidal, Suicidal "Civilization".
Choosing to remain delusional, I think that there is hope for the human species in a feminist movement toward sedentary, communal environments. I have called my extensive philosophical and prescriptive work to describe the plan and implementation plan of an inclusive, humane, equitable, industrious, well-being and peace oriented, ecological and energy demand side management, needs based alternative as requiring an intentional evolution of the species to Homa Ecologica Cooperativo.
In the early days, when it was presented to youth (you are about eleven years my elder) that the women's "movement" (as part of the peoples' "movement") was a good thing because women are more communal than men. I got it. I still do. It got seriously twisted by a Bourgeois Capitalist decadence and many women just became a huge cadre of more "pricks" like their fathers. I have worked in Business with women and in such venues they exhibit very twisted, bizarre, insidious, cutthroat behavior.
I grew up playing and watching sports. I still like to watch and play occasionally, though seldom. It has long been said that sports are a good outlet for warrior instincts that I believe most boys and men exhibit innately. Many years ago, the comparison of the City-States of the Roman Empire and the gladiatorial aspect of sports was pointed out to me and I pointed it out to others, but still enjoyed participation in the sports culture. When men have friendly, but competitive interactions in playing, it builds a feeling of camaradarie and mutual respect that seems to be a proclivity of the gender.
With the growth of Inter-Collegiate and Professional Atheletics as Big Business has come the building of Sports Empires and their absurd "fans" (short for fanatics) and it is as inane and ridiculous as every aspect of our Militaristic, Industrial, Automotive, Exploitative, Genocidal, Ecocidal, Suicidal "Civilization".
Choosing to remain delusional, I think that there is hope for the human species in a feminist movement toward sedentary, communal environments. I have called my extensive philosophical and prescriptive work to describe the plan and implementation plan of an inclusive, humane, equitable, industrious, well-being and peace oriented, ecological and energy demand side management, needs based alternative as requiring an intentional evolution of the species to Homa Ecologica Cooperativo.
Thoughts on 3/13/2011
Notice the Revolutionary Forces in the oppressed USA puppet Arab states uprisings have been primarily non-violent and met with stiff oppressive Military Resistance. It took an HW type insurrection within Libya to get ugly full blown violent with the hopes of capturing the oil fileds for the West. It didn't work. Just like the Capitalist shills of the USA ISO who from the Bourgeois manipulated naive perspective and/or insidious intentions propagandized to try to overthrow the Revolutionary stronghold of Iran, the Capitalist Franco-like will stop at nothing to grab anad maintain Colonialist Corporate Power and Domination.
I don't like violence. AnyOne who has been victimized, I'm sure can relate. I've dedicated my life to peace and as a thoroghly studied idealist (as Green as I can be) Libertarian Socialist, I do see the need for Communist resistance and Participation. We have much to do in the ways and means of reorganizing and reallocating.
At risk of understatement, creating a culture of peace is difficult, but not impossible if we understand everything from the animal instincts to the greatest religious and philosophical teachings of the species and use our best communication skills to press for truth and honesty, for inclusion, humanity, equity, altruism, well-being, peace, sedenatarianism (which is so important to sustainability) in dedicating our organization and allocation activities directly to meeting human needs.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity.
I don't like violence. AnyOne who has been victimized, I'm sure can relate. I've dedicated my life to peace and as a thoroghly studied idealist (as Green as I can be) Libertarian Socialist, I do see the need for Communist resistance and Participation. We have much to do in the ways and means of reorganizing and reallocating.
At risk of understatement, creating a culture of peace is difficult, but not impossible if we understand everything from the animal instincts to the greatest religious and philosophical teachings of the species and use our best communication skills to press for truth and honesty, for inclusion, humanity, equity, altruism, well-being, peace, sedenatarianism (which is so important to sustainability) in dedicating our organization and allocation activities directly to meeting human needs.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity.
Monday, January 10, 2011
A Letter to James Howard Kunstler
On January 10, 2011, at 10:22 AM JHK wrote:
"Obviously car-dependency has us by the short hairs."
Yes, very obviously. But what if we made it a national, world around campaign to reduce automobile usage in the US by 80% in the next 20 to 40 years? It would be better than leading the depressing "cheers" of the certain doomers, wouldn't it? Sure it's Eutopian (in keeping the delusion of hope alive, I use Mumford's term for "good place") and it seeks to revive the teachings of MacKaye (The New Exploration -1928), who was ignored.
Sure, you've got your niche as Chief Doomer, and I respect your work and wish in my heart of hearts that we could live out the rest of our lives trying to avert catastrophe rather than trumpeting it.
Even wearing your best Cynic hat, look inside yourself and see that if there could be a niche for thee proposing a solution. We understand the problem. We have prescriptive answers. Now, what we need is to make those answers part of the language of every day discussion. To alert those who have influence over discourse that this is the most fundamental issue facing survival. To get the people to understand their entrapment from their flukish History and to understand that working together, in cooperation and solidarity, we may be able to offer a future for the progeny.
"Obviously car-dependency has us by the short hairs."
Yes, very obviously. But what if we made it a national, world around campaign to reduce automobile usage in the US by 80% in the next 20 to 40 years? It would be better than leading the depressing "cheers" of the certain doomers, wouldn't it? Sure it's Eutopian (in keeping the delusion of hope alive, I use Mumford's term for "good place") and it seeks to revive the teachings of MacKaye (The New Exploration -1928), who was ignored.
Sure, you've got your niche as Chief Doomer, and I respect your work and wish in my heart of hearts that we could live out the rest of our lives trying to avert catastrophe rather than trumpeting it.
Even wearing your best Cynic hat, look inside yourself and see that if there could be a niche for thee proposing a solution. We understand the problem. We have prescriptive answers. Now, what we need is to make those answers part of the language of every day discussion. To alert those who have influence over discourse that this is the most fundamental issue facing survival. To get the people to understand their entrapment from their flukish History and to understand that working together, in cooperation and solidarity, we may be able to offer a future for the progeny.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
With Respect to Non-Violence
War and calculated aggression impose an urgency that is incompatible with philosophy as a serious enterprise. Hunger and need may also lead to such an urgency. War is an act of force. Does it follow that force is an act of war? War, although in the mind of the religious philosopher could never be a positive or absolute good, could be a "negative good" in the sense of preventing surrender to an oppressive force.
What is the difference between active battle campaigns and a repressive attrition. The USA, a society that knows little in the way of moral bounds with regards to "pursuit of happiness" is totalitarian in its effect of the multitudes trying desperately to make ends meet and defend their territory, way of life, and indigenous resources.
What is the difference between active battle campaigns and a repressive attrition. The USA, a society that knows little in the way of moral bounds with regards to "pursuit of happiness" is totalitarian in its effect of the multitudes trying desperately to make ends meet and defend their territory, way of life, and indigenous resources.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
The Plan
We need some perspective.
Liquid and gaseous fossil fuel use is about 150 years old and automotive use about 100 years old. Look how absurdly, the personal automobile dominates our life and is destroying any hope for a future.
We need to deal with more than incremental adjustments from the modern automotive age. If we want to continue the many benefits of precious fossil fuels, the many opportunity costs of those fuels, to personal automobile usage, then we need to set as a goal (here in the USA) and realize it, to reduce the use of the personal automobile by 80% in the next 20 to 40 years.
It is not encouraging, because Obama explicitly stated the other day that the automobile is such an important part of American history and culture and needs to remain so. This is a statement of a myopic politician beholden to special interests.
If you've never lived in the Northeast (USA) where much of the city, town, and village centers were built before the automobile, it may be hard to imagine a future with the greatly reduced automobile use, but it is very possible and absolutely desirable.
The key is the walkable neighborhood. That is, neighborhoods for everybuddy where everyone can get what they need within walking distance of their residence. This will take a major shift in the way that resources are allocated and products distributed to communities. The major over-supply side mall outlets (for those products and services that have utility) could become regional warehouses and older town and village centers, where they exist could be explicitly brought back as outlets for these products. Where the town and village centers do not exist, such as here out West (I'm in Eugene, Oregon), where the mindless assumption of the automobile has led to the mindless, endless residential districts with their equally alienating and squandering (strip) malls, communities could be rebuilt (think of all the jobs) to provide community centers and outlets.
Of course, this will not happen in the absence of a complete commitment to neighborhood/inter-community/inter-regional/worldwide ecological economic resource planning and allocation and redevelopment.
The resource allocation issue could be handled with a reformed economic system, an equity union, with a "plan and implement" modus operandi for economic operations. Reforming the financial system to take the fundamentally inflationary Capitalist aspect of "discounting the future" (i.e. assuming that money in the future will be worth less) could lead to a system of ecological economical redevelopment where only true growth in wealth would occur and be shared and could occur under the aegis of a mission emphasizing peace, equity, inclusion, humanity, quality of life, wellness, and sustainability.
Removing the gluttonous oil resource use by the USA and Capitalist automotive oriented allies would slowly rescind the need for the hegemonic occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, threats to Iran and to both domestic and worldwide environments which need to be conserved and shared equitably and frugally, particularly with the interests of youth, children, and future generations in heart and mind. The world acting in concert would stand much better prospects for peace.
The Ecology of Redevelopment
A big part of my redevelopment plan (aside from the financial systems reform) is the REBUILDING of neighborhoods to make them walkable for the necessities of life (that is, assuming a goal of a much less harried pace than today, but also assuming that people will have responsibilities, obligations, and desires). Such a plan would include a massive education program in retraining workers and training in youth in the building trades. Human resource management would be utilized to try to maximize the match between where the primary contractors/instructors and student/workers lived and the neighborhood building projects.
Communities would be rebuilt to emulate mature ecological systems, in that they maximize the efficiency of energy and resource input into the community so that once resources enter a community, they stay in the community for the maximum amount of time possible. Once all communities are sufficiently rebuilt (a timeline of 20 to 50 years?) under such guidelines, they would evolve to ongoing day-to-day and maintenance communities and the amount of heavy labor required would decrease and the amount of leisure time increase. Again, (day-to-day and maintenance) workers would be employed in, surrounding, and/or as close to their residency as possible and it would be a priority for real and capital assets to be owned by the workers and the community patrons who ideally would be one and the same. The Neighborhood Equity Union would replace credit unions and of course, other forms of financial institutions. Parks and gymnasiums would be an important part of the plan as leisure time increased and the healthy aspects of physical labor decreased.
Concurrent with rebuilding, and the reallocation of production and distribution resources, would be efforts to make office, communications, knowledge and intelligence based labor into primarily home and/or neighborhood based vocations. Occasional travel would be necessary and desirable, but quiet bus travel and car-sharing cooperatives could be employed to fill this need along with family visit and recreational needs and desires. With respect to the former, extended families would be encouraged to develop, remain, and/or reunite geographically.
Liquid and gaseous fossil fuel use is about 150 years old and automotive use about 100 years old. Look how absurdly, the personal automobile dominates our life and is destroying any hope for a future.
We need to deal with more than incremental adjustments from the modern automotive age. If we want to continue the many benefits of precious fossil fuels, the many opportunity costs of those fuels, to personal automobile usage, then we need to set as a goal (here in the USA) and realize it, to reduce the use of the personal automobile by 80% in the next 20 to 40 years.
It is not encouraging, because Obama explicitly stated the other day that the automobile is such an important part of American history and culture and needs to remain so. This is a statement of a myopic politician beholden to special interests.
If you've never lived in the Northeast (USA) where much of the city, town, and village centers were built before the automobile, it may be hard to imagine a future with the greatly reduced automobile use, but it is very possible and absolutely desirable.
The key is the walkable neighborhood. That is, neighborhoods for everybuddy where everyone can get what they need within walking distance of their residence. This will take a major shift in the way that resources are allocated and products distributed to communities. The major over-supply side mall outlets (for those products and services that have utility) could become regional warehouses and older town and village centers, where they exist could be explicitly brought back as outlets for these products. Where the town and village centers do not exist, such as here out West (I'm in Eugene, Oregon), where the mindless assumption of the automobile has led to the mindless, endless residential districts with their equally alienating and squandering (strip) malls, communities could be rebuilt (think of all the jobs) to provide community centers and outlets.
Of course, this will not happen in the absence of a complete commitment to neighborhood/inter-community/inter-regional/worldwide ecological economic resource planning and allocation and redevelopment.
The resource allocation issue could be handled with a reformed economic system, an equity union, with a "plan and implement" modus operandi for economic operations. Reforming the financial system to take the fundamentally inflationary Capitalist aspect of "discounting the future" (i.e. assuming that money in the future will be worth less) could lead to a system of ecological economical redevelopment where only true growth in wealth would occur and be shared and could occur under the aegis of a mission emphasizing peace, equity, inclusion, humanity, quality of life, wellness, and sustainability.
Removing the gluttonous oil resource use by the USA and Capitalist automotive oriented allies would slowly rescind the need for the hegemonic occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, threats to Iran and to both domestic and worldwide environments which need to be conserved and shared equitably and frugally, particularly with the interests of youth, children, and future generations in heart and mind. The world acting in concert would stand much better prospects for peace.
The Ecology of Redevelopment
A big part of my redevelopment plan (aside from the financial systems reform) is the REBUILDING of neighborhoods to make them walkable for the necessities of life (that is, assuming a goal of a much less harried pace than today, but also assuming that people will have responsibilities, obligations, and desires). Such a plan would include a massive education program in retraining workers and training in youth in the building trades. Human resource management would be utilized to try to maximize the match between where the primary contractors/instructors and student/workers lived and the neighborhood building projects.
Communities would be rebuilt to emulate mature ecological systems, in that they maximize the efficiency of energy and resource input into the community so that once resources enter a community, they stay in the community for the maximum amount of time possible. Once all communities are sufficiently rebuilt (a timeline of 20 to 50 years?) under such guidelines, they would evolve to ongoing day-to-day and maintenance communities and the amount of heavy labor required would decrease and the amount of leisure time increase. Again, (day-to-day and maintenance) workers would be employed in, surrounding, and/or as close to their residency as possible and it would be a priority for real and capital assets to be owned by the workers and the community patrons who ideally would be one and the same. The Neighborhood Equity Union would replace credit unions and of course, other forms of financial institutions. Parks and gymnasiums would be an important part of the plan as leisure time increased and the healthy aspects of physical labor decreased.
Concurrent with rebuilding, and the reallocation of production and distribution resources, would be efforts to make office, communications, knowledge and intelligence based labor into primarily home and/or neighborhood based vocations. Occasional travel would be necessary and desirable, but quiet bus travel and car-sharing cooperatives could be employed to fill this need along with family visit and recreational needs and desires. With respect to the former, extended families would be encouraged to develop, remain, and/or reunite geographically.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
A Letter to Mostafa Hessami (Iran)
A Letter to Mostafa Hessami (Iran)
I am a Friend. I honor all religions. The “Christian” justification for War is similar to your proclamation, which appears to be the sixth pillar of Islam. It is based on the misunderstandings of the teachings of John, who said and wrote, Jesus laid down his life for us, thus we should lay down our lives for each other”. The Christmas season has evolved to be an outrageous blasphemy relative to the true teachings of the prophet Jesus.
Soldiers, not Military Leaders, almost always are common people, coming from the ranks of the poor, the dispossessed, the oppressed. Thus, Marxist/Leninist thoughts and actions jibe with the concept of “holy war”.
We must be ultimately brave in our pursuit of peace. We must be peace, yet our dilemma is to throw off the shackles of Monied and Military Imperialism. George Fox said and wrote that there is good and bad in everyone and it is incumbent upon us to cultivate the good in ourselves and rid ourselves of the bad (inner jihad) and that we should try to see the good in everyone we meet and help them to do the same.
I am a Friend. I honor all religions. The “Christian” justification for War is similar to your proclamation, which appears to be the sixth pillar of Islam. It is based on the misunderstandings of the teachings of John, who said and wrote, Jesus laid down his life for us, thus we should lay down our lives for each other”. The Christmas season has evolved to be an outrageous blasphemy relative to the true teachings of the prophet Jesus.
Soldiers, not Military Leaders, almost always are common people, coming from the ranks of the poor, the dispossessed, the oppressed. Thus, Marxist/Leninist thoughts and actions jibe with the concept of “holy war”.
We must be ultimately brave in our pursuit of peace. We must be peace, yet our dilemma is to throw off the shackles of Monied and Military Imperialism. George Fox said and wrote that there is good and bad in everyone and it is incumbent upon us to cultivate the good in ourselves and rid ourselves of the bad (inner jihad) and that we should try to see the good in everyone we meet and help them to do the same.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Homa Ecologica Cooperativo (On Facebook)
This group seeks to educate, organize, plan and implement a radical intentional evolution of the human species to Homa Ecologica Cooperativo.
The mission is ecologically socio-economic and seeks fundamental reform of the resource planning and allocation system to accomplish human progress in the form of ecological economic redevelopment based on human needs and the recognition of resource scarcity, and inculcated on the principles of inclusion, humanity, equity, altruism, health and well-being, quality of life, economic democracy, peace, and sustainability.
It recognizes the concept of self-interest and extended self-interest and comprehends the organization of status quo establishments and institutions, but seeks to reconcile, reorganize, and reallocate the employment of natural resources/human labor based on the concept of neighborhood/community, inter-community, regional, inter-regional, world around solidarity, cooperation, and organization.
Suggested eventual outcomes include the formulation of a World Congress for Community Economic Development.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity.
Mike Morin
Eugene-Springfield
The mission is ecologically socio-economic and seeks fundamental reform of the resource planning and allocation system to accomplish human progress in the form of ecological economic redevelopment based on human needs and the recognition of resource scarcity, and inculcated on the principles of inclusion, humanity, equity, altruism, health and well-being, quality of life, economic democracy, peace, and sustainability.
It recognizes the concept of self-interest and extended self-interest and comprehends the organization of status quo establishments and institutions, but seeks to reconcile, reorganize, and reallocate the employment of natural resources/human labor based on the concept of neighborhood/community, inter-community, regional, inter-regional, world around solidarity, cooperation, and organization.
Suggested eventual outcomes include the formulation of a World Congress for Community Economic Development.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity.
Mike Morin
Eugene-Springfield
Relative to Leauge for Industrial Democracy and Upton Sinclair Mutual Aid Fund
Robert,
Thank you for the letter.
It is quite interesting to see you (and others?) trying to take similar initiatives to the Peoples' Equity Union (i.e. the Upton Sinclair Mutual Aid Fund). My research and your correspondence indicate that we have very similar motivations, understanding, and intentions relative to ecological economic redevelopment/community betterment. I think we both understand the concept of the community/worker hybrid cooperative and would like to get very busy in implementing such in our respective communities and elsewhere.
With respect to such, I am trying to work on two fronts, the micro and the macro. It is my considered opinion that success will not occur on the local level until there is a huge critical mass of citizens that understand the fundamental root causes of the current and further impending failure of the Capitalist/Corporatist system and the need for us as a country and a world to unify in support of an alternative economic paradigm, a "plan and implement" economy based on the meeting of human needs, and not a "risk and return" motivation based on profit.
It brings to mind to mind the schism of the 1800's between Marx and Proudhon, and it is almost rendered impossible by the myriad of profit-motivated, solely self-interested endeavors that have evolved to be a highly decadent but self-perpetuating entropy of linear trajectory and the massive systematic inflation in the price of real and capital assets..
There is a fundamental accounting principle: Equity = Assets - Liabilities. Until we can bring to the fore world leaders who value equity as a fundamental universal principle (equity means ownership and it means equality), along with inclusion, humanity, altruism, well-being and quality of life, peace, and sustainability and who speak to the human condition in historical perspective and propose bold collective action by the species, the future of the human race will remain bleak.
I'd like to get your thoughts.
Thank you.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity.
Mike Morin
Thank you for the letter.
It is quite interesting to see you (and others?) trying to take similar initiatives to the Peoples' Equity Union (i.e. the Upton Sinclair Mutual Aid Fund). My research and your correspondence indicate that we have very similar motivations, understanding, and intentions relative to ecological economic redevelopment/community betterment. I think we both understand the concept of the community/worker hybrid cooperative and would like to get very busy in implementing such in our respective communities and elsewhere.
With respect to such, I am trying to work on two fronts, the micro and the macro. It is my considered opinion that success will not occur on the local level until there is a huge critical mass of citizens that understand the fundamental root causes of the current and further impending failure of the Capitalist/Corporatist system and the need for us as a country and a world to unify in support of an alternative economic paradigm, a "plan and implement" economy based on the meeting of human needs, and not a "risk and return" motivation based on profit.
It brings to mind to mind the schism of the 1800's between Marx and Proudhon, and it is almost rendered impossible by the myriad of profit-motivated, solely self-interested endeavors that have evolved to be a highly decadent but self-perpetuating entropy of linear trajectory and the massive systematic inflation in the price of real and capital assets..
There is a fundamental accounting principle: Equity = Assets - Liabilities. Until we can bring to the fore world leaders who value equity as a fundamental universal principle (equity means ownership and it means equality), along with inclusion, humanity, altruism, well-being and quality of life, peace, and sustainability and who speak to the human condition in historical perspective and propose bold collective action by the species, the future of the human race will remain bleak.
I'd like to get your thoughts.
Thank you.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity.
Mike Morin
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Minimum Wage and an Inculcated Tangent
Minimum Wage and an Inculcated Tangent
The minimum wage is only good for children, 14, 15, 16, living at home with their parents who have a living wage income (preferably male). By the age of 18, a guaranteed income to bring minimum or better wage up to living wage, and increasing with age, is in order. That is the demand side.
On the supply side, we need to consolidate assets and write down their costs (Real and Capital assets for ecological economic redevelopment with a definite and committed demand side management plan and evolution to a more sedentary life). On the supply side we are dealing with an extant and momentous over-supply glut, much of it which is of inferior quality.
Supply side chains need to be transitioned to wholesale and distribution channels altered to make goods and services available within walking distance of almost all. Such, if the resources can be garnered (every day that we squander resources so ridiculously creates a situation more bleak with regards to the opportunity costs for precious resources) and the reorganization and reallocation secured, then the youth and children have a hope for the future, much of which could be employed in the building, communications, and agro-ecology trades.
We can not afford to squander time with respect to the necessary eduaction, reorganization, and subsequent reallocation, rebuilding transition.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity...
The minimum wage is only good for children, 14, 15, 16, living at home with their parents who have a living wage income (preferably male). By the age of 18, a guaranteed income to bring minimum or better wage up to living wage, and increasing with age, is in order. That is the demand side.
On the supply side, we need to consolidate assets and write down their costs (Real and Capital assets for ecological economic redevelopment with a definite and committed demand side management plan and evolution to a more sedentary life). On the supply side we are dealing with an extant and momentous over-supply glut, much of it which is of inferior quality.
Supply side chains need to be transitioned to wholesale and distribution channels altered to make goods and services available within walking distance of almost all. Such, if the resources can be garnered (every day that we squander resources so ridiculously creates a situation more bleak with regards to the opportunity costs for precious resources) and the reorganization and reallocation secured, then the youth and children have a hope for the future, much of which could be employed in the building, communications, and agro-ecology trades.
We can not afford to squander time with respect to the necessary eduaction, reorganization, and subsequent reallocation, rebuilding transition.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity...
Friday, September 24, 2010
A Letter
My Good Friend Azel,
It is not only at retail where the chains put a squeeze on assets (including labor) to maximize their profits.
Organizations such as Walmart, Costco, Safeway, Shears, etc. need to back out of the retail trade and become more of a wholesale operation with pre-order delivery to community/neighborhood access outlets which can be established in all neighborhoods so that almost all can get what they need and reasonably want within walking distance of their homes.
However, even if we could get such cooperation from the myriad of supply chains, there would still, at least within the time realm that we consider now, be an over-supply problem. Therefore, we would be faced with the cut-throat competition practices that characterize such a low effective demand/over-supply (side) economy.
It is problematic, but not insurmountable.
By the way, I joined this "Organization" because, I thought the basic mission, and principles were good, but I would rate them as an A- or a B+ in the way in which they were stated. Or if this is HueMass, hew sea, I would give it an AB, Si?
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
It is not only at retail where the chains put a squeeze on assets (including labor) to maximize their profits.
Organizations such as Walmart, Costco, Safeway, Shears, etc. need to back out of the retail trade and become more of a wholesale operation with pre-order delivery to community/neighborhood access outlets which can be established in all neighborhoods so that almost all can get what they need and reasonably want within walking distance of their homes.
However, even if we could get such cooperation from the myriad of supply chains, there would still, at least within the time realm that we consider now, be an over-supply problem. Therefore, we would be faced with the cut-throat competition practices that characterize such a low effective demand/over-supply (side) economy.
It is problematic, but not insurmountable.
By the way, I joined this "Organization" because, I thought the basic mission, and principles were good, but I would rate them as an A- or a B+ in the way in which they were stated. Or if this is HueMass, hew sea, I would give it an AB, Si?
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Letter to Tea Party
Letter to Tea Party
(originally blogged on Tea Party site about 3 to 6 months ago)
I'll be up-front.
I've been a Communist since the age of fifteen. I am now in my 57th year and have learned much since 1969. Oh, I learned nothing previous to those years. Really, not really.
I favored a Republican, McCloskey, an anti-war Viet Nam Veteran in 1968. I was a Eugene McCarthy fan until "Petey" entered the race. I was too young to vote.
But you all may remember Nixon ran a pro-war campaign in 1968, pledging allegiance to "the great silent majority that favors the War".
Hubert Humphrey by comparison was an even more absurd caricature.
Oh sure, Republicans won in 1968, but I can assure you that of the "children" of fighting age and younger we were nearly a consensus in opposition. I would also attest to you all that the majority of Americans were unrepresentative by either "wing" of our Capitalist Party government.
Memories can be conveniently short and many of the youth, and unfortunately those who fared better by the "natural selection" process forgot or never really learned the valuable lessons of Viet Nam and the ridiculous notion that we were fighting for democracy, liberty, freedom, whatever the hawkish cries were at the time.
The brave young men who served thought they were doing the right thing, I suppose. I'd venture that few, those who survived to contemplate the experience, still believe that. After all it was Fascist Capitalism against Fascist "Communism".
Through my years of academic and experiential learning, I have evolved to explain my liberation "theology" as that of one of Cooperative Communitarian/Libertarian Socialist.
I would set forth the proposition that we are not at polar extremes, in fact having earned a MBA with distinction and worked for many years in Health "Care" Cost Accounting, the notion of fiscal responsibility (a myth of the Reagan years? - it is argued that much money was borrowed from Banks to finance a Military buildup which finally reached its ultimate expression in the post 911 US aggression in the Middle East) is a concept that I understand perhaps much better than those who would consider themselves "politically liberal" and much better than many if not most if not all of my "socialist" colleagues. But I also understand the concept of Business Social Responsibility, having aced such a course in Business School that I viewed as the foundation of my Business Education. (Believe it or not taught by a burly southerner by the name of John McCain) I also know very well that the Voodoo Economics of Monetarism and Neo-classical Economics is a tragic oversimplification of reality that has played out to disastrous consequences in the last thirty years and can only lead to an end times tragedy for the youth and children of the planet (which includes the environments which we still call the United States).
I could refer you to many books on the topic, but trust me when I tell you that Capitalist Corporations do not respect borders, and what is a border anyway, but an arbitrary King's Grant with lackey Senators and Congressman, State, County, and Municipal officials to enforce what is really nothing more than a glorified feudal system administered mostly for the benefit of an increasingly few.
Contrary to the more peace-loving religions of Buddhism and Jesusianism (St. John enunciated the concept of selflessness which is also a teaching of the more pure Buddhist faith) we fool ourselves and/or others when we deny that we are acting in self-interest and extended self-interest. The question then becomes how do we define that extended self-interest? Is it a Red State? Is it a Blue State? Is it a White State? Is it a Black State?
The Constitution is a noble peace of paper, particularly the bill of rights. However, as Mr. Nixon so ridiculously stated about 1973 that it is a government of laws, not men (thousand pardons to all the perdaughters who may be viewing this epistle), the entire history of our cherished, but being squandered, North American continent has been so rife with the abrogation of human rights that I sometimes wonder if the only real right that we have is to remain silent. Why did the same Aristocracy that commissioned working class and unemployed immigrants to kill natives and kill working class, and unemployed Brits only give us the right to "peaceably assemble"? Why has that right deteriorated to the point that we must get a Government permit to do that? Was it a legitimate government of laws from which the Supreme Court ruled that a highway expansion or other form of eminent domain was only considered a taking if the value of the property was reduced to $0?
It would serve only a little purpose given the impending resource scarcity and the drunken foolishness of hedonism that accepts some Biblical revelation of end times to be a joyous salvation to mention that the Soviet Constitution was an even nobler attempt to design via a written letter of laws, but ran the fallacy of a modus operandi of violence which has been the reality since when? Quite the contrary, the anarchy that we are recognizing and will be increasingly realizing is hell bent and it is my strong estimation that most people who are living that linear trajectory don't really have a clue what is coming and without a commitment to unity and a radical reformation concerning what we need to value, and that is human life. We all have brains, we all have hearts, and most of us have left and right hands, arms, legs, and feet. We are all people. We all live in an environment. The environment is deteriorating. The environment is the issue and our stewardship is the most important responsibility.
Although the socialist will attest to the plight of the elderly and the poor, the infirm, a cooperative communitarian will attest to hopes of the still strong youth and children. Could it be that so many have been forced into the wage slavery of two income earners, which was accompanied in the so-called "Yuppie" movement by the return to the greed ethic, that no one has children to care about or have given up any hope for their progeny. Is youth and childhood a foreign concept?
No, we now must all come together, work together, help each other and understand that in this time of great communications capability that it is fundamental that we communicate the basic principles that hold such a slim hope for the future. The future not be damned. In my very considered opinion those principles need to be inclusion, humanity, equity, altruism, responsibility to life engendering pursuits, and to a hope for the future of the children.
As I write, all I hear is automobiles. Such are the bane of our existence and must be comprehensively planned into perspective. It can be done.
Almost all we really need from the Government is the Treasury. The Treasury without the massive Capitalist Class rip-off that was the Federal Reserve System. In a united world economy, if there is any chance of peaceful transition, which IS the only hope the we must redefine the issues and not have to suffer the foolishness of hatred that stems from a less than comprehensive assessment of the matters at hand and the history, particularly as it relates to precious resources, and their technological squandering and the carelessness with which we define our lives and the relationship of our lives to our neighbors. We are all neighbors.
We do need safety-net programs, but we must understand that if those programs are just another form of State Capitalist organized crime to more so benefit the helpers than the helped and it creates a dependency, like the many chemical addictions that your "free" market justifies in an absurd Capitalist Libertarian motto of atomization, "to each his own", then the helpers need to reassess as well.
But I can't stress enough the importance of the post-peak fossil fuel agenda. I have written extensively detailing the comprehensive approach that MUST be adopted. The government can help, but we must communicate to the people the importance of recognizing the poisonous ethos of the fossil fuel/automobile age from which we must settle down into sedentary communities. The rebuilding of our communities can be accomplished if we commit to such, communicate that commitment and plea with engineered ignorance to please stop. Most importantly to whatever constituency you represent, and I fear it is not the driving idiots that stream past my abode, the notion of a quasi-public private sector based on ethical principles and working in concert with a well-intentioned and WELL DIRECTED government to facilitate and to a lesser extent fund an expanded Organization of Economic Opportunity.
United Assets - United Liabilities = United Equity, The world around. Nothing less than this recognition and BOLD LEADERSHIP will accomplish anything that anyone is going to like except in the most transient of perceptions.
(originally blogged on Tea Party site about 3 to 6 months ago)
I'll be up-front.
I've been a Communist since the age of fifteen. I am now in my 57th year and have learned much since 1969. Oh, I learned nothing previous to those years. Really, not really.
I favored a Republican, McCloskey, an anti-war Viet Nam Veteran in 1968. I was a Eugene McCarthy fan until "Petey" entered the race. I was too young to vote.
But you all may remember Nixon ran a pro-war campaign in 1968, pledging allegiance to "the great silent majority that favors the War".
Hubert Humphrey by comparison was an even more absurd caricature.
Oh sure, Republicans won in 1968, but I can assure you that of the "children" of fighting age and younger we were nearly a consensus in opposition. I would also attest to you all that the majority of Americans were unrepresentative by either "wing" of our Capitalist Party government.
Memories can be conveniently short and many of the youth, and unfortunately those who fared better by the "natural selection" process forgot or never really learned the valuable lessons of Viet Nam and the ridiculous notion that we were fighting for democracy, liberty, freedom, whatever the hawkish cries were at the time.
The brave young men who served thought they were doing the right thing, I suppose. I'd venture that few, those who survived to contemplate the experience, still believe that. After all it was Fascist Capitalism against Fascist "Communism".
Through my years of academic and experiential learning, I have evolved to explain my liberation "theology" as that of one of Cooperative Communitarian/Libertarian Socialist.
I would set forth the proposition that we are not at polar extremes, in fact having earned a MBA with distinction and worked for many years in Health "Care" Cost Accounting, the notion of fiscal responsibility (a myth of the Reagan years? - it is argued that much money was borrowed from Banks to finance a Military buildup which finally reached its ultimate expression in the post 911 US aggression in the Middle East) is a concept that I understand perhaps much better than those who would consider themselves "politically liberal" and much better than many if not most if not all of my "socialist" colleagues. But I also understand the concept of Business Social Responsibility, having aced such a course in Business School that I viewed as the foundation of my Business Education. (Believe it or not taught by a burly southerner by the name of John McCain) I also know very well that the Voodoo Economics of Monetarism and Neo-classical Economics is a tragic oversimplification of reality that has played out to disastrous consequences in the last thirty years and can only lead to an end times tragedy for the youth and children of the planet (which includes the environments which we still call the United States).
I could refer you to many books on the topic, but trust me when I tell you that Capitalist Corporations do not respect borders, and what is a border anyway, but an arbitrary King's Grant with lackey Senators and Congressman, State, County, and Municipal officials to enforce what is really nothing more than a glorified feudal system administered mostly for the benefit of an increasingly few.
Contrary to the more peace-loving religions of Buddhism and Jesusianism (St. John enunciated the concept of selflessness which is also a teaching of the more pure Buddhist faith) we fool ourselves and/or others when we deny that we are acting in self-interest and extended self-interest. The question then becomes how do we define that extended self-interest? Is it a Red State? Is it a Blue State? Is it a White State? Is it a Black State?
The Constitution is a noble peace of paper, particularly the bill of rights. However, as Mr. Nixon so ridiculously stated about 1973 that it is a government of laws, not men (thousand pardons to all the perdaughters who may be viewing this epistle), the entire history of our cherished, but being squandered, North American continent has been so rife with the abrogation of human rights that I sometimes wonder if the only real right that we have is to remain silent. Why did the same Aristocracy that commissioned working class and unemployed immigrants to kill natives and kill working class, and unemployed Brits only give us the right to "peaceably assemble"? Why has that right deteriorated to the point that we must get a Government permit to do that? Was it a legitimate government of laws from which the Supreme Court ruled that a highway expansion or other form of eminent domain was only considered a taking if the value of the property was reduced to $0?
It would serve only a little purpose given the impending resource scarcity and the drunken foolishness of hedonism that accepts some Biblical revelation of end times to be a joyous salvation to mention that the Soviet Constitution was an even nobler attempt to design via a written letter of laws, but ran the fallacy of a modus operandi of violence which has been the reality since when? Quite the contrary, the anarchy that we are recognizing and will be increasingly realizing is hell bent and it is my strong estimation that most people who are living that linear trajectory don't really have a clue what is coming and without a commitment to unity and a radical reformation concerning what we need to value, and that is human life. We all have brains, we all have hearts, and most of us have left and right hands, arms, legs, and feet. We are all people. We all live in an environment. The environment is deteriorating. The environment is the issue and our stewardship is the most important responsibility.
Although the socialist will attest to the plight of the elderly and the poor, the infirm, a cooperative communitarian will attest to hopes of the still strong youth and children. Could it be that so many have been forced into the wage slavery of two income earners, which was accompanied in the so-called "Yuppie" movement by the return to the greed ethic, that no one has children to care about or have given up any hope for their progeny. Is youth and childhood a foreign concept?
No, we now must all come together, work together, help each other and understand that in this time of great communications capability that it is fundamental that we communicate the basic principles that hold such a slim hope for the future. The future not be damned. In my very considered opinion those principles need to be inclusion, humanity, equity, altruism, responsibility to life engendering pursuits, and to a hope for the future of the children.
As I write, all I hear is automobiles. Such are the bane of our existence and must be comprehensively planned into perspective. It can be done.
Almost all we really need from the Government is the Treasury. The Treasury without the massive Capitalist Class rip-off that was the Federal Reserve System. In a united world economy, if there is any chance of peaceful transition, which IS the only hope the we must redefine the issues and not have to suffer the foolishness of hatred that stems from a less than comprehensive assessment of the matters at hand and the history, particularly as it relates to precious resources, and their technological squandering and the carelessness with which we define our lives and the relationship of our lives to our neighbors. We are all neighbors.
We do need safety-net programs, but we must understand that if those programs are just another form of State Capitalist organized crime to more so benefit the helpers than the helped and it creates a dependency, like the many chemical addictions that your "free" market justifies in an absurd Capitalist Libertarian motto of atomization, "to each his own", then the helpers need to reassess as well.
But I can't stress enough the importance of the post-peak fossil fuel agenda. I have written extensively detailing the comprehensive approach that MUST be adopted. The government can help, but we must communicate to the people the importance of recognizing the poisonous ethos of the fossil fuel/automobile age from which we must settle down into sedentary communities. The rebuilding of our communities can be accomplished if we commit to such, communicate that commitment and plea with engineered ignorance to please stop. Most importantly to whatever constituency you represent, and I fear it is not the driving idiots that stream past my abode, the notion of a quasi-public private sector based on ethical principles and working in concert with a well-intentioned and WELL DIRECTED government to facilitate and to a lesser extent fund an expanded Organization of Economic Opportunity.
United Assets - United Liabilities = United Equity, The world around. Nothing less than this recognition and BOLD LEADERSHIP will accomplish anything that anyone is going to like except in the most transient of perceptions.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Homa Ecologica Cooperativo
Homa Ecologica Cooperativo
Dobson's criticism of Kingsnorth appears to be like trite infighting. However, as an anthropocentric environmentalist, I reject the notion of ecologism as described in this article. However, I refuse to let others dictate terms. Ecology means the study of the home. Economics means the management of the home. I am an ecologist; therefore I subscribe to a real meaning of ecologism, an anthropocentric one. As an Ecologist and as an Economist I reject the linear growth paradigm. I favor instead, a human need centered paradigm of ecological economic redevelopment.
The path we are on will not be a gentle one to lower energy. The path we are on guarantees the four horseman of the apocalypse will be dictating the terms. We need to unite as humans, and very soon, to fundamentally redefining the way that we conduct our daily business. We need to put the industrial, the enginocentric, and fossil fuels, into historical perspective and consciously commit to a future that is different, particularly in relation to the use of the automobile. Gasoline is a gigantic and foolish opportunity cost for a very precious finite resource, oil Radical reduction of its use for personal transportation is among the most important commitments that we can make if we want
Secondly, we will have no future unless we can consciously evolve, meaning moving from a risk and return economic paradigm to a plan and implement one. The evolution from Homo Economicus to Homa Ecologica Cooperativo is overdue. It needs to be an intentional evolution and it is well-past (pun intended) time we began it.
Dobson's criticism of Kingsnorth appears to be like trite infighting. However, as an anthropocentric environmentalist, I reject the notion of ecologism as described in this article. However, I refuse to let others dictate terms. Ecology means the study of the home. Economics means the management of the home. I am an ecologist; therefore I subscribe to a real meaning of ecologism, an anthropocentric one. As an Ecologist and as an Economist I reject the linear growth paradigm. I favor instead, a human need centered paradigm of ecological economic redevelopment.
The path we are on will not be a gentle one to lower energy. The path we are on guarantees the four horseman of the apocalypse will be dictating the terms. We need to unite as humans, and very soon, to fundamentally redefining the way that we conduct our daily business. We need to put the industrial, the enginocentric, and fossil fuels, into historical perspective and consciously commit to a future that is different, particularly in relation to the use of the automobile. Gasoline is a gigantic and foolish opportunity cost for a very precious finite resource, oil Radical reduction of its use for personal transportation is among the most important commitments that we can make if we want
Secondly, we will have no future unless we can consciously evolve, meaning moving from a risk and return economic paradigm to a plan and implement one. The evolution from Homo Economicus to Homa Ecologica Cooperativo is overdue. It needs to be an intentional evolution and it is well-past (pun intended) time we began it.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Public “Jobs”
Public “Jobs”
Ok, Alan, I stand corrected on the way the "private sector" works. My issue was with Mr. Khan's call for "investments". The word investment applies an allocation of money for which there will be a return to the investor. I am saying that wild econometric growth, the continuance of a supply side paradigm is not the best way to allocate "our" funds.
There is more than one issue here. In the past, government allocated funds to infrastructure (i.e. highways, sewers, electricity projects, hospitals, schools) all in accordance with the wishes of their masters "the Private Sector" in keeping with an amazingly myopic linear growth model based on assumptions of infinite resources, infinite economic growth, and with absolutely no concern for the long term environmental/public health.
The Unions want to keep the public sector of the growth paradigm alive, regardless of the lack of the private sector to succeed at their part of the game. It is a full speed ahead to destruction, stay alive one more day, reaction to a fundamentally flawed Capitalist "Plan" of World Manifest Destiny.
If we are going to allocate funds for economic progress, let's do it in an ecological manner that is sustainable. One that puts the industrial revolution and the fossil fuel age into historical perspective. One that allocates resources for the creation of sedentary, low energy input, sustainable communities. One that sees the big picture and allocates funds among and within economic sectors in a planned rational manner that starts with a vision of what we want the future to look like, to be.
Public sources should allocate wages and benefits, if they choose to make "investments", it needs to be in a One Big Union worker owned scheme of some sort. That won't happen. Investments will be allocated to Capitalists and they will continue with their ways of exploitation.
These arguments are academic. The Capitalist system is dead, and it is too late in History for an alternative. No one should be poor. We need to make sure that resources are allocated to those who are at risk of that. The ideal would be to allocate funds to community betterment organizations for community betterment all over the world. But that is not a practical option.
It doesn't matter what you or I think, say or write. The Capitalists will get their way. They will only be hastening the resource limited crash, by trying to stave off their economic demise.
The “Democratic” approach, favoring the body politic, to the continuation of the dominant paradigm is preferable to the “Republican”, but the voting on the War Powers Act of 2010 based on “Progressive Democrat” Obama’s budget displays what a woeful dilemma that the Capitalists present.
We’re not going to live happily ever after. Since we’re in the belly of the Imperialist beast and we’ve got no say, anyway, let’s just hope that wild momentum driven delusions that call for investments to the genocidal, ecocidal, suicidal, Corporatist economy don’t take away funding for the basic survival needs of the growing majority of the disenfranchised, because the disenfranchisement is permanent and there will be no “recovery”.
Ok, Alan, I stand corrected on the way the "private sector" works. My issue was with Mr. Khan's call for "investments". The word investment applies an allocation of money for which there will be a return to the investor. I am saying that wild econometric growth, the continuance of a supply side paradigm is not the best way to allocate "our" funds.
There is more than one issue here. In the past, government allocated funds to infrastructure (i.e. highways, sewers, electricity projects, hospitals, schools) all in accordance with the wishes of their masters "the Private Sector" in keeping with an amazingly myopic linear growth model based on assumptions of infinite resources, infinite economic growth, and with absolutely no concern for the long term environmental/public health.
The Unions want to keep the public sector of the growth paradigm alive, regardless of the lack of the private sector to succeed at their part of the game. It is a full speed ahead to destruction, stay alive one more day, reaction to a fundamentally flawed Capitalist "Plan" of World Manifest Destiny.
If we are going to allocate funds for economic progress, let's do it in an ecological manner that is sustainable. One that puts the industrial revolution and the fossil fuel age into historical perspective. One that allocates resources for the creation of sedentary, low energy input, sustainable communities. One that sees the big picture and allocates funds among and within economic sectors in a planned rational manner that starts with a vision of what we want the future to look like, to be.
Public sources should allocate wages and benefits, if they choose to make "investments", it needs to be in a One Big Union worker owned scheme of some sort. That won't happen. Investments will be allocated to Capitalists and they will continue with their ways of exploitation.
These arguments are academic. The Capitalist system is dead, and it is too late in History for an alternative. No one should be poor. We need to make sure that resources are allocated to those who are at risk of that. The ideal would be to allocate funds to community betterment organizations for community betterment all over the world. But that is not a practical option.
It doesn't matter what you or I think, say or write. The Capitalists will get their way. They will only be hastening the resource limited crash, by trying to stave off their economic demise.
The “Democratic” approach, favoring the body politic, to the continuation of the dominant paradigm is preferable to the “Republican”, but the voting on the War Powers Act of 2010 based on “Progressive Democrat” Obama’s budget displays what a woeful dilemma that the Capitalists present.
We’re not going to live happily ever after. Since we’re in the belly of the Imperialist beast and we’ve got no say, anyway, let’s just hope that wild momentum driven delusions that call for investments to the genocidal, ecocidal, suicidal, Corporatist economy don’t take away funding for the basic survival needs of the growing majority of the disenfranchised, because the disenfranchisement is permanent and there will be no “recovery”.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The BP Spill
The BP Spill
The BP Oil Spill is but the thief that got caught. Oil and other fossil fuels are filthy businesses and the constant seepage, spills, runoff, environmental stripping and small, unreported disasters are ongoing.
This BP Spill is a precursor for the drilling industry that is constantly going deeper, taking larger risks to extract the oil that is further from our more conventional grasps.
One wonders how much truth we are being told. Of course what is being heard is what most want to hear, and what the oil industry wants everyone to hear: that technology saved the day and that all is under control and always will be, as the news media commits to “case solved” and the plight of the fishing industry and the lives of the folks on the gulf gets left behind in their coverage.
Any why do we take such risks? And why do we wage aggressive war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and rattle “our” sabers at Iran? So that we can carelessly glide from destination to destination as our privileged imperial ownership caste where our only real job is to consume what each other own?
Oil is a precious resource and one that should be used wisely. Oil heats our homes, oil would be very useful in a humane agricultural system, oil products can cook our food, oil products can be used to generate electricity which, if prudently used, can add much to the quality of our lives. Oil products are used for the creation of durable goods and as feedstock for other valuable uses.
But, people of the USA squander over 15 million barrels a day of oil equivalent to fuel their mindless forays of consumption in personal automobiles. They know no other way. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We could rebuild our neighborhoods and reallocate goods and services accordingly so that the things that people need are available within walking distance of most. Such a program of building/rebuilding village/community/telecommuting centers could not only contribute to a worthwhile goal of reducing personal automobile usage by 80% in the next 20 to 40 years, thereby greatly extending the tail of post-peak fossil fuels for future generations, but would also greatly add to the communitarian, sedentary, quality of life for all.
We need to commit to this as a nation and commit to it right away.
In addition to improving our domestic quality of life, such a commitment and action plan would go a long way to easing geo-political tensions and allow “us” to cease aggressions with oil rich regions and ease the pressure to extract so much carbon fuels, so fast, thus alleviating the ongoing environmental damaging and greatly reducing the chances of large environmental disasters.
Of course, the momentum of the industrial society and currently accepted "growth" imperative will cause the oil industry to try to maximize oil revenues, therefore production and consumption, and thus environmental degradation and sooner long-term, sustaining fuel shortages. The only solution to this problem, that I can see, is the nationalization of the oil companies and their associated industries, with production scheduling co-ordinated with a full fledge demand side management plan.
The BP Oil Spill is but the thief that got caught. Oil and other fossil fuels are filthy businesses and the constant seepage, spills, runoff, environmental stripping and small, unreported disasters are ongoing.
This BP Spill is a precursor for the drilling industry that is constantly going deeper, taking larger risks to extract the oil that is further from our more conventional grasps.
One wonders how much truth we are being told. Of course what is being heard is what most want to hear, and what the oil industry wants everyone to hear: that technology saved the day and that all is under control and always will be, as the news media commits to “case solved” and the plight of the fishing industry and the lives of the folks on the gulf gets left behind in their coverage.
Any why do we take such risks? And why do we wage aggressive war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and rattle “our” sabers at Iran? So that we can carelessly glide from destination to destination as our privileged imperial ownership caste where our only real job is to consume what each other own?
Oil is a precious resource and one that should be used wisely. Oil heats our homes, oil would be very useful in a humane agricultural system, oil products can cook our food, oil products can be used to generate electricity which, if prudently used, can add much to the quality of our lives. Oil products are used for the creation of durable goods and as feedstock for other valuable uses.
But, people of the USA squander over 15 million barrels a day of oil equivalent to fuel their mindless forays of consumption in personal automobiles. They know no other way. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We could rebuild our neighborhoods and reallocate goods and services accordingly so that the things that people need are available within walking distance of most. Such a program of building/rebuilding village/community/telecommuting centers could not only contribute to a worthwhile goal of reducing personal automobile usage by 80% in the next 20 to 40 years, thereby greatly extending the tail of post-peak fossil fuels for future generations, but would also greatly add to the communitarian, sedentary, quality of life for all.
We need to commit to this as a nation and commit to it right away.
In addition to improving our domestic quality of life, such a commitment and action plan would go a long way to easing geo-political tensions and allow “us” to cease aggressions with oil rich regions and ease the pressure to extract so much carbon fuels, so fast, thus alleviating the ongoing environmental damaging and greatly reducing the chances of large environmental disasters.
Of course, the momentum of the industrial society and currently accepted "growth" imperative will cause the oil industry to try to maximize oil revenues, therefore production and consumption, and thus environmental degradation and sooner long-term, sustaining fuel shortages. The only solution to this problem, that I can see, is the nationalization of the oil companies and their associated industries, with production scheduling co-ordinated with a full fledge demand side management plan.
Friday, August 6, 2010
A Note to Dr. Mike Ellis on 08/06/2010
A Note to Dr. Mike Ellis on 08/06/2010
Mike,
We need a new paradigm of economic development. Given the existing crises and impending otherwise in resource constraints and the lack of equitable allocation, I know that many reject the politics of the G-20, the G-8, the G-1 (the USA) and the Capitalist Plutocracy and concomitant Military Industrial Complex that has been riding centuries of history based on economic Lordism/serfdom, substituted with the Capitalist profit paradigm or requirement of "risk and return".
We need to cut the Gordian knot and reject such servitude and replace it with an ethos and modus operandi and intentional evolution to Homa Ecologica Cooperativo. Practical translation of such involves much education, particularly with respect to the goals of community organization, cooperation, and solidarity, and eventual direct action of the taking of Treasuries resources for direct, non-usurious, allocation to individuals and communities (in the form of community betterment organizations) based on need. The mission is One of ecological economic redevelopment inculcated on the principles of inclusion, humanity, equity, altruism, well-being and quality of life, sustainability, and peace. This is a cooperative communitarian/socialist economic democracy paradigm of "plan and implement".
Being that most calls for socialism only clamor against the offending parties, and make weak attempts to organize within the political constraints and organizational and media domination, some with an impossible and misguided agenda of electoral victory and others with the misguided and premature agenda of revolution. What the political reformers and the cheerleaders of revolution have in common is a complete lack of understanding of the resource concerns and fundamental economic reorganization that is necessary.
I think that it is necessary to mitigate the inhumanities of the progressions of the industrial revolution and phase back more of an industrious ethic that goes along with relocalized artisanry, human ecology, agroecology (including urban agroecology) and an ethic of peace, cooperation, and solidarity.
Given that I feel much alone, although it is completely eclectic, in the enunciation of this paradigm, I call upon you for expressions of solidarity and commitment to aid in the furtherance of this mission. Please do not tarry with respect to a response, particularly related to how we can progress.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
512 W. 10th Avenue, #2
Eugene, OR 97401
1-541-343-3808
www.peoplesequityunion.blogspot.com
Mike,
We need a new paradigm of economic development. Given the existing crises and impending otherwise in resource constraints and the lack of equitable allocation, I know that many reject the politics of the G-20, the G-8, the G-1 (the USA) and the Capitalist Plutocracy and concomitant Military Industrial Complex that has been riding centuries of history based on economic Lordism/serfdom, substituted with the Capitalist profit paradigm or requirement of "risk and return".
We need to cut the Gordian knot and reject such servitude and replace it with an ethos and modus operandi and intentional evolution to Homa Ecologica Cooperativo. Practical translation of such involves much education, particularly with respect to the goals of community organization, cooperation, and solidarity, and eventual direct action of the taking of Treasuries resources for direct, non-usurious, allocation to individuals and communities (in the form of community betterment organizations) based on need. The mission is One of ecological economic redevelopment inculcated on the principles of inclusion, humanity, equity, altruism, well-being and quality of life, sustainability, and peace. This is a cooperative communitarian/socialist economic democracy paradigm of "plan and implement".
Being that most calls for socialism only clamor against the offending parties, and make weak attempts to organize within the political constraints and organizational and media domination, some with an impossible and misguided agenda of electoral victory and others with the misguided and premature agenda of revolution. What the political reformers and the cheerleaders of revolution have in common is a complete lack of understanding of the resource concerns and fundamental economic reorganization that is necessary.
I think that it is necessary to mitigate the inhumanities of the progressions of the industrial revolution and phase back more of an industrious ethic that goes along with relocalized artisanry, human ecology, agroecology (including urban agroecology) and an ethic of peace, cooperation, and solidarity.
Given that I feel much alone, although it is completely eclectic, in the enunciation of this paradigm, I call upon you for expressions of solidarity and commitment to aid in the furtherance of this mission. Please do not tarry with respect to a response, particularly related to how we can progress.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
512 W. 10th Avenue, #2
Eugene, OR 97401
1-541-343-3808
www.peoplesequityunion.blogspot.com
Sunday, August 1, 2010
The G-20?
The G-20?
We must try not to think of our world as being on the other side of no tomorrow, though at risk of understatement, the hour is getting late.
The biggest problem that I see us facing is the entropy that has set in with the passing climaxes of industrialization and the fossil fuel age. The age of the consumer is riding itself out, but in its path is unspeakable genocide, ecocide, and suicide.
If we could envision, educate, and communicate to the people of the planet, particularly those of the G-One (the USAers who are by far the most mad and mislead); the alternative vision of resources allocated directly to individuals and communities - based on need, and re-learn the ways of community, a "plan and implement" cooperative communitarian socialism, rather than the Imperial, Militaristic, Greed-driven, "risk and return" paradigm (or excuse), could go a long way towards turning things around.
Only idiot puppets like Obama don't understand that the Financial Game is over. The only thing left for the Financial Overlords is to keep putting money into mostly failed endeavors that will DRIVE (the fossil fuel age and automobiles are relative flukes and need to be put into historical perspective) the planet to extinction based on an insistent sucking the resources of the earth dry by insisting on the industrialization/consumption paradigm when we all should be asking for and working for an industrious/well being paradigm.
My guess is that 80% of the USA GDP is the consumption of gasoline for personal purposes. The automobile is the most destructive toy that ever disgraced the planet.
In addition to the rearrangement of the Financial Paradigm and Systems, we must also recognize and commit to the reduction of the use of the personal automobile in the USA by 80% in the next 20 to 40 years. This could be done by rebuilding communities and reallocating resources so that almost all communities are sedentary.
It's a tall order, but let's recognize the mission at hand and work diligently to educate and organize (so that we can allocate), accordingly.
We must try not to think of our world as being on the other side of no tomorrow, though at risk of understatement, the hour is getting late.
The biggest problem that I see us facing is the entropy that has set in with the passing climaxes of industrialization and the fossil fuel age. The age of the consumer is riding itself out, but in its path is unspeakable genocide, ecocide, and suicide.
If we could envision, educate, and communicate to the people of the planet, particularly those of the G-One (the USAers who are by far the most mad and mislead); the alternative vision of resources allocated directly to individuals and communities - based on need, and re-learn the ways of community, a "plan and implement" cooperative communitarian socialism, rather than the Imperial, Militaristic, Greed-driven, "risk and return" paradigm (or excuse), could go a long way towards turning things around.
Only idiot puppets like Obama don't understand that the Financial Game is over. The only thing left for the Financial Overlords is to keep putting money into mostly failed endeavors that will DRIVE (the fossil fuel age and automobiles are relative flukes and need to be put into historical perspective) the planet to extinction based on an insistent sucking the resources of the earth dry by insisting on the industrialization/consumption paradigm when we all should be asking for and working for an industrious/well being paradigm.
My guess is that 80% of the USA GDP is the consumption of gasoline for personal purposes. The automobile is the most destructive toy that ever disgraced the planet.
In addition to the rearrangement of the Financial Paradigm and Systems, we must also recognize and commit to the reduction of the use of the personal automobile in the USA by 80% in the next 20 to 40 years. This could be done by rebuilding communities and reallocating resources so that almost all communities are sedentary.
It's a tall order, but let's recognize the mission at hand and work diligently to educate and organize (so that we can allocate), accordingly.
In Addition to “Workers’ Rights”
In Addition to “Workers’ Rights”
We have to also redefine “work”. We need to evolve from the industrial era to a modern industrious one. We need to bypass the Capitalist Plutocracy that evolved from the Bank of England into the Federal Reserve, the Capitalist Banking System, the WTO, the World Bank, their aggressive Military Industrial Complex and their subservient, yet aggressive to us, governments and commissioned militias.
We need to begin to educate and organize towards Independence from Financial Overlords and towards a cooperative communitarian vision that takes hold of the Treasuries of the world and allocates resources, based on need, to individuals and communities. We have to relearn the concept of community, but recognition is the first step towards realization.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
We have to also redefine “work”. We need to evolve from the industrial era to a modern industrious one. We need to bypass the Capitalist Plutocracy that evolved from the Bank of England into the Federal Reserve, the Capitalist Banking System, the WTO, the World Bank, their aggressive Military Industrial Complex and their subservient, yet aggressive to us, governments and commissioned militias.
We need to begin to educate and organize towards Independence from Financial Overlords and towards a cooperative communitarian vision that takes hold of the Treasuries of the world and allocates resources, based on need, to individuals and communities. We have to relearn the concept of community, but recognition is the first step towards realization.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
In Response to Raj
In Response to Raj
(In response to video and blog post on World Bank "Land Grabs" on Raj Patel's website introducing the concepts behind the book, "The Value of Nothing")
Raj et al,
Thank you for your leadership and valuable enunciation of common sense.
The Capitalist system is dead, more appropriately killing and dieing. It is the insane momentum of financial abstractions and technological "advancements" that is DRIVING (the automobile is a fluke of human history) the world to genocide, ecocide, and suicide. The Center of such a "progression" is the Military Industrial Complex led hegemony of the British Imperialist Capitalist/Industrial "culture" that saw the Bank of England transform itself to the Federal Reserve in the USA. Its' continental and colonial tyranny have manifested themselves in the World Bank and WTO, Corporate Capitalist Conglomerates and Wall Street and Main Street Financial and Land Overlords.
It is far past the 11th hour in our world, but if there is a solution, it lays in the the idea of a World Congress for Community Economic Development where we can work towards neighborhood/community, inter-community, and inter-regional solidarity and cooperation with local ecological economic redevelopment plans based on need and bypassing the International Finance "Community" as represented in the US by the Federal Reserve and participating Financial domineers and exploiters.
Save for strongholds like Kerala and Cuba, emerging Venezuela and the outgrowths of the work in these areas, we have not yet begun to organize. It is quite problematic from where I live, and throughout at least the North American continent (the only geography that I know) in that people are so firmly acculturated by the status quo that the people do not seem to have the hope, let alone the ability, to visualize an alternative economic system. The environmental damage and the momentum of entropy is so severe and the consciousness of the people so polluted and so incremental. "They've all bought into it", a friend terms it.
To each his own has become to each his own personal crisis and I wonder whether we have the educational and communication tools to reach them, that there may be, and the only hope is, a collective solution beginning with local community but extending out to world around solidarity and cooperation.
As I write this, my neighbors go their separate ways.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
(In response to video and blog post on World Bank "Land Grabs" on Raj Patel's website introducing the concepts behind the book, "The Value of Nothing")
Raj et al,
Thank you for your leadership and valuable enunciation of common sense.
The Capitalist system is dead, more appropriately killing and dieing. It is the insane momentum of financial abstractions and technological "advancements" that is DRIVING (the automobile is a fluke of human history) the world to genocide, ecocide, and suicide. The Center of such a "progression" is the Military Industrial Complex led hegemony of the British Imperialist Capitalist/Industrial "culture" that saw the Bank of England transform itself to the Federal Reserve in the USA. Its' continental and colonial tyranny have manifested themselves in the World Bank and WTO, Corporate Capitalist Conglomerates and Wall Street and Main Street Financial and Land Overlords.
It is far past the 11th hour in our world, but if there is a solution, it lays in the the idea of a World Congress for Community Economic Development where we can work towards neighborhood/community, inter-community, and inter-regional solidarity and cooperation with local ecological economic redevelopment plans based on need and bypassing the International Finance "Community" as represented in the US by the Federal Reserve and participating Financial domineers and exploiters.
Save for strongholds like Kerala and Cuba, emerging Venezuela and the outgrowths of the work in these areas, we have not yet begun to organize. It is quite problematic from where I live, and throughout at least the North American continent (the only geography that I know) in that people are so firmly acculturated by the status quo that the people do not seem to have the hope, let alone the ability, to visualize an alternative economic system. The environmental damage and the momentum of entropy is so severe and the consciousness of the people so polluted and so incremental. "They've all bought into it", a friend terms it.
To each his own has become to each his own personal crisis and I wonder whether we have the educational and communication tools to reach them, that there may be, and the only hope is, a collective solution beginning with local community but extending out to world around solidarity and cooperation.
As I write this, my neighbors go their separate ways.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Basics
Basics
I attended Planning School at the U. of MA in Amherst in Fall 1975, after studying Environmental Studies on the undergraduate level. It was a mostly misguided program of studies, as are all planning curricula in the United States. Older students "turned me on" to Robert Goodman's "After the Planners" and Benton MacKaye's "The New Exploration", I met William Morris Davis' grandson (a protégé of MacKaye) who reinforced my strong impression that they were teaching bullshit. I dropped out and started studying with the Society of Friends and that gave me the basic direction (having read and agreed with the Communist Manifesto when I was 16 years old) that I have pursued since.
After working construction, real estate appraisal, in a lumber yard, I returned to get the world's famous indoctrination of Radical Economics at UMass in 1980. I got it. The W.E.B. DuBois Library may very well be the best Library in the world, especially if pursuing Radical approaches to Economics. Networking in the old fashioned ways, we were laying out plans for a new society, a better society with the energy of the innocent, the mostly naive, the definitely inexperienced. Then Reagan got elected. Approximately at the turning point that Richard Wolff alludes to...
Wage slaving the whole time, doing a lot of blue-collar drudge and hard labor, I got tired of being poor and eventually pulled up roots and went to Arkansas (the U. of A. in Fayetteville) and enrolled in Business School. Worked my way through. "Professional" work ensued, a hard labor, a drudge of another sort, Systems Analysis and Programming work, Utilization and Cost Report Development and Analysis, and Managed Care Contracting for various Health Care Finance firms. With respect to health care reform, I studied the "industry" and they do call it that and got many experiences of how not to do it, but sufficient insight into how it could be done. But I digress.
While changing trains in Boston's famous Green Line Haymarket Station (not as infamous as Chicago's), I met a couple of "brothers" who were reading Kiplinger's Business Letter. "What are you reading that shit for?"
"Yeah, you're right, it is shit. We studied Radical Economics at UMass, now we can't do anything with it".
"No promises, but I'm working on it".
Wolff and the other Radical Economists at UMass are lost in the comfort of their Ivory Towers. The answer lies in building a conceptual bridge between the Planning Department and the Business School via the Radical Economics Department.
The answer lies in the radical reorganization of the economy, bypassing the chains of the Capitalist Plutocracy, bypassing the sham Democracy of "the Administration" and "the Congress" , bypassing the Bank of England's successor, the Federal Reserve System, and taking direct control of the Treasuries and allocating funds directly to workers (in the form of a small guaranteed income) and to Community Betterment Organizations related to community, inter-community, regional, inter-regional, and world around solidarity and cooperation in an ecological economic redevelopment paradigm based on human needs and founded on the mission/principles of inclusion, humanity, equity, economic democracy, altruism, well-being and sufficiency, fecundity, and the solidarity of effort to bring the basic costs of production and trade back to earth, where they severely left with the institution of Reaganomics/Supply Side Economics.
Now, maybe I'm wasting my time, but I feel committed to the youth and children of the planet. I have been blessed (in a rather bizarre ways and means) with the opportunity to work on my life's mission full time for the past fifteen years.
Those of you who have not seen my detailed, but very concise, proposals, please feel free to contact me with an e-mail address so that I can send you about 15 pages of attachments.
I've had some dealings with Rick Wolff. He is a very intelligent Academician. His Silicon Valley example of workers democracy is ridiculously bourgeois and does not deal with huge issues such as how resources are allocated to and within communities and within and among economic sectors.
There are answers to the very serious problems that we as a species face. We are running out of time for "getting it together" and committing to and working towards the fundamental paradigm shift necessary in all communities on the planet.
Take heed.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
I attended Planning School at the U. of MA in Amherst in Fall 1975, after studying Environmental Studies on the undergraduate level. It was a mostly misguided program of studies, as are all planning curricula in the United States. Older students "turned me on" to Robert Goodman's "After the Planners" and Benton MacKaye's "The New Exploration", I met William Morris Davis' grandson (a protégé of MacKaye) who reinforced my strong impression that they were teaching bullshit. I dropped out and started studying with the Society of Friends and that gave me the basic direction (having read and agreed with the Communist Manifesto when I was 16 years old) that I have pursued since.
After working construction, real estate appraisal, in a lumber yard, I returned to get the world's famous indoctrination of Radical Economics at UMass in 1980. I got it. The W.E.B. DuBois Library may very well be the best Library in the world, especially if pursuing Radical approaches to Economics. Networking in the old fashioned ways, we were laying out plans for a new society, a better society with the energy of the innocent, the mostly naive, the definitely inexperienced. Then Reagan got elected. Approximately at the turning point that Richard Wolff alludes to...
Wage slaving the whole time, doing a lot of blue-collar drudge and hard labor, I got tired of being poor and eventually pulled up roots and went to Arkansas (the U. of A. in Fayetteville) and enrolled in Business School. Worked my way through. "Professional" work ensued, a hard labor, a drudge of another sort, Systems Analysis and Programming work, Utilization and Cost Report Development and Analysis, and Managed Care Contracting for various Health Care Finance firms. With respect to health care reform, I studied the "industry" and they do call it that and got many experiences of how not to do it, but sufficient insight into how it could be done. But I digress.
While changing trains in Boston's famous Green Line Haymarket Station (not as infamous as Chicago's), I met a couple of "brothers" who were reading Kiplinger's Business Letter. "What are you reading that shit for?"
"Yeah, you're right, it is shit. We studied Radical Economics at UMass, now we can't do anything with it".
"No promises, but I'm working on it".
Wolff and the other Radical Economists at UMass are lost in the comfort of their Ivory Towers. The answer lies in building a conceptual bridge between the Planning Department and the Business School via the Radical Economics Department.
The answer lies in the radical reorganization of the economy, bypassing the chains of the Capitalist Plutocracy, bypassing the sham Democracy of "the Administration" and "the Congress" , bypassing the Bank of England's successor, the Federal Reserve System, and taking direct control of the Treasuries and allocating funds directly to workers (in the form of a small guaranteed income) and to Community Betterment Organizations related to community, inter-community, regional, inter-regional, and world around solidarity and cooperation in an ecological economic redevelopment paradigm based on human needs and founded on the mission/principles of inclusion, humanity, equity, economic democracy, altruism, well-being and sufficiency, fecundity, and the solidarity of effort to bring the basic costs of production and trade back to earth, where they severely left with the institution of Reaganomics/Supply Side Economics.
Now, maybe I'm wasting my time, but I feel committed to the youth and children of the planet. I have been blessed (in a rather bizarre ways and means) with the opportunity to work on my life's mission full time for the past fifteen years.
Those of you who have not seen my detailed, but very concise, proposals, please feel free to contact me with an e-mail address so that I can send you about 15 pages of attachments.
I've had some dealings with Rick Wolff. He is a very intelligent Academician. His Silicon Valley example of workers democracy is ridiculously bourgeois and does not deal with huge issues such as how resources are allocated to and within communities and within and among economic sectors.
There are answers to the very serious problems that we as a species face. We are running out of time for "getting it together" and committing to and working towards the fundamental paradigm shift necessary in all communities on the planet.
Take heed.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,
Mike Morin
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