Patricia
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It is so hard to be plastic free but I remember a time when there was none. Dad had a 44 gallon drum in the garden where everything was burnt. The rest was made into compost. And now!! Everything is made from or covered with plastic. It will take a long time to change our habits but little by little, I believe, it can be done. Here in New Zealand we are, gradually, getting rid of plastic bags at the supermarket. So far the Government hasn’t banned them – I wish they would – so progress is slow but it is happening.
I can’tsee how China ever needs to fail financially. If the rest of the world fell off China has so many people of its own to buy and sell to each other and the land to grow things so why should it fail? That really applies to every country. The emphasis on exporting is the latest fad when we should, in my view, concentrate on our own and just export any surplus.
Perhaps religion is the problem with population increases. I haven’t ever met a woman who just regards herself as a a machine to push out babies. Perhaps the men need to be encouraged to have a vasectomy after having produced two children. Much cheaper than women having their tubes tied. I can’t imagine any Government, other than China, who would legislate for that though. I have always thought, apart from religion or perhaps coupled with it, most people have a lot of children because there is no social welfare to care for them in their hour of need. Perhaps if there were more social welfare provisions in a country there would be less need to have children.
Well that is a good idea Zerosum. Mr Trump wants to build a wall between America and Mexico so why not continue it right around. The Pacific and Atlantic Oceans provide natural boundaries so in reality it won’t cost much just a North and South wall. Nothing in nothing out. Problem solved.
Dr. D, a very articulate comment and how true. I don’t know what can be done but I suppose it has been happening forever and not just in America but wherever there are no natural boundaries like the sea. Perhaps we should just let people come and go like we now do with capital….
And here in Christchurch New Zealand we have had so much rain we feel waterlogged! Day after day of grey skies. So unusual. Times they are a’changing…
I often think that if the MSM replaced the word US with the word Russia in every article or report we were given the world would explode with rage. Funny that that doesn’t happen eh?
Like you Dr. D I have my doubts about the worth of an UBI. I like the idea but it could be open to such abuse and exploitation. Not so much by the recipients but by employers who could then pay lower and lower wages.
I can’t see how a return to the gold standard would solve anything. Saying that I realise that Russia and China are buying up gold as if there is no tomorrow. In the past Countries went off the gold standard to print a lot of money, usually to wage wars, and then back on it when that was done. The introduction of the fiat system of money in 1971 stopped that nonsense and made political activity more transparent. However we have an economics profession which was brought up on the gold standard and just can’t let go of it. The mental gymnastics they have to do to merely justify their existence is beyond belief. Certainly it is true that it is very difficult to change someone’s mind if their salary depends on them not doing so but creating a structure that depends on gobbledygook that nobody understands is a sure way of maintaining power- until it doesn’t. The fiat system of money is, in my view, an elegant system but it is the politicians and the economic profession that stop us from realising its full potential.
We used to have hospitals dotted round the country side but the neoliberal experiment of the 1980s classified them as too costly to continue having. Saying that though technology advancement has meant helicopters are used to transport urgent cases to the main centres and emergency clinics have also emerged. Midwives have replayed Drs as the main medical source for women having babies.
I do get a little tired of hearing about how Socialism is bad, Communism is bad and how Capitalism is the answer where the rule is dog eat dog. None of the above work on their own. A Country needs a bit of each and that is an ever changing dynamic. We should decide what should be owned by the state for the benefit of the people (Communism) what we should provide each other(Socialism) and what we can do by ourselves. (Capitalism) This should be a never ending discussion.
I don’t think marrying a rich man or woman will be much help. If everything turns to custard having money will not help you at all. Knowing how and what to will help but just having money will not.
Yes, I agree Dr. D but surely because of sanctions it would be sensible to have a parallel currency. A sovereign country would survive because the power of an import/export currency would not affect them. And probably that is why Cuba and Russia have survived.
If we are allowed to live that long! I can’t see the US being willing to give up its reserve currency. Iraq, tried, Libya tried. There was another country that tried but I have forgotten which. In fact with the amount of military hardware in the world it will be next to impossible to stop some nutter pressing a button. Especially when religion or ideology is involved. We are a very funny species.
I quite like the idea of a parallel currency in a country. It is a good idea for Italy. And it could be even within a sovereign country which can print its own currency. After all why tie your currency to your exports? Every day we are hearing either the ‘good news’ of an export market or the ‘bad’ news of a decline in the export market. Whether our dollar is up or down. All a load of nonsense. Most of what we buy or sell is made here in NZ, or should be, and the only thing we need to have a ‘dollar’ for is to pay for those things we import.
Zerosum obviously coffee is the answer to the way of finding solution and yet Harvard said it was alcohol
https://hbr.org/2018/05/drunk-people-are-better-at-creative-problem-solving
Dr. D. I don’t know why people leave the country towns and farms for the big cities but perhaps it is because there are no jobs there. Perhaps they think the grass is greener on the other side. It never is. Currently here in NZ the new Government is spending money on those rural area. For example there is talk, and I know talk is cheap, of moving the Ports of Auckland to Northland which is a beautiful but poor area north of Auckland. That would certainly be a win win situation for both areas.The New Zealand Budget. Yeah Nah. It’s a start but there is so so much to do. Unfortunately this Government also believes the neo liberal claptrap that deficits are bad and surpluses are good and so we must not spend. Well not too much!! All you can hope is that it gets back it’s mojo for the next two budgets – it has a three year term
The BRI will be advantageous for those countries it transverses. I don’t see it as being a disadvantage just because of the loans. As history shows some debt will be written off and some will be able to be repaid and yes, it will give China power in those regions. But surely building something is better than killing people. The road will connect and bind people together.
V.Arnold. You may be interested in this.
https://journal-neo.org/2018/05/11/us-regime-change-targets-thailand/Nothing will change as you say, ‘And until we separate politics from money altogether, that’s not going to change’. This obsession with money is at the root of all man’s evil.
There was an interesting article on a UBI in https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-oligarchs-guaranteed-basic-income-scam/
Bluebird. I don’t know what BRI means but all you need to know is that it is referring to China’s new Silk Road so just look up that. It ifollows the old trading route. It is quite amazing where it is going to go. I think it has got as far as and into Kazakhstan. The aim is to get goods to Europe. Apparently the time saved in transit of goods is quite great.
You have to search for them through the authori’s name but they do explain such a lot. I don’t see that China will go broke as you say. They can just print their own money and spend it internally. They still have industries that produce and we don’t. They are selling and buying oil with yuan as well as other products it seems. I see it as their way of getting out of the control of American domination. It is a country that plans and we don’t.
V. Arnold. It was such good reading and explained so much. Really everything in reality is very simple. It is just us humans who like to make things worse by over analysing. If only we would just live and let live.
Thank you V Arnold. I have read the first part and it is so good but how do I get the other three. I have tried but the must be stupid or is it dementia coming on.!
What do you think of China’s new Silk Road Dr D? And their ginormous population? And the huge under populated agricultural land in Central Asia through which it is to pass? And their fast railway along side? I see that as the future for the world. If the world’s future is to be consumption…. i think that China’s economic system is very different from the West. Neot right or wrong just different.
The sad thing is that the Skripals have to die because if they got well and said ‘that damn chicken we had last night. I knew it was past it’s useby date but I thought it would be okay’ the English press and Mrs May would look very very silly. But on a more serious note hasn’t, historically, there been a few suspicious deaths around that chemical weapons research centre nearby?
Olo530 you are clever. I had never noticed that. Yes they do alway say ‘denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula’. We will see wha happens.
I wonder what concession North Korea got from America. There would be no point otherwise. Not that America is at all trustworthy but there had to be something. We will never know.
Something is wrong with this website and a few others I read too. When I first opened this web site there was no picture and the comment section was back to front. I then logged in and it miraculously cured itself. I would have ignored it but for the fact that a few others were affected and yesterday too.
Algorithms. Although nothing really apropos to the above, a book which I have just read, fiction, is called The Fear Index. It is just fantastic
Yes, I like your “go to Economists” too and Steve Keen also discusses MMT. But for me the MMT is the best because I now have a grounding on how the system works. I then can determine a political Party’s value system for government that is appropriate for me. Personally I think that any system must always, first and foremost take into account the people and that is why MMT is good for me. My age group in New Zealand is mostly fine. We were brought up on savings and not getting into debt but it is my grandchildren I worry about. I have given up on my children because they have bought into the “debt is good” system and no matter what I say it makes no difference.
No I haven’t finished Graebers book. I know I would like it but my copy is just too heavy and while I have downloaded. It I can’t work out how to download it to my iPhone to listen to it at the gym. I have to find someone to show me how!V. Arnold. Have you ever listened to Bill Mitchell, Stephanie Kelton or Randall Whray on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)? Over the years I have tried and tried to understand economics but to no avail until I listened to them on YouTube. I have to go to the gym 3x a week to keep the body working so I listen to them then. It all made sense. They talk of macroeconomic and how the monetary system works. From that knowledge you can add your own value system. I listen and listen each time I go to th gym because each time I hear and understand a bit more
