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TechnoratiAnyone tired of lousy news from the markets should talk to Douglas Lloyd, director of Venture Business Research, a company that tracks trends in venture capitalism. "I expect investment activity in this sector to remain buoyant," he said recently. His bouncy mood was inspired by the money gushing into private security and defense companies. He added, "I also see this as a more attractive sector, as many do, than clean energy."
Got that? If you are looking for a sure bet in a new growth market, sell solar, buy surveillance; forget wind, buy weapons.
This observation--coming from an executive trusted by such clients as Goldman Sachs and Marsh & McLennan--deserves particular attention in the run-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali at the beginning of December. There, world environment ministers are supposed to come up with the global pact that will replace Kyoto.
The Bush Administration, still roadblocking firm caps on emissions, wants to let the market solve the crisis. "We're on the threshold of dramatic technological breakthroughs," Bush assured the world last January, adding, "We'll leave it to the market to decide the mix of fuels that most effectively and efficiently meet this goal."
The idea that capitalism can save us from climate catastrophe has powerful appeal. It gives politicians an excuse to subsidize corporations rather than regulate them, and it neatly avoids a discussion about how the core market logic of endless growth landed us here in the first place.
The market, however, appears to have other ideas about how to meet the challenges of an increasingly disaster-prone world. According to Lloyd, despite all the government incentives, the really big money is turning away from clean energy technologies and banking instead on gadgets promising to seal wealthy countries and individuals into high-tech fortresses. Key growth areas in venture capitalism are private security firms selling surveillance gear and privatized emergency response. Put simply, in the world of venture capitalism, there has been a race going on between greens on the one hand and guns and garrisons on the other--and the guns are winning.
According to Venture Business Research, in 2006 North American and European companies developing green technology and those focused on "homeland security" and weaponry were neck and neck in the contest for new investment: green tech received $3.5 billion, and so did the guns and garrisons sector. But this year garrisons have suddenly leapt ahead. The greens have received $4.2 billion, while the garrisons have nearly doubled their money, collecting $6 billion in new investment funds. And 2007 isn't over yet.
This trend has nothing to do with real supply and demand, since the demand for clean energy technology could not be higher. With oil reaching $100 a barrel, it is clear that we badly need green alternatives, both as consumers and as a species. The latest report from the Nobel Prize-winning UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was characterized by Time magazine as "a final warning to humanity," while a new Oxfam report makes it clear that the recent wave of natural disasters is no fluke: over the past two decades, the number of extreme weather events has quadrupled. Conversely, 2007 has seen no major terrorist events in North America or Europe, there are hints of a US troop drawdown in Iraq and, despite the relentless propaganda, there is no imminent threat from Iran.
So why is "homeland security," not green energy, the hot new sector? Perhaps because there are two distinct business models that can respond to our climate and energy crisis. We can develop policies and technologies to get us off this disastrous course. Or we can develop policies and technologies to protect us from those we have enraged through resource wars and displaced through climate change, while simultaneously shielding ourselves from the worst of both war and weather. (The ultimate expression of this second option is Hummer's new TV ads: the gas-guzzler is seen carrying its cargo to safety in various disaster zones, followed by the slogan "HOPE: Hummer Owners Prepared for Emergencies." It's a bit like the Marlboro man doing grief counseling in a cancer ward.) In short, we can choose to fix, or we can choose to fortress. Environmental activists and scientists have been yelling for the fix. The homeland security sector, on the other hand, believes the future lies in fortresses.
Though 9/11 launched this new economy, many of the original counterterrorism technologies are being retrofitted as privatized emergency response during natural disasters--Blackwater pitching itself as the new Red Cross, firefighters working for insurance giants (see my last column, "Rapture Rescue 911"). By far the biggest market is the fortressing of Europe and North America--Halliburton's contract to build detention centers for an unspecified immigration influx, Boeing's "virtual" border fence, biometric ID cards. The primary target for these technologies is not terrorists but immigrants, an increasing number of whom have been displaced by extreme weather events like the recent floods in Tabasco, Mexico, or the cyclone in Bangladesh. As climate change creates more landlessness, the market in fortresses will increase dramatically.
Of course, there is still money to be made from going green; but there is much more green--at least in the short term--to be made from selling escape and protection. As Lloyd explains, "The failure rate of security businesses is much lower than clean-tech ones and, as important, the capital investment required to build a successful security business is also much lower." In other words, solving real problems is hard, but turning a profit from those problems is easy.
Bush wants to leave our climate crisis to the ingenuity of the market. Well, the market has spoken: it will not take us off this disastrous course. In fact, the smart money is betting that we will stay on it.
Naomi Klein is the author of many books, including her most recent, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Visit Naomi's website at www.naomiklein.org, or to learn more about her new book, visit www.shockdoctrine.com .
© 2007 The Nation
64 Comments so far
Show All"This trend has nothing to do with real supply and demand, since the demand for clean energy technology could not be higher."
Just 2 years ago "the jury was still out on global warming"
Surprised it's getting what it is, although with Europe factored in....
Green will start moving better, it's getting hyped a lot these days.
Hope guns stop moving better even though they're still getting hyped as well.
That the old dichotomy of “guns or butter†has been replaced by the new dichotomy of “guns or green†clearly shows that capitalism is not the perpetual motion machine it has always made itself out to be, drawing profits from Adam Smith’s “surplus labor†that would violate the second law of thermodynamics. Profits have never existed, only victims exist – until they die. There is no scientifically valid account of economy available to date. Descriptions of production are more like alchemy and descriptions of “markets†are more akin to astrology. Without theory we have no lamp to find our options.
Another factor in the growth of the private military sector is reflected in the increasing secrecy surrounding the money apportioned in the federal gov't. It is considerably harder to argue for classified budgets in green technology but for things like outsourced intelligence work and the hiring Hessians like Blackwater.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
"Conversely, 2007 has seen no major terrorist events in North America or Europe, there are hints of a US troop drawdown in Iraq and, despite the relentless propaganda, there is no imminent threat from Iran."
* There never was a threat from Iran, Naomi; we were threatening them.
In the last two months, though, there has been a shift in U.S. military and diplomatic attitudes toward Iran. Officials have backed away from sweeping accusations that the Iranian leadership is orchestrating massive smuggling of arms, agents and ammunition. Instead, they have agreed to a new round of talks with Iranian and Iraqi officials over security in Iraq. The meeting is expected to take place this month.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraqiran1dec01,1,212...
Dem bones Dem bones Dem stepping stones.
RicZow, not that I disagree with your post, it being a subject not too many CDers want to take on (???) but where did you get the part about 10,000 pro war pieces from ZOM but zero from the Big O? A stunning statement, so I just be curious.
BMA in Texas
"You know, because I’ve explained it before, that even I understand the limitations and failures of Dems. But the election of 2008 is only going to tilt one way or the other by perhaps 10 or fewer percentage points, then winner take all. I need to support the most liberal of the two outcomes, even though not perfect."
I appreciate your putting it this way, Daniel. Previously, you've tried to retail the Democrats as the only viable option, but now you're at least admitting that they are a marginal difference.
So, maybe now you will try to understand those of us who have been there and have the T-shirt and may choose not to vote Democratic based on sound reasoning.
Luckily NOW continues forever !
It works best if we all love together, nspire.
Ready to begin, everyone? All together.
1, 2, 3 .. NOW!
Real change can only occur AFTER the majority of Repugs are removed from public office. I agree with everything that is being said here about wimpy Democrats but the bottom line is that the Democratic Party is NOT under the influence of the religious right and a third party could not be sufficiently organized to have a chance in the 2008 national elections.
The next President will appoint at least THREE supreme court justices. She/He MUST be a Democrat if Americans are to have any chance of regaining any of our freedom.
STAR (AND JEWEL) OF THE SEA & SIOUX ROSE
It is no small _ D E C L A R A T I O N _ to stand for something unprecedented,
as did our founding fathers, with nary a shred of 'evidence' in support, nor ready troops to fight the most powerful gov't of all time (up to that point). The creation of the US of A was a creative dream, of hopeful possibilities, as is our current situation.
We must become the Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, and Washington of this era, and re-claim what was once prized in all of the world, our freedom and ideals.
Namaste … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … … … … … … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is enough to meet everybody’s need, but there is not enough to meet everybody’s greed »
My message above was cross-posted, and DREAMER TOO has provided here a wonderfully simple (and more powerfully vested) solution for dissolving our _ F E A R _.
_ L O V E _ is the _ a n t i d o t e _ to _ F E A R _
Namaste … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … … … … … … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is enough to meet everybody’s need, but there is not enough to meet everybody’s greed »
SIOUXROSE---NSPIRE----so right. It always strikes me as ironic that we at Common Dreams forget all too often what it means to dream. Dreaming isn't just what we do while sleeping. We need to envision the world we want to occupy and begin to create it within ourselves first and then watch it expand.
Think pebble in a pond, rippling outward---think how a tsunami builds and builds. We have witnessed the build up of power-over others----examples of this misuse and mis-direction abound. But how many illustrations have we of the mighty power of LOVE, UNITY, LIGHT? They abound as well---it's just that those who wish us to remain locked in a sense of fear and powerlessness will do evereything they can to keep us from knowing the nature of REAL POWER. It is the ONE thing they cannot control, and don't they know it?
Until the people turn their backs on the one party system, what Nader accurately called the corporate duopoly, nothing will change.
Those that continue to think the dems. will save the day are a bigger threat to whats left of our democracy than the most rabid rightwinger. Lifelong Democrats just can't get it through their heads that its no longer the party of Roosevelt, that seeks to serve the people, but a corrupted power hungry accomplice of the corporate criminals that want to take over the world.
Until the elections become more than an opportunity to vote for one corporate owned candidate or another, we will change nothing, so the idea that voting for a democrat makes you a good liberal, doing your best by voting for the lesser of two evils, is nothing but self delusion and a feel good exercise
HARD TIMES: Excellent points
NSPIRE: Right on! Disarm the dream of arms by DREAMING bigger, yep. Personally, I could not live without passion for my creative forms of expression. Yoga helps to keep centered in a time of turmoil, and breathing with trees, taking in the vast beauty that still manages to grow and bloom all around us (in many places, at least), is cathartic and therapeutic. Today the I ching is beauty... indulge it for the sake of your souls!
Naomi-
In Shock Doctrine you told the story about a group of mormons paid $425,000,000.00 to supervise elections in Iraq. I'm concerned that 425 mil is just the tip of the iceberg of public funds funneled to relgious organizations.
Last week the NY Times published an article exposing mega-churchs that have started venture capital and real estate investment companies. Could they be the funds that prefer Guns to Green?
lobo gris,
I cannot defend NAFTA, and I think some liberals now see it as a mistake which should be modified. Had we had Republicans running the show at that time, though, I think we would have gotten NAFTA that way too. More recently we have wars, bankruptcy revisions to enslave paupers, NCLB to harrass teachers, Patriot Act, Alito on the Supreme Court and damage to both religion and government from their errant mixing.
You know, because I've explained it before, that even I understand the limitations and failures of Dems. But the election of 2008 is only going to tilt one way or the other by perhaps 10 or fewer percentage points, then winner take all. I need to support the most liberal of the two outcomes, even though not perfect.
Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus. Disaster Capitalists are from Hell. Those of us who understand their basic evil must send them back there. Speak truth to power...not just in discussions like this (with the choir), but PUBLICLY!! It's time to take off the gloves and stop being polite. Got a good friend with neo-liberal tendencies? Don't listen to the bullshit without comment. Make an enemy if necessary, or possibly change a warped mind and make a better friend. We're not going to end Disaster Capitalism by discussing it among ourselves. We need to inform the uninformed. Disaster Capitalism should be a household phrase. Naomi Klein should be America's first woman president...too bad she's Canadian. We love you Naomi.
A classic "incentive trap", illustrating neatly the limits of what markets can do.
HARDTIMES: There is a book titled, "Is the American Dream Killing You?" that should be required reading for anyone who HAS or ever HAD to work for a living. The sentiments you express echo those from the book. It's by Paul Stiles. It's a great book and while I take issue with some of the ideas Stiles puts forward, the gist is dead spot on.
I've always thought it immoral for a defense mfgr. to sell stock in their company. I'm going green.
_F_E_A_R_ is the great thief of _T_I_M_E_
We are ALL suffering, through NAOMI's idea of SHOCK, which is much the same as those facing a diagnosis of CANCER, who are consumed by DARK FEAR, and hug the pillows of their bed alone in a vain attempt to kind solace and comfort - but the bed only provide a place for sleep.
We must look outside of our fetal positioning and powerlessness, to be again empowered to unwind, unravel, and open our spirits to dream and soar again.
It is through our passion to live for something (really almost anything will do) creatively laudable, from which we can start to take the little steps that eventual;ly build into the journey and quest to discovery of new living, within and without (per Beatles) us.
This is the recommendation from the SHOCK DOC, to live our lives even larger and dream imaginary possibilities, that may very well appear penultimately as miracles and our salvation
Namaste … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … … … … … … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is enough to meet everybody’s need, but there is not enough to meet everybody’s greed »
Daniel David November 30th, 2007 1:35 pm
"I hope you’ll please recognize even the admittedly marginal benefit that comes from Democrats in charge, and help it happen."
What marginal benefit? Do you mean like the marginal benefits we got when a Democratic president and his Democratic congress passed NAFTA and began the shifting of millions of good middle class jobs overseas to low wage unregulated areas of the world where they transformed into slave labor jobs.
Who benefited from that Daniel? The stocholders and CEO's of the companies that moved, that's who.
Lobo Gris
It is not the way of the west (or should I say the way of capitalism or the American way, or the modern way, or whicheverrr...) to get to the root of or actually deal with, actually treat and heal or eradicate (the root causes of) any problem, be it environmental, social/cultural, economic, physical, medical, or just plain mental....
Rather the approach is to see how much more They can profit from the problem/s, including much misery and suffering, while selling band-aids (whether concerts, walkathons, or bandages or meds, all interchangeable btw) to the rest of Us, a.k.a. the slaves and serfs who exist (in their minds) only to serve Them.
A r-evolution is always "coming". Except that those who prefer to revolve like in one of those annoying round-about doors, see...they don't really care to evolve. Their loss. And They cannot afford to risk Us evolving either --like that's ever stopped any one before. haaha joke's on them -- hence Their need/desire/fondness for so much weaponry, and "security", including spy (snoop) and tracking technology.
On several levels, I actually pity Them more than all the rest of Us combined!
They've got to stay inside of their super-sized, gated, mccommunities, with privatized merc bodyguards, isolated, and insulated... cause They are skeered shitless. Of little, ole' Us. Hahahaha...
war is peace. freedom is slavery. up is down and inside is out. oil for blood and blood for oil. all for none. and none for all. all hail brig brudder. pfft!
------------------
#
commander_n_chimp November 30th, 2007 1:25 pm
The United States must be a country filled with people whose mothers and fathers did not love them as children. That can be the only explanation why Americans in general prefer to inflict suffering and violence on other people instead of caring for the poor, the young, the old, and the disabled in their own country.
c_n_c,
What you said is absolutely true. But hold on there a sec please, because the USans absolutely do not have an exclusive on that busyness. It's a world-wide phenomenon, a plague, a goddamned universal dis-ease. Contagious as all shit, too.
Dysfunctional (unhealthy, unloving) families produce dysfunctional offspring. Generally and typically speaking here. There are always exceptions, of course. And multiply any one sick family by a factor of X and voila you get sick, unloving towns, societies, and a sick, unloving, hateful, violent, fearful, frightening, mad, mad world. Isn't that what we've got right now.
Anyhow, thank you for getting to the root. Much appreciated.
-----
Oh before I forget, whatever you do, do not "eat" the rich. Aside from the fact that they "taste like" swine, they must be allowed to eat themselves. You know, the serpent must eat its own tail. It's nature's way you know. Also discussed in many, various scriptures. ;)
Peace y'all........
Fear sells.
"Repeated betrayal fosters deep resentment and distrust. You obviously are one to give Dems more chances to betray you. I am not. Everyone has their own limits for tolerating lies and broken promises."
Thank you, star, thank you.
What's become apparent (for the umpteenth time), is that while good may prevail, it will take a long time. The slightly pollyannish dream that finally folks will see the error of their ways, is just that - a dream.
While more people have become disenchanted with Bushco, most Reps still hold onto their party like a raft at sea. As do most Dems. The problem isn't the rafts, it's the sea.
Our very society is sick and has been since the start. We started with genocide and haven't stopped.
Sadly, I have no solutions. All I can do is watch with eyes wide open and do what I personally can do - live life (much) more simply, pare down my consumption and resultant waste, stop supporting the system as much as possible, and call bullshit on bullshit.
Naomi has it wrong on one point. It's not Bangladesh. It's Georgia. Let's see. They don't have water, because the Coca-cola company used it all. Don't think Coca-cola intends to give up its water. They will just surround themselves in a fortress and continue taking the water while all the people migrate. Other states will be defending their borders against water migrants. Don't think this is just illegal aliens jumping the border by the millions which they will continue to do. This is about no water, here. This is about disaster right here. This is about keeping Hurricane migrants away from your precious water. This is about keeping New Yorkers out when their city sinks. This is about keeping your precious rich house when millions of begging people overrun your property. This is about keeping your neck when the poor people try to take your resources.
Markets like ours promise a normal person that which a greedy person has tricked them into needing.
What does a normal human really need?
Here it is: Spiritual and mental growth each day every day. Which means either gentle isolation with yourself or else gentle association with other humans each day every day.
In order to stay free of distracting material suffering, most humans also need unagonized access to healthy food, welcoming shelter that gives some personal privacy, clothes, and one other thing above all this -- leisure time to think about life and be creative in relation to it, as one chooses to be.
When you look at how most of us live in this country of ours -- unhappily tensioned strivers striving to live the Marketed American Dream -- you see what a terrible human lie Our Market has become.
Belief in Our Market's materialistic salvation has done a dehumanizing thing to our lives. It has numbed our ability to dream the deeper depths our of spirit. Our Market, America's Market, has made most of us forget that only out of non materialistic dreams can a better world ever arise, whether a person is in passive isolation or active building of community.
Markets today are what a real Christian would call the Devil's Work.
Speaking of markets.....have you heard about the special deal that Citigroup gave to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (a branch of the Dubai Government)which recently invested $7.5 billion in Citigroup?
Abu Dhabi is getting convertible stock that's going to yeild 11% annually. Meanwhile, Citigroup's common shareholders (you and me) will only get about half that amount in annual returns.
Add to that the $200+ billion (so far) government tax payer bailout fund and you can clearly see that globalization is taxing United States citizens while it increases the wealth of the super-wealthy around the world.
Yes, my friends, deregulation and globalization are working wonders for the super-wealthy.....make no mistake about that!
Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler - two-time congressional medal of honor recipient:
WAR is a racket. It always has been.
It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.
A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.
In the World War [I] a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows.
How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dug-out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of them parried a bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?
Out of war nations acquire additional territory, if they are victorious. They just take it. This newly acquired territory promptly is exploited by the few -- the selfsame few who wrung dollars out of blood in the war. The general public shoulders the bill.
And what is this bill?
This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations.
For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, I must face it and speak out
Do they know something we don't, like the world is going to blow up in 2012 or something? This gross dead-end determinism is enough to make a person feel suicidal.
I watched Kucinich's dialogue for democracy yesterday and was inspired with hope for a new future. And then I read this and see what we are truly up against. Do these investors give a shit about their kids or about the future? Everybody has an impact. Do they have kids? How can they sleep at night?
The investors can have their failed NON GREEN investments. And they will be failed when the people act on green technology as is truly the only real future. And as long as we don't die before that happens, it is inevitable.
The comments, always the best part of the articles. Funny thing about Naomi's claim: the fact is Solar companies are doing very well. In fact, the solar sector is growing more swiftly than the weapons biz. Check any company in either sector.
Naomi sez:
"According to Venture Business Research, in 2006 North American and European companies developing green technology and those focused on 'homeland security' and weaponry were neck and neck in the contest for new investment: green tech received $3.5 billion, and so did the guns and garrisons sector. But this year garrisons have suddenly leapt ahead. The greens have received $4.2 billion, while the garrisons have nearly doubled their money, collecting $6 billion in new investment funds. And 2007 isn’t over yet."
Problem is, she's just looking at 'venture capital' and that does not, by definition, include publicly traded companies. And on the upside, it's a close race!
With 'peak oil' still at 2005 levels, there's no where to go but renewable energy if we want to reduce CO2 emissions and not have a total powerdown as oil becomes extremely expensive with Chinese and Indian demand outstripping ANY possible OPEC increase.
Congress is now debating an energy bill. Contact them and urge them to support renewable energy! They are set to decide on December 5.
Lucky Lefty wrote: "There are no consequences in this Model. For 4000 years there have been no Consequences. They could kill and war and kill and war and shit their nest and move on and kill and war some more. Their Model has reached the limits the System will bear."
While I agreed with much of what you said, this is incorrect -- there have been consequences: the French Revolution, the Mexican Revolution, and the Russian Revolution being just three examples of the peasants rising up against the aristocracy/monied interests.
Yes, there will be large bunker-style homes on the market in gated communities soon, with every possible protection for the modern Gordon Gecko to be assured that he and his family will not be touched by the economic panic, dirty air or rampant disease experienced by the proles beyond the guarded fence. But fences are not enough -- someone well-armed must be hired to guard the elite from the suffering their 'free market' has caused. While these people will be paid well, will they and their lower-class families be allowed to inhabit the gated community? Will they also be protected from the declining environment? Will they be willing to risk their health and lives to guard a Rupert Murdoch or Jeb Bush for as long as they live?
Most of the Blackwater mercenaries don't come from the upper classes, such as owner Erik Prince, they derive from the working and middle class. I wonder how far they will go along with the destruction of their country once the economy collapses?
Look at fortress Iraq now. That could be your future.
Not all that new an idea. Everybody who had enough to worry about loosing it was building fallout shelters back in the sixties. The "Fortress" builders are just making money on reanimating an idea that died a natural death forty years ago. Just what we need, people advising us to invest in zombie projects.
Feudalism is a societal pattern that has happened many times before. The arming up by the rich is an instinctive response. Never mind that military hardware manufacture will contribute to, rather than help abate greenhouse gas production. In planning for the fortress world, it would seem plain they have seen their future. Shooting it out for possession of water, food and ultimately survival. Do not worry about justice and the death penalty, it will be might makes right. Back to before the pretense of the age of enlightenment. Such a self centered mode of thinking bodes very badly for world wide reduction of greenhouse gas production. The only advantage is we might achieve a culled human population before Gaia does. Death from thirst and starvation versus death from fighting for survival. Those with arms will have nothing to lose. I will have to go now to to buy my semi automatic gun and a stockpile of rounds, just because some other people are doing this.
As for the imminent arrival of blessed carbon clean energy technology, if technological miracles are going to happen, we should have heard solid details about how its working already by now, from someone more believable than George Bush. We should settle for living with the plentiful amounts of renewable energy, available as long as the sun shines. They are in fact the ultimate achievable levels of technological sophistication of our current civilization. To ignore them because their limits constrain our way of life, and do not provide the easy profits and high energy of burning stuff that Gaia buried in its wisdom of long term climate management, is to not accept that humans must live within their limits, or die ignoring them.
The next big investment opportunity: The Mad Max School for Post Catastrophic Climate Mutation Survival.
Not kidding.
Excellent article.
Naomi sees our future with crystal clarity. Those at the top 1% of the income bracket are setting themselves up for a life in closed, "fortress" type communities. With their own climate, water & energy. With their own security forces to defend them from the plebs. When you think about it, not that dissimilar to how they're living now.
Market is merely seeing the coming resource wars and the rise in domestic discontent. Defense companies are there to offer "crowd control" & surveillance measures that are going to be indispensable when the pain threshold hits the masses.
The sad part is that there is still, technically a choice. "Green" way can save us and the planet.
Left in the hands of the "market" and our current governments, that way never had a chance though.
Another excellent piece here by Ms. Klein. Did anyone happen to see her on Keith Olbermann last night?
Low expectations-----low results. How is anyone supposed to be inspired by that, DD? And then, of course, doing what you so repeatedly implore us to do, requires a leap of faith that Dems are actually eager to "bite the hand that has been feeding them, too." Trust me, you/they say. I am 61, DD, and, IMO, the vast majority of the career politicians in DC have not only NOT earned my trust, they have violated my trust at every turn. At least the Rethugs make no bones about what they will do when they have the power.
Repeated betrayal fosters deep resentment and distrust. You obviously are one to give Dems more chances to betray you. I am not. Everyone has their own limits for tolerating lies and broken promises.
"Its the Richfilth, stupid!"
They live by the same Rule they have lived by for 4000 years: "You can have anything you can take and hold. If you cannot take it, you may not have it. If you cannot hold it against all comers you may not keep it. But if you can take it and hold it, you can do anything with it that you want." "It" can be anything, e.g. land, resources, genetically rendered human slaves, anything you want. No morals. No ethics. No Law. Just "The Rule".
There are no consequences in this Model. For 4000 years there have been no Consequences. They could kill and war and kill and war and shit their nest and move on and kill and war some more. Their Model has reached the limits the System will bear.
When the psychotic in the WH says, "Let the Market decide", he is saying, "My Richfilth friends will decide what is in their best interests and you and your children will scramble like animals to survive on the shit pile they leave you." Isn't he? This is how societies have been run for 4000 years. We are nothing but cattle in a stockyard to them, waiting our turn with the butcher. Our screams are their profits.
We are up against an implacable foe. Reason is not their forte. Lust & Greed is the land of their birth. Violence, fear, conspiracy, and oppression are their stock in trade.
Are you willing to put down a pack of dangerous rabid dogs?
Peece.
purvis ames,
That was a great point by Weiner, that markets are not homeostatic processes. All the evidence demonstrates that (as corporations gain power, they influence government to give them more advantages, and they gain more power, and have more influence...), while all the demagogues and the sophists employed by the oligarchy insist the opposite is true. Methinks the demagogues and "free market" sophists are self-serving liars.
to Jim Glover,
I wish I could promise you (and myself) the moon with Dems. Even though I'm occasionally energized about this, like the bunny, even I know that the benefits to be expected are only MARGINAL, and that any ship as big as the U.S. turns very slowly. As for holding me responsible for misinformation, yeah, that's okay. I'm gonna die of something someday anyway.
These are the masters of war who have built and designed America's newest IRON HEEL. Just like everything else in the world, our American corporations will find a way to profit from war.
Hoa binh
“In connection with the effective amount of communal information, one of the most surprising facts about the body politic is its extreme lack of efficient homeostatic processes. There is a belief, current in many countries, which has been elevated to the rank of an official article of faith in the United States, that free competition is itself a homeostatic process: that in a free market the individual selfishness of the bargainers, each seeking to sell as high and buy as low as possible, will result in the end in a stable dynamics of prices, and will redound to the greatest common good. This is associated with the very comforting view that the individual entrepreneur, in seeking to forward his own interest, is in some manner a public benefactor and has thus earned the great rewards with which society has showered him. Unfortunately, the evidence, such as it is, is against this simple-minded theory.
“The market is a game, strictly subject to the general theory of games. The individual players are compelled by their own cupidity to form coalitions; but these coalitions do not generally establish themselves in any single, determinant way, and usually terminate in a welter of betrayal, turncoatism, and deception, which is only too true a picture of the higher business life, or the closely related lives of politics, diplomacy, and war. In the long run, even the most brilliant and unprincipled hucksters become tired of this and agree to live in peace with one another, and the great rewards are then reserved for the one who watches for an opportune time to break his agreement and betray his companions. There is no homeostasis whatever. We are unwilling spectators to the business cycles of boom and failure, in the successions of dictatorships and revolution, in the wars which everyone loses, which are so real a feature of modern times.â€
Norbert Weiner, the inventor of digital engineering, wrote the above words many years ago. They are just as relevant today as they were then.
It's incomprehensible that one can be so dim, as our president purports to be, to believe that maximizing the decision-making power of the so-called "free market" maximizes the expectation (probability * amount) of future human welfare. That is not only demonstrably false by even the most cursory study of human history, but it depends on a myriad of simplistic and dangerous assumptions.
There is clearly an assumption that there are virtually an infinite number of forces involved in the market that can act to prevent consolidation of power and manipulation by any participants -- clearly false in an economy with a handful of gargantuan corporations getting larger all the time; an assumption that powerful market participants cannot influence governments to make decisions and take risks in the participants' interests -- clearly false in the USA with the lobbying power of K street; and a really troubling assumption that there is a strong positive correlation between maximizing profit and improving human welfare -- which Ms. Klein demonstrates is clearly false in a world of dwindling resources and violent clashes in competition for such resources.
I would add that market participants also suffer from the free rider problem (a classic example of where following self-interest is inconsistent with the public good). The free rider problem is that where everyone is better off if everyone does X, but participant P1 finds P1 is even better off if P1 does not do X but everyone else does. P2 sees this and copies P1's behavior, and over time most Ps copy such behavior and then everyone is worse off than they were when they all did X.
Of course there can be laws and regulations to require the Ps do X (e.g. SEC rules), but Ps will expend resources to find loopholes (including the use of lobbyists to bend the law around the Ps) for the laws and regulations. And whether that works or not, Ps will find some other X2 behavior to opt out of, and the whole cycle repeats itself. Over time the layers of trickery and obfuscation in avoiding X, X2, X3 ... grow until they eat up much of the organization's resources, and the market continues to become more inefficient even with regard to fulfilling its fundamental promise of maximizing GDP.
This article is HEAVILY flawed for two reasons:
1. There is no free market. Why else would the president like most dogmatic faux "libertarians" parrot the same old "Let the markets decide" BULLSHIT. If there was such a thing as the free market, the DEA would have been abolished and the "drug war" would have been ABOLISHED thereby paving the way for a non-petroleum market rather than the currently RIGGED market whereby everything depends on petroleum.
2. This country was founded on and credited with VIOLENCE. The currently RIGGED "capitalism" puts profits first before principle and will no doubt cash in on people's urges. Starting from childhood, people in America are generally taught to be vicious if they want something so BADLY. The RIGGED capitalism easily cashes in on this weakness.
If you people think that having all the guns and ammo are gonna save you, you haven't been paying attention and will be silently pulled out from under the rug !
OK Daniel,
You have made me many promises about the next Dem era with open government.... So if what you are predicting does not happen , I will hold you personally responsible for spreading disinformation.
Us Profits have a union now, Ya know.
JEFFREY: It's the detritus of MARS rules to the deficit of VENUS... until the truth about our Essences and universal laws replaces old folly, religious delusion, and the systems these have given rise to... people will be given reasons and rationales for destroying each other, rather than learning to pool their talents and resources to make a sustainable world worth sharing!
It is a nation that, even as far back as the 1920s (or further) has been based on the pursuit of individual entitlements as a means of attaining 'uniqueness' through material acquisition.
I've referred to this before as 'a king's misery'.
Being surrounded my all manner of shiny and wondrous objects that bring no happiness.
A sad delusion.
This free market certainly shows us a lot of folks' hierarchy of values. Destruction of life and lowering the quality of lifestyles is higher up the chain than honoring life and the promotion of its quality. What folly! What stupidity. All this "free market" garbage is like having a body with no immune system to sustain a healthful balance. And we wonder why our society is spiritually corrupt and sick?
Naomi Klein often describes very well for us the ill effects of some of our worst human tendencies, like selfishness from fear, selfishness from greed, warring and opportunism, and how allowing corporations to run amok from under every rock seems to magnify these bad behaviors exponentially in a modern world.
The twin antidotes in America, if any are to be found, are real education (which Naomi does well) and government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." Some say that would be best addressed right now with the election of Dennis Kucinich and some sort of instant repeal of corporate personhood. I would agree, if such a thing were possible in the next 12 months that we have before electing--or not--more Republicans. Political evidence, though, is piling up that we're now not likely to get Dennis and we are likely to get one of the "frontrunners".
What we might get, if we try hard, are a Democrat in the White House in charge of agencies and the next Court appointments, and two Democratic houses of Congress where agendas about all things pertaining to corporations are NOT EVER controlled by Republicans during the electoral period. That's the best the American political system can produce for us at this time, and the best control "we the people" can have over agenda choices about defense spending, about surveillance, about climate, about corporations, and about how rich the rich remain. I hope you'll please recognize even the admittedly marginal benefit that comes from Democrats in charge, and help it happen.
The United States must be a country filled with people whose mothers and fathers did not love them as children. That can be the only explanation why Americans in general prefer to inflict suffering and violence on other people instead of caring for the poor, the young, the old, and the disabled in their own country.
The Selfish Giant (1971)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBWURy1surI
watch. nuff said.
(or at least listen to song that starts at 4:47)
seems appropriate.
see the neutopian platform at youtube neutopia for president
Pete Seeger sings about it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAXfJKh-NnY
So now we have this formula:
Oil barrel=gun barrel.
Also.. if we live in a fortressed facist world... those in power can consolidate their power. If you invest in a world where wealth and "power" is distributed fairly and equitably.. you have less ability to CONTROL the masses.
It comes down to the main weakness of the human race. Our Fear and our will to conquer and be the Big Banana over all other bananas....
This shows they know the revolution is coming, but the biggest money is on a chaotic and violent one, while the green money is on building a better world.
The Business world and all of us have a clear choice to make now...We are the revolution and we need to come together.
I wish I'd said that, ezeflyer.
If at first we don't secede...
Great and profitable idea. If we shoot ourselves, we won't have any problems.