Showing posts with label Inequality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Inequality. Show all posts

Sunday, June 13, 2021

Political Corruption Reigns Supreme in the USA


Here's how to combat it peacefully---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJy8vTu66tE&list=WL&index=70
The video is about six years old, but still applies today.

Another of my comments on it is posted here---
https://twitter.com/ScottHa85992272/status/1404229654702137355?s=20


I've been preaching this for about 20 years, and Harvard Prof Lessig explains it better than I ever could.  Every adult in the world should watch this short video.  Here is PRECISELY how corruption operates in the USA.  It has been going on for decades, and continues today.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well


Sunday, March 14, 2021

Solutions to Our Socio-Eco-Econ-Ethical CRISIS

 These all speak for themselves.  You may be familiar with some of them.  I'll bet my Stetson you won't be familiar with all of them.  😊

file:///C:/Users/abstr/Downloads/sustainability-13-01263.pdf
If the above link doesn't work, this one should - 
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1263/htm

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/14/5548/htm

https://inequality.org/great-divide/the-pre-existing-condition-that-doomed-the-u-s-covid-response/

https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0921800921000161?token=C6EB71D48606824B54E300D3D1CE7EFFEEABBC1397DEE469E7B9A17DCA4B40C417BDED2500C266EA7C44146B3E68EF38

https://researchportal.northumbria.ac.uk/files/20387227/Accepted_How_the_Rich_are_Destroying_the_Earth.pdf

Here's a full-length book for your personal library on sustainability.
http://feineigle.com/static/books/2014/beyond_growth/Beyond%20Growth_The%20Economics%20of%20Sustainable%20Development-Herman%20E.%20Daly-(1997).pdf

https://steadystate.org/population-and-a-dose-of-common-sense/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378014001368

https://media.rff.org/archive/files/document/file/RFF-DP-16-24.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800919312273

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344917303701

https://www.int-res.com/articles/esep/2002/E21.pdf

The above are but a few of the considerations we must take seriously if we are to have a sustainable future.
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Not only my opinion.  Happy Trails

Monday, March 8, 2021

Transformations and Rethinking Development - Thanks to the Pandemic

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X20303600?dgcid=raven_sd_recommender_email

From the journal, World Development Volume 138, February 2021, 105233 -
Article title: " Post-pandemic transformations: How and why COVID-19 requires us to rethink development".

SSDD simply won't do anymore.  Neoliberal economics, the Oligarchy & Plutocracy Era, and the days of Crony-Casino-Disaster-Surveillance Capitalism are all at the beginning of their end.  Most likely, the combination of democratic socialism plus Adam Smith capitalism*** (a Mixed Economy) - which most free countries now have to varying degrees - will become stronger.  That, coupled with a genuinely eco-ethical approach to Nature & its resources, will be the new paradigm.

[*** As I've pointed out before, Adam Smith was in favor of small business, not mega business.  He denigrated the concept of monopolies, and rather than support them, he decried the so-called "Masters of the Universe" - the Big Biz men who thought they ruled the world.  His idea was for small business to benefit common people.]

Perhaps then, more people will understand that when we damage ecosystems because of genuine necessity, we should take care to keep the damage as small as possible.  Why?  Because one of the many key services provided by the ecosystems of Nature is:  they are natural barriers to the spread of disease.

The article at the link above addresses the following topics re post-pandemic development:
1.  science and policy;
2.  resilient economies;
3.  the nexus between the citizenry and the State; and
4.  new ways of thinking & acting in relation to all the above and sustainability.

While the article is about world development, especially re the North-South (in general) global inequality, I believe its concepts can be applied more regionally and locally, and to more equitable "development" in "developed" countries.  These ideas, I think, should start at the grassroots level (county, city).  Then State or Province and National politicians will be more amenable to instituting needed support at their levels.  From the bottom up is usually (not always) better than from the top down.  Those at the top sometimes seem to be out of touch with the practical reality of the everyday/common people.

It's highly probable that many researchers and some politicians, policy makers, and a few private companies (& others) have been working on sustainability & equity (in the ethical sense) since at least the 2008 Crash.  Now we need to kick that into high gear.  A massive shift is on the horizon, and there's no time to waste in getting to it.
Tick-tock.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well


Tuesday, February 16, 2021

A final word from a conservative on the criminal, plus - a commonly held reason by two opposites for ____________

 Here's my latest email to family and a few friends.  It contains must-see and must-read materials at the links provided.
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A guy who might just be a real conservative (not a neoconservative) speaks out re the criminal who no longer is in office.  Schmidt is well-versed in the Repub Party, & every person who still supports the dangerous buffoonish criminal should listen & watch this extremely short clip.  What he says is painfully obvious.
Then there's this: a common reason why some support the above criminal, while others support people like Bernie Sanders & Elizabeth Warren - https://www.noozhawk.com/article/randy_alcorn_its_time_for_america_to_defuse_economic_disaffection_20210207?emci=9ada8b01-a96f-eb11-9889-00155d43c992&emdi=5fc2ad15-c06f-eb11-9889-00155d43c992&ceid=6171896
Forget "White Nationalism" (even though there is some of that), forget "Socialism" (even though there's some of that) - here's the MAIN REASON why people support such disparate politicians.

............... Not only my opinion. Be Well

Saturday, January 23, 2021

Crucial Issues for Spaceship Earth

 Growth, economic resilience, recovery, & inequity:

Social rights & planetary boundaries:

Water scarcity & Wall Street vultures:
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If the world returns to our pre-covid economic paradigm, then the Boom-Bust Cycle, economic fragility, eco-disasters (including pandemics), and social injustice/inequity again will be our lot.  It should be clear by now that we must bring about a massive paradigm shift to a new economics, an ecocentric relationship to the natural environment, and social justice.  It's not only that those things would be "nice", it's also that they are necessary if organized human existence is to survive and thrive on Spaceship Earth.
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Not only my opinion.  Stay Well


Saturday, January 16, 2021

Ever wonder why the Global South largely remains poor, and how the Global North perpetuates that? World Poverty, Inequality, Foreign Aid, and NeoColonialism

 Professor Jason Hickel, my favorite anthropologist & political ecologist, has superb bona fides.  In the clip below (only about 6.5 minutes long), he cogently and concisely explains how the global economy operates to the detriment of most of the Global South.

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Many Oligarchs in the North often promote the idea that foreign aid, foreign investment, loans, and neoliberalism (in general) - corporate globalization - all demonstrate sincere efforts to lift the South out of poverty.  Some actually may believe that.  As Dr. Hickel shows, the reality of the situation is quite different.

The Global South is more in need of justice than it's in need of charity.  It certainly doesn't need privatization of public services or loans with shades of the old IMF "structural adjustment" requirements.  Unfortunately, as the video depicts, neocolonialism dominates the world economy.

Via entities such as the WTO, IMF, & World Bank, as well as so-called Free Trade Agreements (which aren't "free" at all), the Global North guarantees the perpetuation of the old colonial transfer of wealth from the South to the North.  And it's all under the guise of compassion for the poor of the world.  [Again, some people may believe that it is such.]

How can this situation be remedied?  Watch the short video.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Sunday, January 3, 2021

"Getting Back to Normal" is Not Where We Want To Be

Here's what "normal" has meant for decades---

Trumpism is small potatoes compared to the scourge of neoliberalism.  Monbiot writes for The Guardian, & is one of my favorite writers.  In this short clip, he explains how neoliberalism is destroying democracy while claiming to promote freedom.  He also shows how a wannabe autocrat can rise to power in the current neoliberal environment.

At the link below is a review of Monbiot's book, Out of the Wreckage.  Not being one to only warn people of danger and disaster, in the book he offers beginning steps to correct the wreckage caused by neoliberalism.

In addition to his suggestions, I again encourage you all to work toward the implementation of ecological economics, a la Herman Daly, et.al. [See previous posts on this venue, especially those in May - September.]
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Not only my opinion.  Stay Well 

Monday, November 30, 2020

The Pandemic, the Economy, Politics, and the Ongoing Income Inequality in the USA

 The Rich Are Cheering Wall Street’s Latest Records. Americans of Modest Means Are Draining 401(k)s. - Inequality.org

The bottom 50% of income earners in the USA hold only 0.6% of the country's stock holdings.  The poorest 90% hold only 11.8% of the nation's stocks.  The richest one percent hold 52.4% of all stocks.  That's all according to the Fed Reserve.

Due to the pandemic, the Super-Rich are doubling and tripling their incomes.  Those people of modest means are draining their 401k accounts just to pay the bills.  Meanwhile, the politicians have stopped providing relief... or even talking about it with each other.

As I've pointed out in the past, the Great Depression of the 1930's was not so named until halfway through it.  For about five years, people believed it was just a short-term glitch that would disappear very soon.  It should be clear by now that currently we are in a full-blown economic Depression.  Politicians, in particular, need to wake up to that fact.  GDP (loved by the Powers-That-Be as a measure of national well-being) in the USA fell by just shy of 33% in the Second Quarter of this year.

I'm getting the impression that a majority of people believe the vaccine will correct the situation.  For a variety of reasons, don't count on it.  One of those reasons is this:  the covid virus mutates rather quickly.  Another reason:  no vaccine in history ever has been so RUSHED as this one.  Despite the reassurances of everyone involved, that means there's perhaps a 50-50 chance of a monumental problem.  Another reason:  it's highly likely that many small businesses have closed for good.  Vaccine or not, they won't be back.  That's mainly due to dithering or dogmatic politicians.  Another reason:  millions of our fellow Americans still believe covid is no big deal.  That's a serious hindrance to getting back to some sort of "normal".  

If ever again, "normal" is most likely 2-5 YEARS down a rough road ahead.  Why do I say that?  Because of my academic education and field experience in biology, human ecology, and environmental geography.  Is the "2-5 YEARS" prediction guaranteed?  Of course not, it's an educated guess.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

The Social Dimension: "I" and "We"

 At the link below is a book review that is well worth the read.

https://www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagazine/23_october_2020/MobilePagedArticle.action?articleId=1631113&app=false#articleId1631113

In terms of racism, for many Caucasian people I don't think it's skin color so much that causes them distaste and fear.  I think it's the (unwarranted) fear of losing their culture.  They don't seem to understand that any particular group culture can be preserved in a multicultural society.  Even within a single "Race" different ethnic groups have done so.  Here in the USA, the Germans, Italians, Jews, Irish, Russians, and others have all done it.

As a former Biology and Ecology teacher, the uproar over the concept of human "races" is odd to me.  In the taxonomy and phylogeny of the human, any subdivision [Kingdom-Phylum-Class-Order-Family-Genus- Species-Variety] below species is pretty much meaningless.  In other words, what matters is the species level; and all of us belong to Homo sapiensTo any reasonable & rational person, physical differences (e.g., skin color) are of no significance; but often, cultural differences do matter in one way or another.
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Not only my opinion.  Stay Well

Monday, October 19, 2020

Various Considerations in Ecological Economics and Sustainability

 1.  Increased efficiency and curtailing the expansion of material stocks in the UK:
        https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344920302780#bib0035

    Title - "Stock-flow relations in the socio-economic metabolism of the United Kingdom 1800–2017".
Socio-economic metabolism refers to a society's use of biophysical resources (i.e., energy and materials), a key factor in the sustainability arena.
................................

2.  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629615300827

    Title - "How long will it take? Conceptualizing the temporal dynamics of energy transitions".
When I last taught Ecology (at the college level, in the 1990's), the conventional wisdom was:  it takes about forty years for a society to change from one primary energy source to another.  That is being re-evaluated.
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3.  The term, "economic growth", sounds really great, but is it?  When thinking about the topic, too many people have faulty assumptions and tend to ignore two of the main effects of econ growth:  income inequality, and gross pollution of our biosphere.
    
    https://steadystate.org/who-does-economic-growth-serve/

    The author, Brian F. Snyder, is an assistant professor of environmental science at Louisiana State University.
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Not only my opinion.  Stay Well

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Sustainability re: transport industry, decarbonization, lithium, magnesium, energy, & a decent living, Plus commentary on world efforts

 2020 research - Two important views---

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211467X20300961

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378020307512

At least read the Abstracts and Conclusions.

Commentary on world efforts---

Public officials, researchers, the business community, & others in the EU (in general) - especially in Germany, Ireland, Denmark, The Netherlands, Austria, & Portugal (mea culpa if I left out a country) - AND in other parts of the world are working hard to develop & implement sustainable policies geared toward saving organized human existence on this planet.  Kudos to all of them.

With some significant exceptions, the USA is light-years behind in those efforts.  As we all know, that's especially true for the last four years or so, particularly in the national government.  The current Administration is working hard to reverse gains made in the sustainability arena.  That, along with other egregious actions, has made the USA an object of pity - as well as a laughingstock - in the eyes of most of the world.  On top of all that, our "Leader" has some chance of getting re-elected shortly.  It's truly mind-boggling.  His chances of re-election should be extremely close to zero... or ZERO.  Thanks to Edward Bernays style molding of the public mind plus a huge dose of ignorance, those chances are higher.  It's all very Orwellian.  Life is full of paradoxes, eh?

The human dilemma we face consists of a socio-ecological-economic catastrophe which already has started, coupled with an ongoing belief by too many in the practices of unlimited growth, overconsumption, and overexploitation of resources.  In far too many ways, we've become too anthropocentric, as opposed to ecocentric.  Fortunately, that's beginning to change.  Keep in mind, though -
TICK-TOCK.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well


Sunday, September 20, 2020

"The Blue Skies of Neoliberalism"

Two Reasons Why Banks Should be Public Utilities, Not Private Businesses

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057521914001070

Those of us who for years have maintained that this happens have been looked upon as "strange".  ðŸ˜Š  Well,  here's empirical evidence... as incredible as this may seem, it's the 1st scientific study of the issue.  Keep in mind - we're not talking about a Central Bank here; rather, it's individual private banks that do this.

At least read the Abstract at the link above... it's short.

Wouldn't you love to collect interest payments on something you created out of "thin air"? ☺☺☺☺☺
This is one reason why banks should be publicly owned - public utilities - not private institutions... better accountability if publicly owned.
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The other reason why banks should be public utilities is as follows.

Technically and legally, when you make a bank "deposit" into your "account", what you're really doing is loaning the bank some of your money.  The bank takes on a "debt obligation", and the money deposited essentially becomes theirs.  The bank owes you money, but not that specific money.  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC0G7pY4wRE

Plus, thanks to a policy of the G20 Financial Stability Board, thirty mega banks can convert the loans made to them by "depositors" into equity shares in the bank in the case of a financial crisis.  That's true even if the bank is failing during a crisis.

In the USA, some people think - so what?  Who cares?  Our money in banks is protected by FDIC funds, right?  Yes, but here's the catch:  the FDIC fund total varies, but is in the billions (much less than one trillion); the total amount of "deposits" in U.S. banks also varies, but usually is close to $15 trillion.  Do the math.
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Banks, especially mega banks, are a big cause of gross inequality in this country.  We need public banks, and a banking model similar to the one in Germany... an emphasis on small, local banks.  Germany probably has the best banking system in the world, and the USA most likely has the worst.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Friday, September 18, 2020

"The economy as if people mattered..." 2020

The open access articles at the links below are enlightening and much needed admonitions regarding the current misuse of "Green" terminology (circular, bioeconomics, Green New Deal, etc.), and the ethical problems inherent in the "Growth" (neoliberal) economy.  Neoliberal economics is attempting to paint itself green, thus supposedly justifying the continuation on the path of unlimited growth.

 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14747731.2020.1761612#aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGFuZGZvbmxpbmUuY29tL2RvaS9wZGYvMTAuMTA4MC8xNDc0NzczMS4yMDIwLjE3NjE2MTI/bmVlZEFjY2Vzcz10cnVlQEBAMA==

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800918317178?via%3Dihub

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It is abundantly clear by now that mainstream/neoliberal economics, more than any other relevant factor, is responsible for the disasters of:  the multi-faceted ecological crisis; rampant social & income inequality; an egregiously fragile economy; and a race to worldwide neofeudalism.  In addition to all that, neoliberals currently would have us believe:  the solution to all our problems is more & more efficient growth; and, with recycling, we don't need to worry about running out of natural resources.  Really?  No worries?

The above scenario is not the Bioeconomics of Georgescu-Roegen.  Not even close.  He emphasized biophysical limits, entropy, and finally, degrowth.  [Ever-changing "development" doesn't have to be "growth".]
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Not only my opinion.  Stay Well

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Biden, Trump, Voting, Politics, the Ecosphere, and Propaganda

Preface

We rarely ever know what's really going on in politics.  Whatever we do know about it has been filtered through public and private Oligarchs, as well as the Corporate Media.  Whistleblowers effectively are criminalized, and soon essentially marginalized or forgotten, or both.  Though they've made great progress in the last ten to twenty years or so, alternative media sources often simply don't get the exposure necessary to have a significant impact.

Decades ago, the "Dean of American Journalism", Walter Lippmann, referred to the American public as the "bewildered herd".  He also stated:
1)  "Democracy is much too important to be left to public opinion."; and,
2)  "The effort to calculate exactly what the voters want at each particular moment leaves out of account the fact that when they are troubled the thing the voters most want is to be told what to want.".  [Emphasis added]
Incidentally, Lippmann was a political "liberal".

The point being:  I believe for the most part, Main Street has little to no idea what the "good-guy" Elites really have as a worldview, and even less idea of how much we are propagandized by the Movers-and-Shakers in high places.  Some people are aware, but way too few.
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Biden, Trump, Neoliberalism, the Ecosphere, and Politics

There is no doubt that Neoliberalism in politics, finance, and economics has been a major contributor to the following:
1)  income inequality;
2)  social inequality;
3)  privatization and austerity;
4)  ecological/environmental damage and destruction;
5)  increased susceptibility to disease;
6)  lost manufacturing;
7)  a much less resilient economy; and
8)  several other maladies.
Neoliberals have managed to rule the roost right through today primarily by the use of massive Edward Bernays style propaganda.  It saturates the public and private spheres every day.  It promotes false ideas of both "freedom" and "capitalism".  It wraps its supporters in the American flag, Big Daddy in the Sky, and the American Dream.  It ignores the reality of what Nature is telling us.  Its supporters claim to be "Moderates", when in fact they are Corporatists, essentially NeoFeudalists... or the puppets of same.

It has been clear for quite awhile that Trump is an unmitigated disaster.  In any arena of national life - emergency management, economics, health care, stewardship of natural resources, diplomacy, national security, statesmanship, ethics, monetary policy, fiscal policy, & yes, even politics - he is inept, incompetent, and dangerous.  On top of that, he's a psychological gaslighter and serial liar.  [Again, a reminder - I'm not a Democrat or a Republican.]  He's not a Neoliberal, but he is a wannabe fascist.

The Democratic Party is firmly controlled (at the highest levels) by Neoliberals and/or Corporatists.  That's been true since Bill Clinton's Admin and is still true today.  The "Progressive" surge in the last few years essentially has been marginalized*** by the DNC and its so-called "Moderates".  Those Corporatists include Pelosi, Schumer, Perez, Obama, Biden, Harris, and any other "Establishment" Democrat.
***[How long does Ocasio-Cortez get to speak at the Dem Convention?  Ten minutes?  Oh, I forgot - one minute.]

Joe Biden is either a Neoliberal or one of their puppets; that's true even if he doesn't realize it.  In any case, he's firmly in the back pocket of the Financial Sector and Wall Street.  Nevertheless, he's orders of magnitude better for the country than Trump.  In November, Trump must be kicked out of office.  Again we have the Evil of Two Lessers, but Trump is much, much worse than Biden.

Trump's policies relative to the ecosphere are egregiously outrageous, arguably criminal.  Most sane people know how damaging his actions have been to our social fabric, our standing in the world, and our peace of mind.  I suspect, though, that not enough know how horrible his impact has been on the nonhuman portion of Nature.  Please:  vote him out of office in a landslide.
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Conclusion

The first step in the path forward should be crystal clear:  if you care at all about the human part of Nature, Nature in general, and the world in general, then vote Trump back to private life.  If you want to help "save the world", here's your chance.  Just do it.  Thanks in advance.  Younger generations thank you, too.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Monday, June 1, 2020

Violence Erupts - The State-Corporate-Financial Complex Has Failed Us For Decades

Preface
As frustration boils over, in this essay we'll accept the premise that most protesters basically are nonviolent, and most cops essentially are good people.  Plus, the current situation goes way beyond a Racial Crisis and misdeeds by Law Enforcement.
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In the USA and much of the rest of the world, decades of neoliberal policies implemented by the State-Corporate-Financial Complex (the Corporatocracy) have fueled the fires of---
1. a racial crisis,
2. a socio-economic class crisis,
3. an economic crisis,
4. a health crisis,
5. an ecological/environmental crisis, and
6. an ethical crisis.
They are all interrelated.

The policies to which I refer include:  austerity (except for the war & police machinery), the militarization of law enforcement, privatization, deregulation, wage stagnation, an inadequate healthcare system, a gross distortion of "conflict of interest", an ugly conversion of our educational system to one which produces compliant robots, bizarre financialization (which produces little to no employment), so-called "free trade", the almost complete destruction of labor unions, ditto for decent retirement plans, and more.  In addition to all that, too many private & public Powers-That-Be have demonstrated a blatant disregard for both common people and the environment.  Equity seems to have become a long-forgotten concept.  Inequality (including income inequality) is the flavor of the day.  Nature is unimportant.  And so it goes, ad nauseam.

Meanwhile, the ecological crisis of the century--- Climate Disruption ---appears to have been put on the back burner.  On top of that, the gross degradation of necessary biodiversity, the interference with crucial ecosystem functioning, pollution, corporatist propaganda, the suspension of enforcement of EPA regulations, etc., are all ongoing.

In short, neoliberal policies have failed utterly... except for people in the Upper Crust.  The current eruption of violence isn't about only racism toward people of color.  [The response to it has been multiracial.]  It isn't about only a few very recent murders.  This situation has been building for decades, and almost everyone is frustrated and fed-up to the gills.  It's not just about Race, or economics, or police, or inequality.  Perhaps more than anything else, it's also about ethics.

As the Harvard Professor, Cornel West, stated today on Democracy Now, "The American Empire is imploding.".  West also had a telling opinion piece in The Guardian.  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/01/george-floyd-protests-cornel-west-american-democracy

The time is ripe for a global paradigm shift to ecoethics, ecoliberalism, ecological economics, common sense, and equity.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well