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

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

 Neoliberalism, Climate Change, Migration: George Monbiot in conversation with Verso - YouTube

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.

Out of the Wreckage by George Monbiot review – the thrill and danger of a new left politics | Politics books | The Guardian

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 

The Dynasty That Never Was, PLUS - It's Time to Dump Neoliberalism Forever

 Trump hates being Old News.  No one pays much attention to him anymore.  Lately, most of the focus has been on the Neoliberal & his Team.  That's great.  Trump should be totally shunned.  His mental illness is now more visible than ever before.  The more he blabbers about the election, & the more he virtually ignores the raging pandemic, the crazier he looks.  Even Repubs finally are taking note... jumping ship, resigning on their own, making public comments criticizing the Cult Leader.  It's about time.

Trump soon will leave in disgrace.  He'll still be around politics, making noise now & again; but that only will appeal to, at most, about 20% of the USA population... perhaps less.  The man-child finally is Old News.

The biggest testament to the political ignorance of Trump True Believers is their calling Biden a "socialist" (or a puppet of socialists).  Apparently, they know essentially nothing at all about neoliberalism (which isn't "new", or "liberal").  

I think we're the only country in the entire world with a majority of folks who don't have a clue about that ideology.  Everyone else gets it.  Plus, except for Oligarchs (& their puppets), everyone else despises it.  At least it's finally getting mentioned once in awhile in American public discourse.  Again, it's about time.

In my view, until this country fully understands neoliberalism, we will continue to have:  rule by Oligarchs/Plutocrats (whether Repub or Dem), gross inequality, perpetual war, the American "Empire", American hegemony, monopoly-crony-casino capitalism, increasing shrinkage of the middle class, increasing poverty, increasing privatization (which means high fees for "public" services), stagnated wages, less of a social safety net, more pandemics, more suicides (especially among veterans & other young people), more social unrest, more ecological devastation, more mega bank fraud, more propaganda, etc., ad nauseam.  

It's way past time for a paradigm shift which dumps neoliberalism forever.  Except for the Super-Rich, that ideology has been an utter failure.

More and more people around the world - especially in Europe, Canada, a significant portion of South America, parts of Africa, parts of Asia, & elsewhere - are realizing that we all must change our impact on the natural environment.  This is truly a turning point in human history.  Let's make it a good one.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

In 2020: On the Circular Economy, Infrastructure, and Sustainability

 The two journal articles at the links below give great insights regarding present and future efforts toward a sustainable world.  [Again, sorry about the copy-and-paste-on-another-page links, but I have no control over that.  As far as I know, that's a Google-Blogger-Blogspot glitch.]

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1.  Title - "Circular Futures: What Will They Look Like?"

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092180091931972X

2.  Title - "Infrastructure Is Key to Make Cities Sustainable"

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/20/8308/htm

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I've noticed on Twitter and elsewhere online that some environmental activists don't understand what's taking so long in regard to a shift to sustainability.  They are a bit frustrated.  I'm guessing these are mostly young people.  No offense intended.  As an old man who has been in this and a couple of related fields for many years (starting in 1970), I offer the following.

First, along with many others, I fully recognize that time - relative to the socio-ecological-economic CRISIS we're in - is short.  The pace of research reflects that; the pace of implementation in most areas of the world does not.  There are many reasons as to why.  In my opinion, here are only two of those reasons, as follows.

1.  Changing Spaceship Earth to genuine sustainability requires a major shift in attitudes, ethics, lifestyle, production, and consumption.  Resistance abounds.  Ignorance abounds.  Propaganda abounds.  Overcoming all that requires patience, and most of all, persistence.

2.  One of the biggest obstacles (perhaps THE biggest) is the fact that mega money largely controls politics.  The overwhelming majority of national politicians are selected, groomed, and financed by the Super-Rich Upper Crust.  Surely by now this is common knowledge.  Unfortunately, most of the Super-Rich are faux "Green".  They've more or less been forced to talk the talk, but have little to no interest in anything ecological or sustainable.  They're short-term thinkers.  Until we get big money out of politics, little will change other than the Crisis getting worse and worse.

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Not only my opinion.  Stay Well, & Persist

Breaking Monopolies, Reducing Rentier Power re Rent Extraction, and the Connections to Resource Use & "Growth"

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800919304203

    Title - "The Threat of Rent Extraction in a Resource-constrained Future"

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There are many different types of "rents".  Don't think only in terms of living space rent.  For example, there's the renting of your labor.  There's the renting of land for purposes other than residential housing, and there are a number of other types.

The author of the above journal article proposes that private rent extraction is "a barrier to the goal of transforming economic institutions so that society can flourish within planetary boundaries [limitations]".  She maintains that concentrations of private rentier power create an imperative for unlimited growth.

For the most part, I believe that's correct.  I also believe such thoughts would be rejected outright by many people here in the USA, but not as much in Europe and elsewhere.  Why?  People here rightly would view it as democratic socialism, and they seem to have a completely black/white view of socialism v. capitalism.  To them, any form of socialism is evil (so to speak).  They tend to ignore the fact that public roads, public water systems, public parks, the VA Health Care system, USPS, public art museums, and a plethora of other public institutions are all examples of democratic socialism in action.  In short, we have a mixed economy, as do most countries of the world.

Via Edward Bernays style molding of the public mind, private and public Oligarchs in the USA have convinced too many people that Monopoly-Casino-Crony Capitalism is the same as the capitalism of Adam Smith, their economic hero.  It's not even close.  Except in the realm of very small business, Smith's capitalism no longer exists.  He did not favor monopolies, mega biz, or any kind of Oligarchy.  Rather than praising so-called "Masters of the Universe", he viewed them unfavorably.  Today's Oligarchs claim the opposite; they're wrong.

People in the EU (& Norway and Iceland, which are not formally in the EU), tend to be much more open-minded regarding economic/political ideology.  [Example: in Europe there's a political/economic philosophy known as Libertarian Socialism.  In the USA, that would be considered an oxymoron.]  Even though all those countries have enclaves of narrow-mindedness in that regard, overall they're much more flexible than the USA.  Point being:  transforming society from neoliberalism to some form of ecological economics is a tough row to hoe, but especially so in the USA.

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The article cited above deserves sincere consideration in the effort to create a world more equitable, more ecological, and more in line with the needs of all people, instead of only the privileged few.

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Not only my opinion.  Stay Well

Oligarchs, Cronies, Propaganda, Ethics, and a Bit of Political History

Preface
Before delving into Ecological Economics (in a subsequent post), let's have an introduction to the items in the title of this piece.  That will help us understand the tremendous obstacles faced by ecological economists in our plutocratic environment.
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http://individualsovereignty.blogspot.com/2014/07/evidence-of-oligarchy.html

http://individualsovereignty.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-oligarchy-handbook.html

http://individualsovereignty.blogspot.com/2016/10/wars-against-americans-conducted-by.html
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The above essays demonstrate the methods by which Oligarchs essentially control us, mold the public mind, and ensure a governance that favors the Super-Rich.  One of the results of their efforts is the egregious damaging and destruction of necessary natural systems.  If we are to survive and thrive, that has to stop.

We don't live in a truly participatory democracy.  Even our constitutional republic is rapidly disappearing; the Constitution often is ignored by national politicians.  On top of that, our Mixed Economy is being replaced at an ever-increasing rate by Crony Capitalism and Casino Capitalism.  It all benefits primarily the top tier of income earners.  Perhaps worst of all, many producers of goods feel they should not have to bear the cost of the negative "externality" known as pollution.  Too many of them believe it's not their problem.

This must stop.  How?  Peacefully---
"We be many; they be few."  ~ Arundhati Roy

Not only my opinion.  Happy Trails