We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Is the global economy a Ponzi scheme?

 by Joe Romm from Climate Progess.  The "we" that the article blames for this problem seems to be deflected onto the human race, instead of on a system created by a relatively few sociopaths who are addicted to wealth and power--the capitalist ruling classes. However if Tom Friedman, capitalism's media rep, is getting worried, there might be reason to hope.
By enriching those who did the most plundering the most, we enabled them to fund lobbying and disinformation campaigns to convince substantial fractions of the public and media that there is no Ponzi scheme — that global warming is “too complicated for the public to understand” and nothing to worry about.