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

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

The high cost of new and improved

Click here to access article by Pete Dolack from his blog Systemic Disorder.

We have often heard the expression "planned obsolescence" used in critiques of capitalism. Faced with his own computer dilemma, this writer provides us with much more information regarding this practice which generates tremendous waste in order to improve next quarter's financial statements of corporations. Of course, they disguise this practice behind the euphemism of "new and improved". 
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