Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The Devil Capitalism

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

Saturday, April 30, 2016

The Devil Capitalism

Click here to access article by Gary Engler from CounterPunch.

Okay, here’s the proposition — you can have a good job, decent pay, lots of overtime, but only if you give me your grandchildren or maybe your great-grandchildren.

Would you make this deal with the devil?

Obviously what is referred to here is the fatal consequence of continuing with the devil's system of capitalism that scientists have been warning us about since at least 1972: climate destabilization because of extensive carbon pollution driven by capitalism's insatiable drive for profits. Unfortunately because people find it difficult to imagine any other economic system and/or don't want to incur the risks to their lifestyle to challenge the present one, they usually go for easier answers provided by the capitalist devil to satisfy their more immediate interests. So far the record seems to show that humans have in effect chosen to accept this bargain with the devil, or that most humans have believed the assurances of this devil that they don't need to worry about it because our masters have it under control.

Because it is likely that the amount carbon pollution in our environment may have already occurred in sufficient amounts to threaten the eventual extinction of humans, these human characteristics (lack of imagination, immediate gratification, and gullibility) may be regarded as fatal psychological flaws that will cause humans to disappear from the Earth.