A Concise Equation of Prophetic Crisis
The Irish William Wallace
The capitalist system, looking at it from a macroeconomic perspective, has a relatively simple skeleton. What this system is founded on, what it is driven to do, and what the consequences will be does not take a graduate student to understand. Bear with me here.
The cycle of capitalism begins and ends with profit, that's what it values most. In society, you do not make a dollar being a kind and compassionate person; you make a dollar by owning a business (or for the most of us, working in a business). Let me stray away from business though, as explaining that part would take us to the microeconomic level which is not the goal of this essay. So, we have profit as the main incentive for us to work.
First, we need natural resources to make the product. This is called the "extraction" phase of any material system. This part isn't necessarily the problem; it is expected in any society. Here are some basic facts, in the past few decades 1/3rd of our resource base on Earth has been consumed. The problem with capitalist-consumerist global systems is that we need mass extraction to fulfill the demand for mass production which is the next phase.
Production is the beating heart of business. We need to produce, create, products in order to sell because otherwise you cannot make a profit. The company extracting the natural resource makes a profit off the business buying the natural resource which then the business needs to sell so they make a profit. In the United States alone, we have less than 4% of our natural forest space left which certainly doesn't mean we should up production rates but we must in order to keep the profits coming in. After production we go to the last phase.
Consumption. This is what certain macroeconomic theorists call the "golden arrow" of our system. This is when the business sells the product it produced to make their profit. Usually it is sold at an inflated price, they say it is to pay all the transportation and such but much more often we are paying five-times the amount it took to make it. This is where most of us are, and we are all in some way, consumers.
Fun fact: United States has 5% of the world's population and we use 30% of the world's resources. If everyone consumed at the rate of the United States, it would take 5 Earths. Unfortunately, we have only one.
There are more phases if we want to analyze this in a more intense ecological lens, but let me stress this essay aiming at a more macroeconomic approach. The problem with this is with the world's population rising, societies that idolize on becoming rich ($$$) when becoming rich entails selling products, the growing demand for products, and our natural resources are reaching ecological crisis faster each year (and they've reached crisis in several areas already).
So, a system that you have to keep up with demand so you up supply (production) in a world that is already running out of resources...isn't that an equation of a future crisis?
I am not some "tree-hugging hippie" preaching about "saving the planet" from the "evil corporations" as some more conservative, narrow-minded, folk may blow this off as. This is not skewed logic to push my 'agenda' on anyone. This is something that we will inevitably face within my own life time and very possibly yours (for those under the age of sixty). This is what happens when we run out of resources: starvation, non-drinkable water, wars (for resources), epidemics, economic poverty, and the list goes on. In short, it will affect you! For those of us fortunate to live in the industrialized wealthy Western nations does not make us immune to this, in fact it will hit us harder than other countries. You won't be able to live in your two story house, drive your car, always expect three meals a day, none of that.
If you say, "all we need to worry about is keeping America wealthy" that is definitely not the answer. Let us suppose during this ecological/economic crisis, we turn to hard exploitation to keep our 'standard of living' afloat during a global catastrophe. Our first problem would be we rely on other nations to supply us with many products and resources, we'd have to go bankrupt just to conquer their land or economically imperialize them. Another problem would be, other countries would seek to plunder our wealth and we could face war. Eventually, it all boils down to we are all interconnected in this world and if you think you can escape it than you are sorely mistaken.
Population rising exponentially.
Consumption rates going up.
Production, to keep up with the population's demand for consumption, going up ever faster.
Natural resources, depleting at an incredible rate each day.
One objection to this I have heard is faith in technology. I am all for funding green and alternative energy sources, but that is only one aspect of the crisis. It certainly would help, but it does not stop the problem at its core! Which is the solution to almost every on-going problem that ever existed. We are no where near the technology that will counter this crisis, we are perhaps over a hundred years away and the crisis in less than a hundred years away. I am not doubting that we will progress in technology faster than "I can imagine now", I am thinking optimistically.
I love buying things, I love consuming things, I am a consumer but maybe not as much as the average American. I do not see a reason to buy the newest 'hottest' shoes every six months, the newest video game, I do not feel a need to constantly consume other than food. But one must ask, is this "love" of consuming really worth the miserable future that awaits us?
SHORT CONCLUSION
I do not want to come off as sounding like a doomsday preacher; I write this in the spirit of optimism that you will be educated with the reason why we need fundamental change in our world. We need positive change, people willing to educate the ignorant, and if they blow that off as some 'liberal b/s' then slap them for being not willing to show a little humanity. We have one world, one human race, one life, and the life of our offspring. We should not strip the world naked of resource, hate others for irrational reasons like nationalism and racism and religion, not be selfish and waste our one life being a passive contributor to the misery of future generations, to not let our own children grow up in a world that would resemble the Dark Ages. Thanks for reading.
~ Comrade MikeBane
Comments
Nice article Mike. I personally don't see a real life alternative to capitalism, but there's no doubting that our current way of living is not sustainable in the long term. It's also clear that today's society is still not perfect, nor perfectly fair.
Once more I believe that much of the way we live today just isn't going to make us happy. The more we decide that we want to consume, the more that we will find ourselves unhappy with what we have.
Exactly and I've purposely left out my own personal politics when writing this. I am not making a case for 'socialism', but about something that knows no ideologies that will drastically affect us all. I also agree with you that our current materialistic way of living is not making us happy, in fact I am living proof of that. I find discussion, researching, making memories, and so forth are more fulfilling in life that working 40 hours a week and consuming life by.
Read the whole thing. There's really nothing to argue with here. All of the left agree that we have the same problems. The differences between us are our solutions to these problems. Then you have the rightists, who either ignore/deny these problems or simply blame them on the left.
I think in my lifetime humanity will face extinction. It's inevitable and that last moment, that last challenge will be the moment civilization has a chance to turn around everything we've done in the past.
I do however think we will lose that battle. And I know that I begin sounding crazy but I truly believe the only thing that could save us would be for our governments to begin working with each other more efficiently to begin preparing mars for terraformation. (And here's where I sound crazy. lol) Civilian companies are making more progress of late though, fortunately.
Capitalism has been around since the beginning...
It's not going anywhere.
"Capitalism has been around since the beginning..."
LOL. Aries Prime - in the beginning we were proto-communistic/anarchic. Capitalism wasn't around till the 16th century.
nope. Turns out he's right...
http://collegecookbookproject.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/caveman-large1.jpg
^ Lol!!
If you look past currency you'll see capitalism as the emergent complexities of agriculture
Raven
Mars lost it's magnetosphere because it's core stopped spinning.
There is no hope of 'outdoor' terraforming because solar winds will strip away any atmosphere we created.
If you're thinking on the lines of indoor 'bubble' terraforms, it'd be much less resource expensive to do so subterranean on this planet than to create surface bubbles on Mars
There have been times before when earth's magnetosphere has collapsed and our atmosphere has been fine. Venus also has a thick atmosphere, and lacks a magnetosphere. I agree that if "bubbles" were the plan, that it would be less expensive to build them here, but if you can build a strong enough atmosphere it will hold fine on mars, and there are many theories (yes... theories until put into practice) on how to build that atmosphere. If things get bad enough, and we rule mars as the best option
in our solar system to begin colonizing, I can assure you those theories will be put into practice. For all we know we could find a solid option elsewhere that requires even less work. The progress will be slow until we realize just how important it is becoming.
Found this article too, though he doesn't mention half of the methods for the terraforming process.
http://io9.com/5868115/how-we-will-terraform-mars Good stuff.
Wouldn't place too much stock in an article that has 'make a moon' in it's list of viable options.
v
Capitalism will collapse under the burden of the garbage that produces. Voted
Capitalism is not everything, but... communism always has failed ! And it costed millions of lifes.
😁Communism has never been as it is described by Carl Marx. Communism had meant to be democratic. Not like the soviets or Cuba or North-Korea, but in a democratic way. So Communism never failed. It just have never been tested in its meant form.
^He is saying that communism cannot even be launched successfully.
Capitalism isn't wrong in it's intentions systems start to go wrong when people value money over other people's well being. However this can happen and has happened in any system why? People are greedy by nature so it doesn't matter which system you are using but which person is pulling the strings.
Voted
whow, I wish you'd put all this energy in your job as Minister of Coaching! But you just never showed up on that job, leaving all this newbies in the cold. Is that Baneism too? Then I sure don't like it!
Back to the dark ages? The dark ages weren't that bad. No guns or nukes, no Justin Bieber music, etc.
Struis Vogel +1
The best you guys are going to get are some socialist institutions implemented under a capitalist dominated system.
@Mc Claren: Greed isn't necessarily human nature, the fact of the matter is we've grown up in a society that teaches us and rewards greed so people are justified in being greedy. In a world that rewarded charity and sharing, greedy people would be socially inclined not to do such acts unless they want to fall out of society or be shunned just like the "dirty hippie commies" are today.
@Van: This was part of my college essay, but I'd like to share it with my community. 🙂
Only way to go is humility. We often don't want to see a picture bigger than ourselves because we're scared we're going to have to compromise. Once you have something, you want something more.
It is a continual cycle of yearning to be freed. Until you have it all, you won't be freed.
"Capitalism has been around since the beginning..."
LOL. Aries Prime - in the beginning we were proto-communistic/anarchic. Capitalism wasn't around till the 16th century.
Yes before they were more on the Anarchic side, however the romans allready had a capitalist system. and a well defined one as well.
Even futher back in time they allready worked with exchange(of goods) and profits., which is the base of the capitalist system.
mikebane, did you every stop and think: america is one of the world's superpowers, and most of its chain-stores are spread worldwide, which is why the other countries don't produce as much as it? capitalism is the basic idea that an economy must survive on. even a communist society like china has taken upon itself a capitalist economy in order to keep itself afloat
there is no society that is free of free enterprise- a capitalist idea. it is necessary in order to allow a successful economy in the world we live in. you also believe that we are running out of natural resources, which is IMPOSSIBLE. have you ever heard of the law of conservation of matter. obviously not, because if you had, then you would know that the matter that began on this planet CAN NEVER BE DESTROYED. which means we still have it, just in some other form. your smarter than this, mike.
@MikeBane what you are saying is true however the capitalism/greed thing is around for as long as we can remember it has caused wars enviromental destruction and it has got billions of people killed. so is it bad?yes it is however the idea to change a system which basics hasn't changed for millenia is a bit ignorant
apart of that i quite like the article so keep up the work cause at least you make people think and debate with each other.
I believe capitalism wasn't around until the 16th century or so. Before then monarchs only needed money for wars and the feudal system prevented people from having ambitions.
Greed, however is a different story. We all have some greed inside of us. It's probably part of our instinct to survive on the short term. Too bad it destroys our survivability for the long term !
@Struis Vogel
No not really capitalism is as old as money and there is a significant link with greed this is proved by capitalist systems before your date of 1500 and further, such as the silk road or the phoenician traders why would you cross a desert or a hazardous sea if there is no gain or benefit? you won't so that's early capitalism it's not on the same scale as today but it is still capitalism
@Vlam: Rome was a feudal proto-capitalist empire, it wasn't quite capitalist though it could serve as an early model, just like the earliest human civilizations were proto-communistic/anarchic.
@Leo: America is slowly falling out of the #1 seat and it isn't all because of our policies. It is natural in a capitalist system for countries to rise and fall economically and based on their labor base. Our labor base is crippling because in order to be successful in a capitalist system you need to..
make the most profit. Who makes the most profit? International corporations who exploit cheap Third World labor. Why is India and China rising fast? Because they have a large, very cheap, labor base.
Also Leo, yes the law of conservation is true but that doesn't mean resources will replenish fast enough. Sure, the matter will always exist but we need specific compounds of minerals that make up natural resources in order to keep our system going.
@Mc Claren: Thank you for the compliment...
Before capitalism there were barter economies during most of early human history (including medieval up to renaissance). Markets have always existed, a "demand" has always existed in human societies and so that is why they would cross deserts. With that they could also demand more for their 'rare' products from the West/East. It is primitive proto-capitalism, but you can count that as capitalism if you like.
Romans were capitalists.
Did I say they were socialists? I acknowledge they were 'proto-capitalists'.
Mainly directed at the haters who disregarded my statement that capitalism has been here since the beginning.
"Capitalism is inherently self-destructive" - Karl Marx
What we've seen since 2008 is capitalism destroying itself. It's clearly madness to expect infinite profit based on the exploitation of finite resources.
We all have some greed inside of us. It's probably part of our instinct to survive on the short term. Too bad it destroys our survivability for the long term ! x2
And I'm sorry but civilization has been around long before Rome was ever even thought of.
@mikebane: no, the last few years we have seen a moron of a president try to become the dictator of the communist country he is trying to make. that is why america is falling out of the #1 seat, because instead of emphasizing hard work, laziness and govt hand-outs have become the new trend and are ruining the point of capitalism. people want but cant have, so they force the govt to work. not to say the govt isnt to blame also, but mostly the people are just lazy. key wor😛 MORALS- come from rel.
which america is trying to get rid of, which is another reason it is falling. china is succeeding because of terrible workers' rights, oppressive govt tactics, and A CAPITALIST ECONOMY. even though that works for now, the people will revolt because they hate oppression. a man last yr tried to escape to america in order to reveal the oppressive conditions they lived in, and he was hunted down by the chinese govt. this is exactly the same idea we saw with the USSR in the cold war.
It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. But this is only a symptom of capitalist ideology and our own failure to imagine.
@Leo: I will not debate with you longer, that was batshit crazy. Our president is a right-wing capitalist and yet you say China is ultra-capitalist but ignore they are ruled by the Communist Party? Lol Oh my god, like yes China is capitalist, but I mean our President is no where NEAR communist and...I am just astonished at your argument. Yes, blame the poor.
Leo, there are thousands of chinese students at my American college. Escaping isn't 'hard' to 'escape'.
I thought he must have been trolling. lol But if he's not, well... then mikebane x2
in fairness china is more of a hybrid between capitalism and communism, but their strict socialist-style domestic policies are one of the many reasons they are becoming the number 1 super power. Nobody ever seems to put two and two together. So many of America's products are made in China. (there's a reason why communism is the government of the "working class") China has simply allowed the US to destroy itself more and more every year. They spend more money on National Defense
rather than International offense, and it's easy for them to take the number one spot. All they've had to do is allow the US's ignorant consumerist capitalist mentality to exist, as they continue importing all of China's goods, burying themselves deeper in debt to China. Now they will take the number one spot and the US deserves it. Every empire has to fall eventually. Soon China will be able to get away with anything it wants. Why do you think the US is moving most of it's forces to focus on
the Pacific? Hello Taiwan... "yes, I think I'll take that back now."
@Mikebane: read the comment, genius. i never denied china was communist, i simply stated they had a capitalist economy, which is possible. all you need for communism is a dictator, and i don't know if you've heard this, but in total, all 43 presidents have enacted less presidential decrees than obama did in one term of office. doesn't that sound like a dictator to you? and he is LEFT WING. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpAOwJvTOio those kinds of people voted for obama... nice job.