I always thought it a bit odd that every disaster we bring upon ourselves gets put in the positive column of GDP.
A global warming induced, record-strength hurricane hits a city, and hey, GDP goes up! Forest fires take out a rich neighbourhood near LA, and GDP goes up even more! Record flooding, and GDP explodes!
What we really need for the GDP is a lot more human-induced disasters!
The fact that GDP doesn't even have a negative column is pretty damning!
Another excellent dive into the decoupling narrative from Steve, showing that decoupling is mostly in the mind not the economy, we can fool our minds or other peoples, but not the reality on the ground.
Entropy and the Laws of Thermodynamics really are 'inconvenient' and the latter are called 'Laws' because it's non-negotiable.
Some thoughts on GDP this century.
There have been over 10 'natural disasters', excluding Fukushima Daiichi and Chernobyl that have cost over $100billion, those losses are 'only' financial, the true cost to the environment we rely on for habitat are conveniently excluded but my point being those $100's of billions didn't create growth, that was expenditure to get back to where we were before the event, that isn't growth based expenditure, it only got us back to our previous position, often now temporarily.
One other point I'll make about post disaster reinstatement, the quality of the final product is often much less than previously because it is carried out under emergency conditions, far from ideal, plus it's ripe for corruption, due to urgency!
Let's have these debates whilst we still can and leave wishful thinking and hope for Pandora!
Perhaps, but in a way that doesn’t put many directly in the crosshairs of government since they are notorious for going after tax ‘dodgers’—especially if they sit outside or on the margins of the ruling elite.
Our tendency to defer to authority would result in many (maybe a majority) not participating in such an act.
I can think of several actions that reduce taxes without a lot of signalling to the government. For example, consuming much less and growing as much as possible one’s own food.
A major impediment to a tax ‘revolt’, however, is that governments less and less depend upon tax revenue to fund their shenanigans and more and more on debt and the creation of money from nothing.
You and I can build a list that is as long as your arm. The fact remains, the government is broken, corporate ownership is all that matters. Our votes make no difference, but our tax dollars do. Cut them off and you can bet they will fucking notice.
Is sacrifice required? Absofuckinglutely. There is no other way to make that sacrifice. If we don’t we will leave nothing for our grandchildren.
For Profit Fascism is the name of the game in Western Democracies. All of them need to wake the fuck up. TAX Revolt is the only way. Spread the Word.
Thanks for tying this all together, Steve!
I always thought it a bit odd that every disaster we bring upon ourselves gets put in the positive column of GDP.
A global warming induced, record-strength hurricane hits a city, and hey, GDP goes up! Forest fires take out a rich neighbourhood near LA, and GDP goes up even more! Record flooding, and GDP explodes!
What we really need for the GDP is a lot more human-induced disasters!
The fact that GDP doesn't even have a negative column is pretty damning!
Another excellent dive into the decoupling narrative from Steve, showing that decoupling is mostly in the mind not the economy, we can fool our minds or other peoples, but not the reality on the ground.
Entropy and the Laws of Thermodynamics really are 'inconvenient' and the latter are called 'Laws' because it's non-negotiable.
Some thoughts on GDP this century.
There have been over 10 'natural disasters', excluding Fukushima Daiichi and Chernobyl that have cost over $100billion, those losses are 'only' financial, the true cost to the environment we rely on for habitat are conveniently excluded but my point being those $100's of billions didn't create growth, that was expenditure to get back to where we were before the event, that isn't growth based expenditure, it only got us back to our previous position, often now temporarily.
One other point I'll make about post disaster reinstatement, the quality of the final product is often much less than previously because it is carried out under emergency conditions, far from ideal, plus it's ripe for corruption, due to urgency!
Let's have these debates whilst we still can and leave wishful thinking and hope for Pandora!
https://www.statista.com/statistics/268126/biggest-natural-disasters-by-economic-damage-since-1980/
Time for a global TAX Revolt 🙌💥
Perhaps, but in a way that doesn’t put many directly in the crosshairs of government since they are notorious for going after tax ‘dodgers’—especially if they sit outside or on the margins of the ruling elite.
Our tendency to defer to authority would result in many (maybe a majority) not participating in such an act.
I can think of several actions that reduce taxes without a lot of signalling to the government. For example, consuming much less and growing as much as possible one’s own food.
A major impediment to a tax ‘revolt’, however, is that governments less and less depend upon tax revenue to fund their shenanigans and more and more on debt and the creation of money from nothing.
It’s a wicked predicament.
You and I can build a list that is as long as your arm. The fact remains, the government is broken, corporate ownership is all that matters. Our votes make no difference, but our tax dollars do. Cut them off and you can bet they will fucking notice.
Is sacrifice required? Absofuckinglutely. There is no other way to make that sacrifice. If we don’t we will leave nothing for our grandchildren.
For Profit Fascism is the name of the game in Western Democracies. All of them need to wake the fuck up. TAX Revolt is the only way. Spread the Word.