-President Eisenhower’s 1961 Farewell Address

The economic calculation ‘problem’ assumes that people’s values of over consumption cannot be changed. It assumes that people will want more than what the earth can provide, given our technology at a given time. This assumption is essentially the human nature argument redressed.

Let me put it this way. If human demand for a widget is higher than societies ability to produce such a widget, the next question (after, of course trying to find other ways meet this demand adequately, perhaps by using some other widget that performs a similar function, etc, etc… but let’s just say that isn’t possible for some reason) is not ‘how do we ration the widgets?’, the question is how do we, as a people, reconcile this demand overrun? I am assuming we are discussing demand for items that are essentially ‘wants’ in the first place, since I believe it’s been well established within this movement that we can meet everybody’s NEEDS. The problem is that there is too much demand, not that we can’t produce enough widgets. We can’t change reality. If we can’t physically meet a material demand, we don’t start rationing, we adjust our view of reality to include the FACT that we can’t meet this want for everyone.

The libertarian assumption is that humans cannot change their innate ‘wants’, or they will inevitably conflate wants with needs. This is provably false. Like I said earlier, it is the human nature argument redressed. Humans have no specific behavior pattern, or list of ‘wants’ encoded into their DNA. Cultivating a mindset in people of truly valuing reality, who realize that ‘nature is a dictatorship’, we will find that people WILL NOT WANT things that can’t be produced sustainably and abundantly.

I know there are a million caveats to what I’m saying here, such as outliers who don’t share this value, transitional issues, or a myriad of other stuff I’m sure I could touch on, but for the sake of being succinct, I am going to leave this post how it is, because I think it is the rational train of thought that needs to be followed when considering the need to ration at all. I will gladly try to answer questions in the comment section, but:

Basically rationing is only a need when we can’t meet NEEDS. We can certainly, technically, meet people’s material needs in a very short amount of time (and mental needs over a longer time through education + science). All it would take is a shift in global production and distribution focus. When we are talking rationing wants, we are asking the wrong question, because it is the want itself that should be challenged.

How many times have you heard that the top 1% own half of the USA’s wealth? Some people would say that’s because they earned it, that you don’t get anything for free. And I guess they’re right, if you consider trading stocks, stock options, derivatives, futures, future derivatives, manipulating the market, winning, losing, betting; if you consider that ‘earning’ the money, then earn it they certainly did.

But did any of that trading, did any of those money exchanges produce anything of value, in any direct fashion that could not have been achieved to the same degree, or even more effectively, without the existence of high level money exchange and expansion? That’s right, expansion… these people aren’t just **cough** ‘earning’ money, they are creating it. Well, maybe not all of them, not directly, but through their transactions with banks, they feed the on-going fractional reserve lending and money creating policies that do create most of the money, hence causing most of the inflation.

So while these people continue to make more and more money, it becomes worth less and less, especially as they hoard it in bank accounts, or worse, continue the money creation cycle by investing it, essentially gambling, as I say so eloquently in the title. But hey, right now, while it’s still worth something, these people could, feasibly, use some of it to feed the entire world.

So why don’t they? Well, like I said the future is uncertain. Money is constantly devaluing, and when you’re a real hardcore gambler like these guys, you’re always thinking of the next big win. Maybe someday, when they have ‘enough’, they’ll retire, give a few bucks to charity and live a comfortable life. And this essential mentality, of me-first, of capitalism in general, is exactly why me and the people who work on Wall Street aren’t marching down to Africa together, and building desalinization plants or irrigation systems. Or fully automated aquaponic multi-level gardening facilities that can continuously churn out fresh vegetables and operate in almost any weather conditions. The people on Wall Street can’t — and won’t — stop gambling. They are addicts. Money is their heroine, and they will fight just as hard as a crack-head to get their next fix.

Or, to say the exact same thing in more ‘proper’ terms, the people on Wall Street are trying to earn a profit.

And feeding the planet is not profitable. So it doesn’t get done. And whether we’re talking state-sponsored corporatism or laissez-fares free markets, profit is king. It is that thought — that the pursuit of profit will ultimately lead people to actions for the greater social good, because people will only buy things that are good for them, in the end — that wonderful idea that has underpinned our whole society for hundreds of years, that has now shown itself to be completely false.

Look around you. Not just your neighborhood or your country, but at your planet. THIS is the invisible hand, and it does not push people to perform for the greater social good. It simply pushes them to participate in any action by which a profit can be made.

Do I need to provide a list of arena’s of environmental life-support where profit and human well-being are not mutually compatible, often even at odds with each other? Ok fine, industrial waste, animal farm waste, air and water pollution, dirty, scarce energy sources, the systematic destruction of forests, the ‘buying’ of people’s and countries farmland for corporate purposes, depriving them of even more food, air pollution, media-induced consumption creating pollution, planetary health risks associated with the production of nukes, the spraying of pesticides, the injection of growth hormones, the introduction of poorly tested GMO foods, the outright lies and propaganda from the big food corporations on what a ‘healthy’ diet is… anyways, I could go on but I think it’s pretty clear that this de-coupling of profit interests and human interests is quite pervasive.

And that’s why Bill Hicks’ vision of a better ride could never really happen, not exactly. We can’t spend our way out of this problem, as much as the notion might grab our imagination. The people with the money to save the world are crippled, mentally. They are addicted to their money and power, and every dead human is just an externality as far as the profiteer is concerned. The profiteer cannot save the world until they give up that identity. Until we help them understand that the profit motive is not a humane motive, and the invisible hand is pushing us off a cliff.

But they are used to it. That doesn’t make it right, but it makes it easier, for me, mentally to accept. But today. On my walk home I walk past a church, and outside, I saw a kid, pegged him to be about my age, little younger maybe (late teens early twenty’s), clean clothes. I nodded to him and he started talking. As I took one headphone out of my ear I heard ‘…listen to me for a minute?’. I nodded.

He briefly told me that he was 15, that the day before his father had kicked him out of the house, the youth shelters were full so he spent last night outside (it’s already started snowing up here in semi-northern canada). By the time he was done talking I think he could see something in my face, because he immediately looked down and away. He didn’t even ask me for money, but I stammered an explanation ‘I have no money on me… I don’t really know what else I can do for you.’

This was a lie. I had $45 in my wallet. No. I have $45 in my wallet. It’s my last $45 until friday when I get paid again, unless I rack up some more on the credit card. But the look on his face when he knew I was rejecting him — before I even did… fucking tore my heart out. I literally got a little bit teary eyed walking home, because even if I need my money, I have a floor he could sleep on. I could’ve given him some food. Hell, I could’ve at least asked if he wanted to come in from the cold and smoke a joint or something.

These are all the things that were running through my head as I finished my walk home. I didn’t start the music again. I felt, and still feel guilty, with every moment that passes, because this happened less than half an hour ago. I know that if I went back there I could probably find him and do something.

But no, I’m trying to find comfort in an online post.

You know what it is? I think I’m scared. Of that kid. Or anyone, I guess.

I just don’t understand how someone as well meaning as me can lie to and ignore someone like that. If actions speak louder than words than my actions don’t speak well of me, in my eyes. I also don’t understand why I have to be scared of someone asking for help. My fears aren’t completely unfounded, but let’s be honest, I could see in this kids face that he really needed help. That he hated asking for it. He wasn’t used to it like all the other homeless people I meet. That familiar resigned look was not present in his eyes. I think he might have been lying, about his age, maybe the whole story, but it doesn’t matter. Nobody who isn’t desperate does what he did. Looked the way he did.

He didn’t really nod or say anything, just kept looking at the ground, frowning. I felt like I could watch his faith in humanity slipping from his grasp as I became the god knows how many-ith person to tell him ‘no’. I was simultaneously watching the system crush his spirit, and being the perpetuator of the system in this instance.

With everything I talk about egalitarian values and I make stupid videos about capitalism or whateverthefuck to ‘raise awareness’. And I’m not saying I don’t enjoy doing those things, and the fact that people enjoy them is just amazing to me, but when it comes down to it, when a real human being reached out to me for help today, I said no.

And I still feel a catch in the back of my throat, typing that out. Maybe the question I should be asking myself is not ‘who the fuck am I?’ but ‘who the fuck do I want to be?’

All credit to Seth Rosen — Original video (no seizures/music) can be found here: http://vimeo.com/13725496

song: Excision – Know You

Since this video was unjustly banned from youtube (they ignore parady fair use exemptions, apparantly), I fair-used it up some more with some fancy music and video effects. :)

They ended up banning it again but I won my fair use claim… :)

I’ve also started making videos for the TVPMusicProject. This is my first contribution. The song is… hectic, to say the least, and I tried to make a video to match. :)

song: TVP Planet Earth – Czar Gomez
video: Aaron Moritz (http://youtube.com/saydaysago2008)