Tag Archives: Inequility

ON WE MARCH LEAVING FUTURE GENERATIONS THE PROBLEMS OF INEQUILITY

30 Monday Jun 2014

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This is a vast subject on which millions of knowledgeable words have been written down the centuries with little or no effect.

I am sure you will agree however no matter who was writing it is the people who are in pursuit of social change, and constantly bring attention to issues of equal rights and privileges, are often the people who do not have them. The ones who suffer daily from different levels of multidimensional inequality are the ones that see it is impossible to be politically equal.

The source of present day conflicts. 

The majorities at the bottom of the apex, with very limited power, are unable to make choices that would bring them to their ends. 

It is easy for us to say what should be done, but few of us can carry out what needs to be done.

ALL THOSE WORDS AND VOILA! WHERE ARE WE TO DAY?

With a Capitalist market which is earthly constructed that can only dole out earthly rewards.

If we continue to have so many social and economic inequalities our standard of living seems to be declining because we aren’t economically equal.

Some say in order to remove inequalities we must increase the minimum wage to a living wage. This will indeed save the middle classes and in doing so could reduce the need for food banks, social welfare benefits, and the like. In my view it would be a mistake to focus on growth and let inequality take care of itself, not only because inequality may be ethically undesirable but also because the resulting growth may be low and unsustainable.

Equality will not stop inequality of opportunity, education, health nor will it take people out of poverty. It will only move the reasons for inequality to a higher plane.

The drive to higher and more sustainable growth does not in itself support efforts to the redistribute of wealth.

There is an argument that a re-distributive system will slow innovation on quality of life improvements. Further, re distributive policies rely on the wisdom of the ‘redistributor.’ Freedom to choose those resources has been moved to the bureaucrat and politician and will ultimately lead us down the path of financial protectionism.

Now you might not agreed with the content of the above Paragraph but it is already in progress with more and more countries turning to Sovereign Wealth Funds’ (SWF) to protects their futures.  ( See Previous blogs)

These Funds have no outside beneficiaries or liabilities (beyond the government or the citizenry in abstract) they invest their assets, either in the short or long-term, according to the interests and objectives of the sovereign sponsor.

More and more Governments around the world see SWFs as an insurance policy for a potential future problem.

Political equality the most value of democratic theory. The idea that all have the capacity to make political and moral decisions and that we are equally qualified to rule is a long way off, if ever has long gone out the window.

What are the chances now that we have the start of Climate change that we can act as one. Fat chance of that coming about as the Climate is a salable product- CO2 carbon credits ( not worth the paper they are written on)

There is much work to be done Globally in a tight time frame if we don’t want mass immigration.

Development is about people: either poor people have ways to become richer where they are now, or they can become rich by moving somewhere else.

Rest assured that with CLIMATE CHANGE THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN.

With this in mind, it seems that most of these theories about re distribution of wealth come from fairly elite class perspectives and, in turn, tend to be more pessimistic about bringing change to the inequalities they are evaluating.

When in fact what will happen is that these SWFs will reach out to each other taking advantage of the forthcoming crisis forming partners or in “clubs.”capital.

These funds that Sovereignty Wealth Funds bring to the table are committed to improving their investment capabilities not reducing income inequality. They have taken advantage of the financial crisis by acquiring valuable human resources which has nothing to do with improving the quality of living for the masses.

If not Capped they will along with Climate Change they will rewrite the map of global.

There is only one solution. Make Greed Contribute. ( See previous Blogs)

 

 

WE LIVE IN A WORLD STILL FUMBLING IN DARKNESS

26 Thursday Jun 2014

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Today “governments are everywhere embracing the free-market gospel, but should we leave the Capitalist free Market to handle Climate Change.

The answer is no.

History tells us so.  History Does Not Show that Business Forces Make Companies Efficient. Some claim free markets lead to greater prosperity than other economic policies.

I say that the selfish simply spend the extra money on themselves thereby setting an example for others that if you want a more affluent lifestyle you should be selfish. Left to regulate themselves in terms of climate change and the environment they are all ready turning both into products for Profit.

If we need pollution control, we don’t want it regulated by industrial companies.

We can choose to eat, drink and be merry today and die tomorrow; or we can choose to put limits on what we do today in order to live tomorrow. 

Consumer Choices Aren’t The Best Means For Citizens To Make Binding Group Decisions

There is more to life than merely increasing one’s money as fast as possible. A sense of security and dependability has some human value also.

Under American values any business with a conscience is at a disadvantage competing with companies without a conscience. These values are illustrated most dramatically by the wave of the future: telecommunications, the Internet, advanced computer technology, and the other wonders created by the exuberant American entrepreneurial spirit all unleashed by the market, by the huge transfer of public funds to private power, often under the traditional guise of “security.

We must put aside the intriguing contrast between doctrine and reality.

Meanwhile privatization proceeds apace elsewhere with Sovereign Wealth Funds taking control of the earth resources.

Control over food raises even more serious questions, in this case about survival.

Control over food supplies by foreign corporate giants is well under way, and with the agreement on telecommunications signed and delivered, financial services are next in line.

Just look at one important recent case, over considerable popular opposition the government of Brazil has decided to privatize the Vale Company, which controls vast uranium, iron, and other mineral resources and industrial and transport facilities, including sophisticated technology.

Also recently if you look a the Concentration of communications in any hands (particularly foreign hands) raises some rather serious questions about meaningful democracy.

Similar questions arise about concentration of finance, which undermines popular involvement in social and economic planning.

The free market gospel is preached (to the poor and defenseless) while protectionism through Sovereignty Wealth Funds is reaching unprecedented heights, and what are Administrations doing. Poured public funds into high-tech industry with unusual abandon.

Here we begin to reach the heart of the matter. Sovereign wealth funds activities must be caped if we want a free market and not Protectionism.

(See previous blogs)

We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.”

23 Monday Jun 2014

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Stupidity has been around since the dinosaurs.

As Albert Einstein said  “Surely there is no-show that can possibly equate to the amount of mental diarrhea that is presented in every single microsecond.”

YOU MIGHT WELL ASK   “Why does applied science, which saves work and makes life easier, bring us so little happiness? The simple answer runs: Because we have not yet learned to make sensible use of it.”

Here is an Idea that might make a difference.

These days we carry cool devices that let us carry the world in our pockets, so why not use them to spread wealth, health, food aid and the like.

Its time we set a price on nature.

The people of the world can be asked whether and how much they prize the two values of nature – use value and non-use value.

This can be done WITH AN UNITED NATIONS APP that rewards the user by issuing a United Nations Food voucher to the deprived.

We would soon know what is valued and what is not.

Nature provides ecosystem services, and we trash it at our peril.

Our activities have put and are putting priceless resources – fresh water, clean air, oceans, and our climate at risk.

Man tries to make for himself in the fashion that suits him best a simplified and intelligible picture of the world; he then tries to some extent to substitute this cosmos of his for the world of experience, and thus to overcome it.

This is what the painter, the poet, the speculative philosopher, and the natural scientists do, each in his own fashion. Each makes this cosmos and its construction the pivot of his emotional life, in order to find in this way peace and security which he can not find in the narrow whirlpool of personal experience.  Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.

We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.

A critical landmark in the sage of global climate change is occurring right in front of our eyes. If you are a non believer try Googling the Carteret Islanders of Papua New Guinea. They have become the world’s first entire community to be displaced by climate change.

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world so why not use it.

Not one statesman in a position of responsibility has dared to pursue the only course that holds out any promise of peace, the course of sharing wealth since for a statesman to follow such a course would be tantamount to political suicide. This is why we must cap greed. ( See previous blogs)

Only a life lived for others is a life worth while .

A human being is part of the whole, called by us ‘Universe,’ a part limited
in time and space.

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THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE TO DRINKING WATER.

12 Thursday Jun 2014

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Water is complicated.

Unlike coal or petroleum water cannot be replaced.  It is intertwined with every sector of society.  Energy production, Agriculture, Industry.

It won’t be long before we will have move people to water.

The problem is that we humans are searching for it on Mars when we need be searching for ways to produce more water on earth.

97% of the water we have is Saltwater, with 2% is trapped in ice that leaves 1%. To put it another way : If all the water on earth was represented by an 11 litre jug, the fresh water would fill a singles cup, and we can only access the last drop.

Now if we keep growing in world population only by 2030 the demand for water will out strip supply by 40%.

We have had two waves of resource-driven imperialism in the modern era. Gold and Oil.

The third wave is currently being fought over the most valuable natural resource  WATER – Iraq, Libya, Syria.

Why bother with missiles,bullets and the like just turn the tap off and the wars will end.

At the moment France’s global mega water companies: Suez, Ondeo, and Saur, control almost half of the world’s $400 billion water market.

Syria controls 40% of Israel’s water.

Water is the commodity that determines the wealth and stability of nations and will in the not so distant future spell the difference between greatness and decline.

Now I can hear you saying what can I do about it.  All one can see is Conflicts, Poverty, Modern Day Slavery, Climate Change, Corruption, Greed.

Here is what you can do.

To stop Sovereign Wealth Funds Privatizing what is left of Fresh water you can read my previous blogs and get involved  to lobby the United Nations to introduce a World Aid Commission of 0.05%  on all Foreign Exchange Transaction over $20,000.

The funds raised by this commission can be used to protect what is of value to us all.

 

 

 

 

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THE DOMINANT CAPITALIST SYSTEM – GREED MUST BE CAPPED.

05 Thursday Jun 2014

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We are coming up to the seventh commemoration of World War Two when hundred thousands of young souls gave their lives to stop the spread of Fascism in Europe which is now once more knocking on the door of Brussels. We all know the reasons why. The distribution of wealth remains in the hands of the rich.

At this point I could wax lyrical for pages and pages about what really makes one rich in our lives to no avail. So let’s look at one of the reasons why a tattooed individual is going to take his seat in the European Parliament with a swastika on his arm.

The euro zone unemployment rate has hit a record high at 11.8% with 18.8m people out of jobs.

 

A tiny elite are getting richer, the rest of us are getting poorer.

This is a familiar story in a world where greed and extreme wealth are central to the dominant capitalist system.

The annual Forbes billionaires list is an opportunity to test politicians promises that we are really

“All In It Together”.

The latest Forbes ranking, totalling a record 1,426 super rich (120 more than last year), globally represents a fortune of $5.4 trillion. That’s up from the $4.6 trillion a year earlier.

As you might expect, the United States continues to dominate the list, with 442 super-rich, followed by Asia-Pacific, with 386, and rest of the Americas producing 129 and the Middle East & Africa 103.

Although now the epicentre of austerity, the EU contributes heavily to the American business magazine’s hall of shame. And many of the richest among them have become even more filthy rich.

This at a time when most people on the Old Continent have been getting poorer, by 14%, to be exact, or one trillion dollars, according to a recent Credit Suisse study looking at household wealth.

The gap between rich and poor has grown even in the most traditionally egalitarian European countries, such as Germany, Denmark and Sweden, with the average income of the richest 10% compared to the poorest 10% rising from 5 to 1 in the 1980s to 6 to 1 today, according to a OECD reported published in December 2011.

Divided We Stand:  Why Inequality Keeps Rising” .

Our most urgent priority is to build Europe on the basis of equality, solidarity, and authentic democracy.

EU institutions and European governments now serve the interests of financial markets, with no respect for popular sovereignty. They must be brought under democratic control, just as the public interest must prevail and ecological and social needs be met. We base our demands for a democratic, social, ecological and feminist Europe on these principles, in solidarity with the people’s of the world.

Austerity policies attack economic and social rights and dismantle social protection. They lead to a drop in the standard of living and in many countries to acute humanitarian distress. The consequences are massive unemployment as well as a serious downgrading of working and living conditions. These, in turn, lead to unacceptable increases in poverty: today, 120 million people in the EU are poor.

For decades financial markets built and operated within a world economy in which they face no obstacles. The speculation they engaged in lies at the heart of most problems facing us today and still speculative traders continue to take money out of people’s pockets.

Now don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against a man getting rich or staying rich. The Capitalist system will ensure their existence, and long may they do so. No Wealth no Tax Mansion Tax or what ever tax will solve the problem of Greed.

However there is a way of getting Electronic Trading Platforms and Computer-driven algorithmic trading strategies and the like to contribute to the distribution of wealth worldwide.

The Foreign Exchange Market is known to be the largest financial market in the world, as measured by daily turnover. It is estimated to be anything from $3.2 trillion to $5 trillion a day. Six times larger than trading in US Treasury Bonds and thirty times larger than trading on the New york Stock Exchange.

A 0.05% AID COMMISSION ON ALL WORLD FOREIGN EXCHANGE TRADING WOULD DO THE TRICK.  SAVE THE WORLD FROM THE RICH.  ( SEE PREVIOUS BLOGS)

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Is inequality an inevitable product of capitalist activity?

01 Sunday Jun 2014

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There is no answer other than YES.

Inequality is an inevitable product of capitalist activity, and expanding equality of opportunity only increases it — because some individuals and communities are simply better able than others to exploit the opportunities for development and advancement that capitalism affords. The advent of capitalism gave individuals more control over and responsibility for their own lives than ever before — which proved both liberating and terrifying, allowing for both progress and regression.

Despite what many on the right think, however, this is a problem for everybody, not just those who are doing poorly or those who are ideologically committed to egalitarianism — because if left unaddressed, rising inequality and economic insecurity can erode social order and generate a populist backlash against the capitalist system at large.  Recent European elections hint strongly that this is happening.

In recent decades, developments in technology, finance, and international trade have generated new waves and forms of insecurity for leading capitalist economies, making life increasingly unequal and chancier for not only the lower and working classes but much of the middle class as well.

The right has largely ignored the problem, while the left has sought to eliminate it through government action, regardless of the costs.

Neither approach is viable in the long run. Contemporary capitalist polities need to accept that inequality and insecurity will continue to be the inevitable result of market operations and find ways to shield citizens from their consequences — while somehow still preserving the dynamism that produces capitalism’s vast economic and cultural benefits in the first place.

Formal or informal barriers to equality of opportunity, for example, have historically blocked various sectors of the population — such as women, minorities, and the poor — from benefiting fully from all capitalism offers. But over time, in the advanced capitalist world, those barriers have gradually been lowered or removed, so that now opportunity is more equally available than ever before.

The inequality that exists today, therefore, derives less from the unequal availability of opportunity than it does from the unequal ability to exploit opportunity. And that unequal ability, in turn, stems from differences in the inherent human potential that individuals begin with and in the ways that families and communities enable and encourage that human potential to flourish.

Capitalist societies, by contrast, have been oriented toward innovation and dynamism, to the creation of new knowledge, new products, and new modes of production and distribution. All of this has shifted the locus of insecurity from nature to the economy.

Rising inequality, meanwhile, has been compounded by rising insecurity and anxiety for people higher up on the economic ladder. One trend contributing to this problem has been the financialization of the economy, above all in the United States, creating what was characterized as “money manager capitalism”

How are we to rectify the imbalances?

A useful starting point might be the rejection of both the politics of privilege and the politics of resentment and the adoption of a clear-eyed view of what capitalism actually involves, as opposed to the idealization of its worshipers and the demonization of its critics.

We need to distinguish between growth and development: we need a

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large-scale redistribution of the staggering amounts of wealth from the very rich to the rest. Remember the bulk of the world’s population get by (just) on $2 a day, and that in the developed world, inequality is growing.

Earth will be unable to support human life when there is only standing room on the planet. Humans will die out when our sun burns out, or when the universal temperature is a few degrees above absolute zero.

I agree there is a possibility that for a few centuries or millennia, human ingenuity will allow continued material growth, but to hold this as certain or even probable is nothing but blind, irrational faith and hubris.

No matter what happens Wealth will have to find a new way to be distributed worldwide.  Some support a Wealth Tax which is totally farcical. It is Impossible to set up, too porous, too expensive, too open to manipulation politically, and otherwise.  Will never be accepted in the USA or growing Economies. Will be seen as unfair, unjust, damaging, and impossible to collect.

There is only one solution. See my blog ” Just Look what could be achieved if we could re-focus greed” There is no other solution other than capturing the very essence of Capitalism to contribute to the world as a whole so that we protects the values of our existence on a Planet that is increasingly crying for help.

Our  inability to locate the exact instance of an occurrence does not imply it will not occur or has not occurred—-say, the moment when human DNA first appeared, or the cardinality of the continuum. It is time to place a 0.05% AID COMMISSION ON ALL FOREIGN EXCHANGE TRANSACTIONS OVER $20,000.

HAVE YOU HEARD THE LATEST JOKE CALLED INCLUSIVE CAPITALISM

28 Wednesday May 2014

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In the last few days you might have seen that some big nobs of Capitalism meet in London to discuss what is going wrong.

They conclude that Capitalism must be more inclusive.

What a OXYMORON.  You would have to be a half wit to think Capitalism is anything but the exploitation of Man by Man.  With Militarism as one of its main bulwarks.  It is in many ways extremely objectionable

As Oliver Goldsmith said ” Where wealth and freedom reign, contentment fails and honour sinks, where commerce long prevails.”or  Mark Twain ” Tain’t yours and t’ain’t mine.”

There is only one way to make Capitalism more inclusive and that is to put a 0.05% COMMISSION ON ALL STOCK EXCHANGE TRANSACTIONS WORLD WIDE. ( See previous blog: Just look what could be achieved if we re-focus greed to make a contribution to the World)

As if we all need more proof you will have noticed that the recent European Elections ( even with large bail out) has given rise to Fascismo raising its ugly head within the very organisation that was formed to avoid a recurrence of  the very thing that World War Two was fought over.

We all know the saying:  That it is not possible to please all of the people all of the time.  But there is a way of helping all the people all of the time>  By tapping into Greed.

If you agreed sign up my petition on Change Org. To Place an Aid Commission of 0.05% on all transactions over $20,000 in the world capital markets.

If we want the thinks we value in the World Greed must contribute to the redistribution of wealth. It will have little or no effect on the rich, but it will create a perpetual fund with sufficient funds to address the present day world problem.

As always if you have any comments or wish to contribute they will be much appreciated.  

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THERE IS A TECTONIC SHIFT HAPPENING IN THE WORLD’S ECONOMIC POWER

27 Tuesday May 2014

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Press Conference for the 3rd meeting of the IFSWF, May 11-13, 2011

“Our needs determine us, as much as we determine our needs” George Eliot.

While we are all preoccupied with our daily lives if we don’t wake up soon to changing the way our world operates all of our needs will be Privatised.

The very essentials are being plundered for profit not by the Banks of the G8 countries but rather a multi-trillion dollar network of super rich, secretive and largely unregulated investment vehicles – FOREIGN SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUNDS. Government run corporations and Private Equity Funds.

They are buying major stakes in Multinational Corporations, Farmland and Natural Resources.

They are moving the Conversation from International Competition to Global “Financial Warfare” and will soon dominate the Future Path of the Global Economy.  In addition to ethical issues, this ongoing concentration of wealth in the hands of a tiny minority is questionable insofar as the resulting increased demand for investable securities contributes to a safe asset imbalance that poses a threat to the stability of the global economic system.

In the coming 6/7 years they will exceed the total size of the world,s official reserves.

We cannot continue with Rich countries making up their own mines on what they will buy. Somehow we must rise to the challenge. If not us, if not now, when?

They must be stopped by capping their ownership. The International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) has decided to establish its Secretariat office in the City of London.

0.05% WORLD AID COMMISSION- WORKINGS part two.

23 Friday May 2014

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It is beyond my comprehension with 7/24 news that we continue to destroy the planet that we all own and live on for the sake of short-term Profits.

Greed has no boundaries, no limitations, no moral obligations, no self – esteem, no conscious, it is concave.

It must be harnessed – re focused to contribute to the survival of us all without creating more greed.

In the first part of this blog I out lined how easy it would be to adopt a World Aid Commission. To apply it to all World Foreign Exchange transactions under $20,000. Creating a Fund with a source of perpetual Aid in billions.

So who, how, and where would we invest these funds?

I suggested that the funds revenue could be allocated as follows.

50% – Rapid Aid – fully equipped Response Centers.

25% – Climate Change  Defenses.

25% – International Development Fund.

The Rapid Aid Response Centers (  would get rid of the pathetic need to beg for aid every time there is a disaster) is self-evident.

Four or Five centers fully operational positioned around the globe like lifeboat stations would not only save lives but create employment and pool expertise.

Combined with a Rapid Peacekeeping force that represents all member states.

Climate Change Defenses.

Also self-evident. If we don’t start to build defences and educate the world to the consequences we are all facing  there will be no need for any fund.

International Development Fund.  

This must be Non payback Grants with no strings attached.  Totally transparent based on viable projects submitted to a new United Nations Governing body made up of experts in all fields from all member Nations of the United Nations.

Each project on approval would be allocated an approval number which would then qualify that project for entry into an Annually Televised  Draw for Funds ( this would stop lobbying and corruption etc.)  So many winner at x amount, at y amount, and so on.  The Television program would also show the progress on the previous year Projects winners.

If we are to achieve a fair and just world full of the values that are essential to all of us irrelevant of religious, political, and other aspirations, we must use Greed ( which is common to all of us.)

There is no point living in a virtual reality world full of technology if we have ongoing conflict, inequality, mass economic migration, depletion of finite resources, flooding, poverty, to name just a few of our ailments.

The Primary responsibility is ours not the Futuristic World of the unborn.

If you have any interest your contributions will be much appreciated.

In the mean time kindly support my Petition to the United Nations and the G8.  Found on http:// www change.Org /Robert Dillon.

PASS IT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS. THANK YOU ON BEHALF OF THE EARTH AND THE GENERATIONS TO COME.

ARE WE ALL BECOMING WAGE-SLAVES?

13 Tuesday May 2014

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While the rich have sweetheart deals worth millions in severance pay, even if they run the company into the ground, no hours contracts are becoming the norm.

We are all being hard-wired into believing that material enrichment is good for our well-being and the Economy dominates Society to the disappearance of all other values other than profit.

Speculators move millions, gambling with the future of whole economies. Preposterous? but true. Their actions are unconscionable. Profit – mongers who don’t give a damn, believing their own propaganda. It’s about making money above all else. Making profit has taken precedence over all other human activities and desires.

It is a very narrow definition of the quality of life.

In the meantime the global is under attack from the real terrorist of the Planet.  Sovereign Wealth Funds.

It will not be long before these Funds are the new lobbing legislators of the world.

Greed cannot be exorcised from our personalities, but it can be taped.

This cannot be done abstractly, it however can be achieved by passing a United Nations World people resolution applying a world aid commission on all Stock Exchange transactions world-wide.

Such a commission would ensure that every profit-making investment contributes to the simple needs for Food, Clothing, Shelter ( for billions of people) ensure clean water, air, the list is long.

They say that there is no reversing Climate change.

Sustaining interest in this great but slow-burning crisis is a challenge no one seems to have mastered. Only when the crisis causes or exacerbates an acute disaster – such as the floods – is there a flicker of anxiety, but that quickly dies away.

Why is it so difficult to persuade people to care about our wonderful planet, the world that gave rise to us and upon which we wholly depend?

And why do you encounter a barrage of hostility and denial whenever you attempt it (and not only from the professional liars who are paid by coal and oil and timber companies to sow confusion and channel hatred)?

Our erroneous belief that we are more concerned about man-made climate change than the people of other nations informs the sentiment, often voiced by the press and politicians, that there’s no point in acting if the rest of the world won’t play its part.

For years we’ve been told that people cannot afford to care about the natural world until they become rich; that only economic growth can save the biosphere, that civilisation marches towards enlightenment about our impacts on the living planet. The richer we are and the more we consume, the more self-centred and careless of the lives of others we appear to become. Even if you somehow put aside the direct, physical impacts of rising consumption, it’s hard to understand how anyone could imagine that economic growth is a formula for protecting the planet.

If So what we seem to see here is the turning of a vicious circle. The more harm we do, the less concerned about it we become.

And the more hyper consumerism destroys relationships, communities and the physical fabric of the Earth, the more we try to fill the void in our lives by buying more stuff. So the perennially low-level of concern, which flickers upwards momentarily when disaster strikes, then slumps back into the customary stupor, is an almost inevitable result of a society that has become restructured around shopping, fashion, celebrity and an obsession with money.

How we break the circle and wake people out of this dream world is the question that all those who love the living planet should address. There will be no easy answers.