Posted by pancho from pool0531.cvx20-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net (209.179.252.21) on Monday, January 13, 2003 at 3:13PM :
In Reply to: interesting point posted by Lilly/Sadie/whatever from ? (160.129.27.22) on Monday, January 13, 2003 at 11:16AM :
The Market's use as a device to raise money for innovation, investment in machinery and growth, expansion and all those good sounding things, has been replaced by its use as a Casino where money is bet on the guy who cooks the books the best...doesn't get caught, and like any ponzi sceme...sets off a chain reaction of "investment" in nothing more than "Get Rich" futures...usually in the form of obscene CEO salaries and benfits...and stock options and golden parachutes for those at the top lucky enough to cash in on the old cow before its throat gets slit.
What these companies "produce" is more profit for the top tier, high yields for a short time, short and dizzying so more people get into the frenzy. They don't manufacture anything...or if they do...are hard pressed to create the next "miracle" product that will "improve" our lives so much we'll be willing to sacrifice them for the new toys. Or...they'll manipulate us, the markets...basic supplies like energy and medicine to "create" growth...which means higher yields for the welathy and lucky few.
And of course...they need tax breaks or else what was the point of all that additional wealth...if these were responsible and fair minded people in the first place they wouldn't be so singleminded in their pursuit of a few thousand bucks...like Martha Stewrat.
Water. Remember that. We're already conditioned to pay for bottled water...used to the inevitability of fouling our natural streams and aquifers...how soon before just water...clean or dirty, becomes a Market commodity?
What about clean air? years ago there were machines in Tokyo where you could get a blast of clean oxygen for a coin or two. All we've done is sink the smog into the ground where our water supply used to be safe...now we can't drink the water but the air is "clean. You can shift the dirt around all you want to...it's still there in another place, in another form. How about garbage into Space...why not, we turn rivers and oceans into garbage.
We have to have JOBS damn it!
-- pancho
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