[LINK] The PLAN, and broadband speeds? - tome warning

[David Lochrin]

On Wednesday 20 June 2007 22:19, Janet Hawtin wrote:
> On 6/20/07, David Lochrin <dlochrin at d2.net.au> wrote:
>>>  I think we can farewell the idea of rational government for and by the
>>> people for the time being.  The political right unreservedly considers
>>> itself "the party of business" and the political centre-left is too
>>> afraid of rocking the economic boat.

> The information models and economic patterns we use to describe our
> world currently are win lose abstracted systems for mapping profit as
> the core value.

   That has been the case ever since Mrs. Thatcher decreed that "people must realise they live in an economy, not a society" (probably not verbatim) and I think her bon mot was paraphrased by our own P.Costello.

> OK hypothetically, if say democratic governance was dead in the water
> at the hands of international capital, either directly or simply as a
> model of understanding which has overwritten other values, what
> options does an electorate have?

   There are a few possibilities.

   At a political level, back in Mark Latham days someone in Queensland ran an informal email think-tank to discuss ALP policy issues.  I don't know how much traction this gained, but there were certainly a few senior ALP listeners, including ML himself whom I can remember once voicing energetic disagreement with the discussion.  This sort of thing has limits, but certainly can have a significant effect.  And only this week I completed a "New Matilda" questionaire related to their currently evolving role and suggested they might do something similar (actually it might be better done by their spinoff "Centre for Policy Development").  Obviously the more exposure and the higher the profile of the organisation, the better.

   Then as Daniel Rose remarked, education is critical and there's some evidence the general public is indeed being educated.  Greenpeace and other organisations are doing good stuff.

   But (and I'll try to keep my horse under control here) the real problem is that sustainability of the biosphere and the growth-economy model are on a collision course.  And as David Suzuki used to point out often, people simply don't understand what exponential growth really means.

   Yesterday evening on the ABC 7:30 Report (?) a British Minister stated that China was probably now opening two coal-fired power stations PER WEEK and this is our problem as much as theirs - we buy the stuff their economy produces.

   So while I hope that the current concern with global warming will continue and grow, I suspect that it will take a significant crisis to turn things around.

   Probably it will be a financial crisis, and there are lots of warning signs around now, such as the huge amount of money sloshing around the world looking for something useful to do.  I think I'd like to be well away from the action when the first big, reputable Australian superannuation fund gets into trouble.

Cheers (:-)
David