The Fallacy Of Capitalism

rgambs

brianlux said:

EdsonNascimento said:

polaris_x said:

I know I used the word Sustainability but this is not solely about the planet and our environment

it's about our economic system, our food system, everything ... if we have $10 left to our name - are we gonna blow it all on a burger with fries? ... it's about industries that we continue to subsidize and prop up in the name of 'jobs' when in reality all it is doing is making a small percentage of the population fat cats ...

the current economic system is designed to favour a few based on short term exploitation of resources ... it is not meant for long term sustainability ... it's why eventually big oil will fail and all these other industries that seek to exploit ...

Big oil may fail much like IBM crashed and took a long time to recover if someone develops a more economically viable fuel source and they don't prepare or adjust. Because, you know...that's how capitalism works...competition and free market breed innovation bc a buck can be made and new fat cats can be made. Think Apple, Mark Cuban, etc. those were fat cats that didn't exist 50 years ago. Did the big government conspiracy stop them from emerging due to the very things you are moaning about. Would socialism or communism do the same?

The problem is that capitalism, though it does often promote innovation, always focuses on more and bigger which eventually lead to exhaustion of resources and the need for find a new more and bigger. Rarely does it consider durability, conservation and sustainability. Because capitalism too often excludes those factors, it is self limiting and eventually self annihilating.

If we don't strive to lessen our impact and lower our consumption and population we will limit and annihilate ourselves. I really do believe that will be the end result of capitalism.

Not to mention the legions that are crushed under the burden of other people's progress.

brianlux

rgambs said:

brianlux said:

EdsonNascimento said:

polaris_x said:

I know I used the word Sustainability but this is not solely about the planet and our environment

it's about our economic system, our food system, everything ... if we have $10 left to our name - are we gonna blow it all on a burger with fries? ... it's about industries that we continue to subsidize and prop up in the name of 'jobs' when in reality all it is doing is making a small percentage of the population fat cats ...

the current economic system is designed to favour a few based on short term exploitation of resources ... it is not meant for long term sustainability ... it's why eventually big oil will fail and all these other industries that seek to exploit ...

Big oil may fail much like IBM crashed and took a long time to recover if someone develops a more economically viable fuel source and they don't prepare or adjust. Because, you know...that's how capitalism works...competition and free market breed innovation bc a buck can be made and new fat cats can be made. Think Apple, Mark Cuban, etc. those were fat cats that didn't exist 50 years ago. Did the big government conspiracy stop them from emerging due to the very things you are moaning about. Would socialism or communism do the same?

The problem is that capitalism, though it does often promote innovation, always focuses on more and bigger which eventually lead to exhaustion of resources and the need for find a new more and bigger. Rarely does it consider durability, conservation and sustainability. Because capitalism too often excludes those factors, it is self limiting and eventually self annihilating.

If we don't strive to lessen our impact and lower our consumption and population we will limit and annihilate ourselves. I really do believe that will be the end result of capitalism.

Not to mention the legions that are crushed under the burden of other people's progress.

Absolutely. Capitalism requires human fodder to keep it's inexhaustible hunger staved off-- which never really happens. It's bad news and a painful life for the poor, especially in third world countries. Yes, there are generous capitalists but looking at it as a whole system, it endlessly chews up and spits out both human lives and non-renewable resources. We could change that!

Thirty Bills Unpaid

The looming threat to big oil is the last drop of oil.

My money says they are likely the best sources for when that drop is dropped. My money says they are at a minimum investigating alternative sources for fuel... and likely would tap wells dry before revealing their findings.

I could be wrong though. They might just be harvesting what they can and as fast as they can- sucking whatever profit they might before the profits are no longer there for scarcity.

brianlux

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

The looming threat to big oil is the last drop of oil.

My money says they are likely the best sources for when that drop is dropped. My money says they are at a minimum investigating alternative sources for fuel... and likely would tap wells dry before revealing their findings.

I could be wrong though. They might just be harvesting what they can and as fast as they can- sucking whatever profit they might before the profits are no longer there for scarcity.

Very possible scenario, 30B.

Another is the peak oil theory. I haven't seen as much on that as I used to (and we know it's not a theory, it's fact) that eventually oil has to peak, then fall. If Canada is willing to give up a million square miles (or whatever monstrous piece of wilderness) to tar sand, then you know the pickin's getting thin.

One peak oil scenario proposes that oil has been a relatively cheap, easily captured energy source for 100+ years and no one has yet found anything to match that kind of energy output per work needed to extract it (there's a formula for the scale of work/energy giving a value for least to most energy produced per work unit. I can't remember it right now). Something like solar, they say, cannot replace oil because it would take an adequate amount of that cheap energy to make enough solar to replace the oil and coal and when cheap oil runs low, demand will not be met for production of solar cells. They say even adding wind and other technologies will not work for the same reason. It's all in the formula and it makes sense. I wish I could find that in my brain. In any case, these theorists say we will not have the same high level of energy available in the future. That, if it happens that way, will have a big affect on everything.

rgambs

brianlux said:

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

The looming threat to big oil is the last drop of oil.

My money says they are likely the best sources for when that drop is dropped. My money says they are at a minimum investigating alternative sources for fuel... and likely would tap wells dry before revealing their findings.

I could be wrong though. They might just be harvesting what they can and as fast as they can- sucking whatever profit they might before the profits are no longer there for scarcity.

Very possible scenario, 30B.

Another is the peak oil theory. I haven't seen as much on that as I used to (and we know it's not a theory, it's fact) that eventually oil has to peak, then fall. If Canada is willing to give up a million square miles (or whatever monstrous piece of wilderness) to tar sand, then you know the pickin's getting thin.

One peak oil scenario proposes that oil has been a relatively cheap, easily captured energy source for 100+ years and no one has yet found anything to match that kind of energy output per work needed to extract it (there's a formula for the scale of work/energy giving a value for least to most energy produced per work unit. I can't remember it right now). Something like solar, they say, cannot replace oil because it would take an adequate amount of that cheap energy to make enough solar to replace the oil and coal and when cheap oil runs low, demand will not be met for production of solar cells. They say even adding wind and other technologies will not work for the same reason. It's all in the formula and it makes sense. I wish I could find that in my brain. In any case, these theorists say we will not have the same high level of energy available in the future. That, if it happens that way, will have a big affect on everything.

Yep, we will burn up all our fossil fuels for combustion purposes and we will be screwed when we don't have petroleum to make plastics and practically every modern and medical necessity.
But, by all means, drill baby drill, tap those tar sands, we need short term job growth or so help us civilization will implode!

brianlux

rgambs said:

brianlux said:

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

The looming threat to big oil is the last drop of oil.

My money says they are likely the best sources for when that drop is dropped. My money says they are at a minimum investigating alternative sources for fuel... and likely would tap wells dry before revealing their findings.

I could be wrong though. They might just be harvesting what they can and as fast as they can- sucking whatever profit they might before the profits are no longer there for scarcity.

Very possible scenario, 30B.

Another is the peak oil theory. I haven't seen as much on that as I used to (and we know it's not a theory, it's fact) that eventually oil has to peak, then fall. If Canada is willing to give up a million square miles (or whatever monstrous piece of wilderness) to tar sand, then you know the pickin's getting thin.

One peak oil scenario proposes that oil has been a relatively cheap, easily captured energy source for 100+ years and no one has yet found anything to match that kind of energy output per work needed to extract it (there's a formula for the scale of work/energy giving a value for least to most energy produced per work unit. I can't remember it right now). Something like solar, they say, cannot replace oil because it would take an adequate amount of that cheap energy to make enough solar to replace the oil and coal and when cheap oil runs low, demand will not be met for production of solar cells. They say even adding wind and other technologies will not work for the same reason. It's all in the formula and it makes sense. I wish I could find that in my brain. In any case, these theorists say we will not have the same high level of energy available in the future. That, if it happens that way, will have a big affect on everything.

Yep, we will burn up all our fossil fuels for combustion purposes and we will be screwed when we don't have petroleum to make plastics and practically every modern and medical necessity.
But, by all means, drill baby drill, tap those tar sands, we need short term job growth or so help us civilization will implode!

Perfect summation of what we are doing. It drives me a bit nutty that the general public doesn't see that this is happening and that the powers that be seem hell-bent on making sure that it does happen. Good grief, why??

PJ_Soul

brianlux said:

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

The looming threat to big oil is the last drop of oil.

My money says they are likely the best sources for when that drop is dropped. My money says they are at a minimum investigating alternative sources for fuel... and likely would tap wells dry before revealing their findings.

I could be wrong though. They might just be harvesting what they can and as fast as they can- sucking whatever profit they might before the profits are no longer there for scarcity.

Very possible scenario, 30B.

Another is the peak oil theory. I haven't seen as much on that as I used to (and we know it's not a theory, it's fact) that eventually oil has to peak, then fall. If Canada is willing to give up a million square miles (or whatever monstrous piece of wilderness) to tar sand, then you know the pickin's getting thin.

One peak oil scenario proposes that oil has been a relatively cheap, easily captured energy source for 100+ years and no one has yet found anything to match that kind of energy output per work needed to extract it (there's a formula for the scale of work/energy giving a value for least to most energy produced per work unit. I can't remember it right now). Something like solar, they say, cannot replace oil because it would take an adequate amount of that cheap energy to make enough solar to replace the oil and coal and when cheap oil runs low, demand will not be met for production of solar cells. They say even adding wind and other technologies will not work for the same reason. It's all in the formula and it makes sense. I wish I could find that in my brain. In any case, these theorists say we will not have the same high level of energy available in the future. That, if it happens that way, will have a big affect on everything.

I don't feel like energy is the main concern. There are several alternate energy technologies available and more being worked on. The bigger problem is how to replace oil in manufacturing.

Faithful101

You can't tell me that this is actually Capitalism. It's faux, total bullshit Corporate Communism for Multinational Corporations owned by foreigners in part. The USA and her people are being fucked over endlessly since WW2. It has to stop, the people aren't complacent or stupid, just distracted into states of apathy I think.

JC29856

Faithful101 said:

You can't tell me that this is actually Capitalism. It's faux, total bullshit Corporate Communism for Multinational Corporations owned by foreigners in part. The USA and her people are being fucked over endlessly since WW2. It has to stop, the people aren't complacent or stupid, just distracted into states of apathy I think.

BOOM goes the dynamite!
It all started with the Fed, that half private half governmental body owned mostly by foreigners.