Capitalism must end somehow

I remember reading about this individual Mark Lynas. I guess at some point he started writing books, and as someone who was born in Fiji and who grew up in Peru and the UK (I am going by the Wikipedia article here -- his "About" page on his personal website doesn't say anything about this -- his first book was a natural. "High Tide" is to some extent an ethnographic study of climate change, going to various places around the world to find out what it's like. But that book was published back in 2004. Things are moving quickly on the climate change front now.

Lynas' next book was Six Degrees, in which he (supposedly -- I can't remember the source for this) went to a library to find out everything he could about the effects of abrupt climate change. The results for six degrees of climate change are pretty horrifying -- much of Earth becomes a bleak wasteland, and great balls of methane are released from the ocean floors to the surface, where lighting storms set them afire.

Having established climate change as a mortal threat, Lynas then proceeded (after some other projects) to write a book titled The God Species, in which he proclaimed nuclear power and genetic engineering to be the salvation of the human species. Huh? Nuclear power? Genetic engineering? It appears that Lynas' problem was that he was unable to believe that there was any alternative to the capitalist system, with its syndrome of endless economic growth on a finite planet.

So it appears that it is we who need to believe that there is this alternative. One can see how ridiculous the strategy of "decarbonizing the economy" while leaving everything else the same really is in mainstream reporting on climate change. The most recent example is this piece in E&E News, owned by Politico: Doubt grows over Biden's climate strategy. What they're doing is looking at dollar figures and saying "oh that's not enough to decarbonize the economy." Here's the important quote:

In Congress, Biden's climate plan has hit the rocks and faces an uncertain path forward. He began the process by trimming his climate and infrastructure spending plan to an average of $200 billion a year over a decade, after campaigning on spending $500 billion annually over his first term.

That's probably not enough to decarbonize the American economy. Economists across the political spectrum have proposed investing between $600 billion and $1 trillion annually, according to a HuffPost analysis, equivalent to about 2% to 5% of U.S. gross domestic product.

The problem, of course, is that the capitalist economy is not going to "decarbonize." Perhaps the Biden administration knows this, and has secretly given up trying as a result. Biden, remember, is there to protect capitalism, not you or me.

The problem with he idea of "decarbonizing the economy," presumably while leaving everything the same, is that the energy and resource needs of the capitalist system are simply too high, and the carbon-burning infrastructure is too firmly in place. And that's not counting the energy and resource needs of a transition effort that would try to duplicate the existing system while "decarbonizing" it.

The tendency in the "environmental" movement is to point to a statistic showing some 2% reduction in carbon burning somewhere in the world, and to throw wild parties over this as if the whole battle had been won. This is because they, like Biden, assume capitalism to be eternal. It isn't.

So here is my proposal. Rather than waiting for capitalism to implode, leaving us with either a smaller capitalist system (amidst lots of death when the agricultural systems fail and there is widespread famine), or some effort to bail out the capitalists leading to what is being called "neofeudalism," it's time we start to form the new system right here and now. Or at least we could do something to anticipate the end of capitalism before we all burn to death.

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It's just a subsystemm of capitalism.

No "ism" is actually to blame.. Corruption is to blame. We need a system that can self regulate to stamp out corruption.

Since humans are by nature easily corrupted, well, good luck with that.

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but giving up the dream of being rich and powerful, or the actual loss of riches and power for the benefit of others will take a global revolutionary action.
We also have a significant population that either denies climate change, or is remote and illiterate that haven't heard of it, and would not easily comprehend it.
I think the first mention of climate change came in some article I read last week which quoted some archived congressional report (or from some wing of government)that used the phrase "climate change" in 1912 in warning about fossil fuels.
Wish I could find it.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

@on the cusp
True the property they controlled and owned was legally the property of the state. but especially in the case of Stalin, wasn't it effectively "L'Etat C'est Moi" translated into Russian?

Capitalism isn't bad. We should try it sometime. This oligopoly we have combined with political corruption is no way capitalism. RobberBaronism it should be called. Michael Dell assembling computers for sale in his dorm was capitalism. What it grew into wasn't.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness about Stalin and Kruschev's riches.
I do not seem to recall a society that benefited from capitalism for more than a brief period. Regulations always seem to vanish, wealth inequality always seems to emerge, and over and over, it results in disaster.
I am not a promoter of a good decade, as the prize for many decades of suffering, as a quality economic system.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Cassiodorus's picture

@on the cusp In fact, Arrhenius calculated the mathematical relationship between increased atmospheric CO2 and higher average temperatures. It's an inverse logarithm -- as CO2 multiplies, average temperature adds.

He thought it could be a good thing because it would open up large northern land masses to agriculture. The idea that it was actually happening was voiced many ppm of atmospheric carbon dioxide ago, in anecdotal accounts in the 1930s. See Spencer Weart's "The Discovery of Global Warming."

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

@Cassiodorus Oil companies knew about all along, of course. It didn't stop them, then, or now.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

to our interconnected web of life on the planet that I know of is Alexander Humboldt. In The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf is an eye opener for me. Humboldt, who was born into a very wealthy family, spent his fortune as a young man exploring and compiling scientific data largely in South America. At the time, the idea that Great Nature’s abundance was at risk to a growing and imprudent human population was unheard of. Humboldt observed the devastation wrought by the Spanish occupiers and saw it as a warning to the larger world.

We have been warned for centuries by many harbingers but the warnings have universally been ignored by those holding the reins of power, and our futures, in their hands. It’s not just a capitalism problem, it’s a larger human one. We need to find our place within the ecosystem, not lording over it as if we owned it and could mistreat it at our pleasure.

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

CB's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHtfqrydZzU]

This week, I had the pleasure to speak with Sebastian Abecasis on ‘NOT the BBC’ podcast where we discussed a wide range of topics from the historic roots of the Great Reset, the battle Franklin Roosevelt waged against financiers in London and Wall Street, the Darwinian roots of eugenics, the false Keynes vs Hayek dichotomy, the epistemology of conspiracy theories, the nature and history of both Russia and China as anti-Malthusian power centers and much more.

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that we WANT a hydrocarbon dependent "capitalism". We WANT iPhones and xboxes and cars. We are afraid of losing them. We refuse to admit that there are consequences. We would rather die, or rather we would rather our children die.

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On to Biden since 1973

@doh1304 to wean off fossil fuel, and capitalism.
Just as a practical matter, we need the practical answer to just one scenario: medical emergencies. We have to have phones. We must have ambulances. Well-lighted ers, and good roads to get there. Rural areas are even more dependent upon the fuel.
How do we just flip without considering the different needs of rural and urban?
Nobody wants a system where that ambulanced person is financially ruined by said ambulance ride, or do they? Do we expect them to whine about fossil fuels? Their bitch is about bad roads and medical bills.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Cassiodorus's picture

@doh1304 Instead what we have is an oligarchy in which the masses are periodically coerced into voting for Party A because Party B is worse, or vice versa, and in this way the bad spots in the social imaginary are preserved enough so that the partisans of Party B feel vindicated in their allegiance.

I'm wondering if the tiny group that reads caucus99percent knows what the social imaginary is. Maybe it would be a good subject for a diary?

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

@Cassiodorus if the tiny group gets it.
BTW, you make "tiny group" sound both insignificant and ignorant.
My guess is you will be both shocked AND dismayed at the tiny group comprehension here, which might exceed your expectations.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Cassiodorus's picture

@on the cusp On the other hand, there was one respondent here who said "thanks for the laugh," and something about "outlawing greed" (when clearly the problem can be solved by not making the greedy into kings), and there was another respondent here who said that socialism is a "subsystem of capitalism."

Go ahead, surprise me.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

@Cassiodorus I I suggested you write your essay and see if the concept of social imaginary is understood by the tiny group. Two commenters have you giving up even trying?
I gave a thumbs up to the writers of both those comments, since I agree with where they are coming from, and the problems they see.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Pricknick's picture

@Cassiodorus
"thanks for the laugh,"
Thanks for the acknowledgement of your disapproval.
I admired your post. Yet, when I remark something you dislike, you take immediate offense.
This vape bag is for you.
Peace

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

snoopydawg's picture

@Cassiodorus

There are some intelligent people here.

Gee between you and EDG deciding on who’s smart or worth reading was shocking to discover. I guess the dumb folks who read the site better get smarter and learn how to write interesting essays so that people will want to read them.

Anyone else who has gripes about the members here? Speak up…

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Pricknick's picture

The only way for capitalism to end in the usa, if for greed to be outlawed.
Thanks for the laugh.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Cassiodorus's picture

@Pricknick Shouldn't you be out there doing something greedy, so you can validate your own theory of "human nature"?

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

Pricknick's picture

@Cassiodorus
for the entertainment.
How about you?

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

That any economic system will eventually funnel wealth into the hands of a few, and the political system will evolve to aid the wealthy and focus on telling the masses why this system is good.

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It is both absolutely necessary (subject to some further discussion of what we mean exactly by capitalism) and hysterically funny to contemplate a message board conversation about the prospect of actually ending capitalism forever.

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Life of Brian Scene 21

REG: Right. Now, uh, item four: attainment of world supremacy within the next five years. Uh, Francis, you've been doing some work on this.

FRANCIS: Yeah. Thank you, Reg. Well, quite frankly, siblings, I think five years is optimistic, unless we can smash the Roman empire within the next twelve months.

REG: Twelve months?

FRANCIS: Yeah, twelve months. And, let's face it. As empires go, this is the big one, so we've got to get up off our arses and stop just talking about it!

COMMANDOS: Hear! Hear!

LORETTA: I agree. It's action that counts, not words, and we need action now.

COMMANDOS: Hear! Hear!

REG: You're right. We could sit around here all day talking, passing resolutions, making clever speeches. It's not going to shift one Roman soldier!

FRANCIS: So, let's just stop gabbing on about it. It's completely pointless and it's getting us nowhere!

COMMANDOS: Right!

LORETTA: I agree. This is a complete waste of time. [bam]

JUDITH: They've arrested Brian!

REG: What?

COMMANDOS: What?

JUDITH: They've dragged him off! They're going to crucify him!

REG: Right! This calls for immediate discussion!

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I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.

CB's picture

@fire with fire [video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKbEqpAKk44]

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