What’s the Mission?
I haven’t written about Future Economy for a while, but as I follow the Occupy movement, I do keep thinking about it. I do still believe that our economy needs fundamental changes; that an economy based on growth and consumerism is not sustainable. But what could take the place of our current economy? I saw [...]
The New York Times editorial page admitted on Monday that The Numbers Are Grim. Supposedly, we’re in recovery from a recession now, but unemployment is still high (indeed, unemployment is slightly up as of Friday, June 3), and the Times blames slow growth in consumer spending. More troubling in the latest figures, consumer spending — [...]
People often say that organic and natural farming just isn’t profitable. Some farmers insist that conventional methods developed in the 20th century are necessary in order to make a living. But there are investors out there who see it differently. Yes, wealthy people who could be putting their money into Wall Street! In this OPB [...]
I tried to read Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth, but couldn’t get into it, and I don’t think I really agree with all of his philosophy anyway. However, the following passage caught my eye before I stopped reading. It’s about our growth-based economy: The unchecked striving for more, for endless growth, is a dysfunction and [...]
The current U.S. health care system isn’t working. The health care reform bill under consideration now might help, or it might be too little too late. Many countries use a single-payer system, which sounds good. The government collects taxes. The government pays for health care. The people pay nothing (aside from the taxes) or minimal [...]
With the new national jobless rate at 9.5%, critics are saying that President Obama’s economic stimulus package isn’t working. That’s highly debatable. It could be that it’s really not working. It could be that the federal stimulus is keeping things from being much, much worse. I’m not sure how you’d measure that. Regardless of this [...]
I’m getting really tired of reading articles about how to save money, tighten your belt, etc., because of the recession. Every article pretends to have new, useful information for you, and every one has the same tired old shit that I’ve been doing for years (or at least they’re ideas that I considered and discarded [...]
It’s January 30, and the last thermometer I saw said it’s 37 degrees, but it really is time to start thinking about gardening again. For me, this is complicated by the fact that we’re thinking about moving (not out of Portland, just someplace cheaper and/or possibly a different neighborhood). So I don’t want to put [...]
