The following post was prompted by the two articles (from fusion.net and citylab.com) linked below.
The fusion.net article provides a stark representation of how the coal industry in this country has taken a nose dive into nearly complete oblivion, and the citylab.com article describes how virtually half of American families are facing financial catastrophe.
I see this kind of thing juxtaposed and it reminds me just how schizophrenic Capitalism has become. Creation is destruction and destruction is creation. Create a healthier environment by taking whatever measures to make poisoning the environment more expensive and you destroy the livelihoods of tens of thousands at the very least. Create the gas extracting jobs that fracking has allowed, and to which coal has suffered from, means the destruction of the environment, as well as the health of individuals, by completely new means.
And if that weren't bad enough, bad health, whether it be to the economy, or to individuals, always means new profits for at least a few sectors of the economy. Whether it be from the unbelievable usury of the payday loan companies, or the outrageous profits of significant parts of the healthcare industry hardly matters.
This is madness precisely because the current economic model has production and consumption tied directly to what sustains each individual materially. And yet the individual has only indirect influence on the decisions regarding production.
Worse yet is the fact that, even within that limited ability to affect influence, the individual is further thwarted by the fact that information itself is a commodity; restricted by the very nature of "net gain," and the economics of scarcity that are at the heart of Capitalism.
Everyone ignores, or denies, these facts at their peril. And time will become quite telling of this I guarantee you.
The American coal industry is collapsing
Half of All American Families Are Staring at Financial Catastrophe
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