First of all we have another indication of the pressure building because of the fact that money is now electrons, and photons, flowing through various transaction circuits, throughout our many layers of webinated world. As such it is only logical that this creates an automatic desire to get rid of the old hard copy renditions, as soon as is possible.
What's interesting to me in this is the contrast of how obvious, in the act of turning physical currency into something that must be mediated by an effective autocracy of information flow, it is that this is very much like turning the clock back on knowledge itself, as in, in a sense, getting rid of books; that pesky hardcopy again.
And of course it will be those not empowered within the new, virtual autocracy (whether that is one economic group, or one economic titan, hardly matters to the rest of us), that will have a great deal less means to affect anything precisely because they have become so ever much more dependant, upon said same autocracy, to not only know anything, but to have to be servile in order to have access to any of life's basics.
Which, conveniently, brings us to the next element in our current tableau of absurdity. Student debt. Because here do we see a main convergence of elements: as in money and knowledge now being equated; again precisely because information and money are the same thing. And of course, in that context, you can't have knowledge unless you pay for it. Never mind that it was society that made getting that knowledge possible in the first place.
And it is also here that you have to ask yourself this question: If so many on the left accept that there should be a basic living wage, shouldn't they also accept that there must be a basic level of education that comes simply with the rights, and responsibilities, of being a participating member of what keeps your community going? And that the whole notion that you must not only pay for the knowledge, but that you must also pay an extra premium for the use of the money, is absurdity squared, if not cubed; because heaven forbid if the poor dears who have all of these counters should go even a picosecond of time where even one of their counters is not gaining return for having been used, temporarily, by another.
Which then leaves us with the last element. The one that really matters because it represents, finally, the growing sense in economists, that the disruptions coming, in this case from what we did to the planet, actually will, fundamentally, affect Capitalism. Wow. Only about a decade, or three, late, but at least it is a start. At least it is an indication of the recognition that Capitalism cannot possibly hope to cope with not only the disruptions of Extreme Weather, but also none of the other disruptions possible because of Capitalism's other absurdity: It's penchant for creating very dangerous competitions, which are all part and parcel of the process to determine what will constitute that final "autocracy." And in this, certainly, I am talking about competitions for markets, resources, and the military prowess to see who, ultimately, ends up with the biggest stick.
And therein do you see the last, and final absurdity. That this surviving autocracy might actually triumph, and be able to do so with a piece of new instrumentality, that will solve what they will think is the last obstacle to a new, and triumphant regime of power. Only to come to realize that this stick, big and intimidating though it may be, whatever it ends up being, will be of no use whatsoever to saving them from the wrath of a divine process ignored for too long. The very living process that gave these people the ability to supposedly "think" in the first place. And won't they then wish they had a lot more, free thinking individuals, to help them find a way out?
If The Cashless Dream Goes Sour, It Will Be The Poorest Who Suffer
See Also:
LOAN SURVIVOR
The Incredible, Rage-Inducing Inside Story Of America's Student Debt Machine
Why is the nation's flagship loan forgiveness program failing the people it's supposed to help?
THE TIME OF THE FLOOD
We Were Prepared For A Storm, But Not Hurricane Harvey
There will be as many different iterations of this storm, and the ones to come, as there are Houstonians. And we have to hear them — they're what will determine our map for the next one.
No comments:
Post a Comment