The word of the day today, indeed, likely the word of at least this decade, if not our age, is "unsustainable", I'd contend. So much of the way humankind lives right now is just unsustainable. I came to realize this some time ago when thinking of the way we heat and cool our homes, create energy to do so, travel--think polluting, gas-guzzling cars--farm, what with corporate farming and all the chemicals we use on farms and even in the cattle and livestock we then eventually eat.
So totally unsustainable.
This headline today took that all one step further for me:
The 1% Should Be Afraid: The New Norm in the Workplace Is Unstable
The way we distribute even jobs in this country, let alone some modicum of "wealth" are both patently unsustainable, forget "unstable."And that's what is so crazy about our current economic system in the US, at least. The wealthy, who are continuing to reap so many benefits from our current arrangement, could and would, economists have shown, also reap so many benefits from a system that is more equitable and fair. With a stronger middle classs alone, there would be so many more millions of consumers of products and so, much healthier demand for products and services. Read: the wealthy would benefit from that, naturally and of course.
Additionally, that top 1% would benefit again if the lower class also had more buying power--more money in their pockets. It only stands to reason.
Then there is the big picture. The entire economic and financial system needs to function successfully--sustainably--for all of us in order for it to even exist, let alone thrive.
What is so difficult about this?
Then there are these other "unsustainables":
Global Warming Effects and Threats on Human Health
Why the US Military Budget is 'Foolish and Sustainable'
Agriculture And Food Systems Unsustainable
World Health Organization Warns A ‘Tidal Wave’ Of Cancer Will Sweep The Globe Over The Next 20 YearsWe're doing so many things, as a race, at least environmentally and financially, that are unsustainable, even destructively so.
And the fact is, in order to get back control of all our systems of living is to take back our government, back for the people.
Our government, at least in our nation, is bought and paid for by corporations and the wealthy. Campaign contributions, as I've written here and elsewhere so many times, are buying our legislators, their legislation and so, our laws and finally, our government. It's all for them, first and foremost, and for the people, secondarily, if even then.
We have to get our government back for the people.
And we'll have to push, fight, even, to make that happen.
We need to get started.
