Non-sense

What would happen if more people just went out - to the mall, around campus, at the town hall - and did what these guys do?

The Middle Way

The road to common wealth, common ground and plain & simple happiness might just be the Middle Way.

No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path. - Siddharta Buddha

While Buddha is referring in this quote to spiritual salvation, his words ring true for economic salvation as well. In fact, a little-known branch of economics called Buddhist economics, might just have the answers to our questions about sustainability and inequality.

Buddhist economics turns our Western view of the economy on its head by making the following distinctions:

We’re all one. It’s no secret to Western readers that our usual way of thinking is in terms of “me, myself and I”. In econ classes, we are taught from first year level that rational individuals act to maximise their own welfare – thus, they act out of self-interest. In Buddhism, there is no “self”, and therefore no self-interest. The concept of self-interest is replaced by reciprocation, where people realise that by giving, we receive more in return.

Nuh (every)man, nuh cry. The main aspiration in Buddhism is to empower people to end suffering in their lives, as well as the lives of all other sentient beings. This stands in stark contrast to Western econ’s obsession with maximising profit. In Buddhism, your work should contribute to general welfare. Work is not seen as just a means to survive or make profit - it is an opportunity to grow spiritually and connect with your fellow human beings. This concept is also known in Buddhism as Right Livelihood, one of the steps on the Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path. If your work is not contributing towards the cessation of suffering, you are missing a major part of the path.  

Hold the desire. In Western economics, “greed is good”. Our desire for accumulation is what drives our creativity and entrepreneurship – or so we're taught. In Buddhist economics, the aim is to simplify desire rather than glorify it – let go of your attachment to worldly goods and realise how little you really need to survive on. This attitude would, obviously, do a world of good for the environment.

Market, schmarket. In Western econ, the market is the economy. Buddhist economics rejects this view, since the market clearly doesn’t take into account the needs of future generations, and of the earth – though these are two very important stakeholders in any economy.  In a market system where demand can only be backed up by buying power, the poor and marginalised are often underrepresented. Think of the far-reaching consequences for poverty and inequality if we rather adapted this view of a market – one in which community based participation is paramount, rather than profit maximisation at all costs.

Your ouput’s no good with me. Buddhist economics values organisations in which caring and trust among all levels of the organisation are the true measure of output – not simply the marginal product produced. Anyone thinking of Chinese factories having to put up nets to stop their employees from jumping to their deaths right about now?

Less is more. In Buddhist economics, bigger is not necessarily better. If high trade volumes mean that there is more produce to choose from at the local supermarket, but the transport costs involved have been detrimental to the environment, then no value has truly been added by expanding choice.

Happiness is me. Though the shortcomings of conventional measures of economic activity such as GDP have long been recognised by the Western world, we continue to pursue GDP growth. Buddhist economics realises that this is fatal, and focuses instead on happiness as the main outcome of the economic process.

As the Buddha said - no one can save us but ourselves. Are we willing to make the change?

Buddhist Economics is an exciting and promising field of economic thought that deserves more investigation and attention. To read more about it, refer to E.F. Schumacher’s “Buddhist Economics.”

 

Tragedy of Common Sense

The Easter Islands is probably the best example of an isolated community; it is to date the record of the most isolated inhabited island in the world.  It was inhabited by the Rapanui people, living in harmony… oh no, wait, living in total disharmony with the island.  

Let me explain; the Rapanui believed that their dead ancestors will provide them with food, shelter and prosperity, etc (in our system the Neo-Classical Economics is the one that solemnly promises these things).  The Rapanui believed if they built big giant Moai’s the ancestor will hear them and listen to their needs.  A Moai is a figure carved out of stone, with a big brow and serious face.  Moai’s originally faced inland, after war between clans the faces where scattered and turned.  

The Easter Island was home to subtropical moist broadleaf forest; a beautifully rich seabird inhabitance and some land birds.  Yip, like earth, the Eastern Island had abundant resources.  And like today, the Rapanui het a certain cultural motivation that was focused only on building bigger and better Moai’s (today we are motivate by technology, economic growth, iPads, a huge bank account, Western defined ‘success’, bigger and more, etc).  You might look back on the Rapanui, snigger at their obsession with big faces and think our current motivation for a growing economy is nobler.  Don’t be ignorant – growth is growth; whether you would like a bigger, more serious and more impressive Moai or whether you want a bigger BMW, a bigger house, a Jacuzzi, a second PC, a Wii, a $10 million bonus or eat until you are obese … fundamentally there is no difference?

Where did this system bring them?  

They were over taken by war (sound familiar?), deforestation (sound familiar?), 

 unstable ecosystem (sound familiar?), extinction of species (sound familiar?),  overpopulation (sound familiar?), even cannibalism… until they themselves became extinct…

And today?  How does the Eastern Islands look today?  It is a deserted desert island with eerie looking faces looking out to sea, maybe for help.  The once proud Moai, now seemingly weeping.

Einstein said insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results.  The Neo-Classical is fundamentally the same as building bigger and bigger Moai’s and the Earth can expect the same results.

Wait a minute, there one community that is more isolated than the Easter Island… Planet Earth.

Non-sense

Change

Stop thinking that you can't change, the world can't change - get your head out of your ass and DO IT!

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.” - Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prym
 

Non-sense

VICTOR LE BOW SAID:

SCREW YOU VICTOR! 

I refuse to believe that our fundamental economic goal is consumption!! 

My spiritual satisfaction is NOT in what I have, it is in what I BELIEVE.  

I don't need STUFF to know who I am!  

The fundamental goal of the economy should be to be just, to be in harmony, to create happiness and a life worth living.

Non-sense

Mythbusters

Warning: This post may disturb sensitive readers. We’re going to talk about the S-word today…That’s right, boys and girls. Socialism. Dirty, nasty, oh-no-she-di’int  SOCIALISM.

I’ve already mentioned it twice now, so by this time you’re picturing Lenin knocking on your front door to confiscate your property, ordering you around. Right?

It’s a provocative word that’s generally very unpopular, mainly because so many people have a misconception of what it is. Current Economics 101 courses aren’t doing much to provide balanced information on what socialism is either, so I’m going to attempt to dispel a few myths.

Some of the most common critique you’ve heard runs along these lines: Socialism as a system fails because people want to improve themselves and be free to be rewarded for their effort, as well as have a free choice in what they do with their lives. Furthermore, socialism inevitably ends up in brutish dictatorships, since it’s only human nature to exploit others when we have the chance to.

Now, for the facts:

Socialism DOES reward you for the work you do – it aims to empower the owners of the means of production (i.e. labourers), therefore if you’re an honest, hard worker, you will be rewarded for it. It’s the capitalists who don’t get rewarded – people who don’t really contribute anything at all, but grow rich by speculating with money and exploiting labour. Socialism won’t rob you of your choices in life. It’s NOT a system whereby government seizes control of everything, simply one in which we acknowledge that market failures do occur, and government has a role to play in providing what the market fails to do. Especially when it comes to services such as education and health which are basic human rights and should not be run for profit. As for human nature – you may be surprised to find out that most of what you think comes naturally to you, is actually just conditioned by society. Greed, opportunism, self-interest, violence – these are not things we’re necessarily born with the instinct to do. Much of it is what we’re programmed to do, ironically mostly by the capitalist system which most suppose is an antidote to this behavior. If you’re taught from a young age that only the fittest survive, competition will eliminate you so you’d better be competitive, and hey, it’s not personal, it’s just business…How else do you expect people will behave? Evolutionary biology has proven that, if anything, humans, as social animals, are biologically programmed to be cooperative and empathetic (You can look up studies by Jack Nitschke, Joshua Greene & Jonathan Cohen, and James Rilling & Gregory Berns on the biology of compassion.)

We need to be critically evaluating the alternatives that are available to capitalism. Alternatives which are, by the way, so much more numerous than just either/or between socialism, capitalism and communism. Question and investigate…so we might find solutions to the imbalances of our current system.

HAVE A LOOK AT OUR FRIENDS AT KICK IT OVER

Plain 'n Common Happiness :)

Global GDP & Happiness... I THINK NOT!

There is almost no correlation between happiness and GDP, the top graph is GDP per capita and percentage of people classify themselves as ‘pretty happy’ for the USA and the bottom for Japan.  It is clear that the current economy has a huge inability to make us happy.  The next question is what type of economy will make as happy, will treat the earth with respect and will give all a worthy life?