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Friday, June 15, 2012

To kill a dinosaur



I’m not talking about darn big lizards. I’m talking about real dinosaurs -those mega banks and other mega corporations. We know them as the “too big to fail.”

Of course, that’s wishful thinking on their part. Take the banks for instance. What’s keeping them going? Government bailouts. Some like to think of it as a waste of tax payer’s money. It isn’t really tax payer money. There isn’t nearly enough of that. It’s money created out of nothing at all -smoke, mirrors, promises, inflation, Chinese voodoo, whatever.

How do they keep a straight face when they talk about paying off the debts someday? It’s physically impossible. The world economy would have to grow at a dizzying rate -instead of shrinking. Yes, it’s shrinking. Only creative accounting can give the illusion it isn’t. At some point in time those debts will be written off -one way or the other.

Mega corporations only keep themselves going through a tight partnership with government. Sometimes it’s direct, like when an automaker gets one of those magic government loans. Other times it’s a bit hidden, like requiring everyone to get medical insurance, or auto insurance, or asteroid insurance. Add in licenses, regulations only the big boys can follow (or are exempted from) and it’s a pretty cozy arrangement.

The game is rigged. How can anyone win?

By not playing.

Boycotts work. A large number of people could decide not to do business with XYZ corp and they are suddenly in trouble. As effective as boycott can be, they are old school and limited.

To kill a dinosaur, you starve it to death. Think of a boycott of -everything. Nobody buys anything, borrows any money or even pays taxes. A well coordinated effort could crash the whole system. That scares people, as well it should. Dying dinosaurs thrash around and trample a lot of little folk in their death throes.

That may be the good scenario. You see, the dinosaurs are going to die, even if nothing is done. They’ve grown so big the land can no longer support them. They are outstripping the world’s resources. Wages are about as low as they can go. At it is workers can barely buy the basics of life. The robbers have stolen just about everything of value.

Problem is, a lot of people are living on the scraps dropped by the dinosaurs. They are going to have a hard time. They need a plan B. Just look at the political attack on food stamps, Social Security, Medicare, and other social programs. The dinos want to eat up those scraps too.

The dinosaurs will die. We can either find a way to live without them now, or scramble like crazy later when the old monsters die. On the bright side, we won’t have to compete with dinosaurs once they are gone.

Maybe the smart thing is to kill the dinosaurs before they consume any more of the good stuff.

-Sixbears

10 comments:

  1. What bothers me is that I have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars into Social Security and now that I am depending on it, they may just cut it back. If we had been allowed to pay that amount into a real retirement fund, I would be a multi-millionaire by now. Makes one sick to think about it...

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  2. At least you'll know your sacrifice is for the good of CEOs at major companies. Doesn't that warm your heart?

    Didn't think so. Lot of people in their mid to late 50s are seriously worried. They have debt, little saved, and are counting on SS.

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  3. You have hit the nail on the head today.If everyone was to only buy what they needed to survive and no extra.The economy would collapse in less than a year.But human nature wont allow us to deprive ourselves and corperations know it.It amazes me to see that FDR ,s policys of the 30,s are the root of most our troubles 80 years later.I firmly believe in STARVE THE BEAST and save the ammo.

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    1. It will work. Don't know when or the exact details, but it will happen.

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  4. What I see is that too many people from across the spectrum are benefiting in some manner from the current system, and have no desire to see the status quo change. That's going to make the reset a long, drawn-out nasty affair.

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  5. When the checks stop, people are going to be ticked off.

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  6. Very well put, and exactly right. What I've been attempting to do all along...

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  7. We aren't alone. Our numbers grow.

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  8. The wonderful part is, so far, starving the dinosaurs is perfectly legal. (Here's praying that the Supreme Court strikes the individual mandate down.) As long as you can figure out a way to live without property or income, you don't need to pay any taxes or contribute to any corporate coffers.

    As you said, they're going to collapse anyway, best to be as far away as possible when they do.

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  9. Sweetie and I say if we had to start over yet again we'd do it via living in a van. The more we've learned about it and the deteriorating conditions here in Florida and elsewhere, the more sense it makes. Just this week we met three couples living in vans and liking it! All had owned homes, lost jobs, sold everything, could not or would not live with family and didn't want to be on the streets. They've decided their new lives are preferable.

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