11.23.2010

Consuming Less Is The Road Out Of Banker-ville.

Folks in Ireland woke this morning bankrupt. Seems their banks lent huge sums to real estate and mortgage schemes, bubble bursting sums that must now be paid back, not by the few who pissed away the dough on their self-serving speculative schemes, but by the many who neither speculated nor profited. Austerity programs continue to sprout, the many protest-the few laugh, they all know who owns who.

Ireland's a democracy eh, so's Greece, Portugal, Spain, France and the UK. All of 'em, and lots more, are in trouble for going all in to save their billionaire bankers from their own stupidity and short-sighted greed. Democracy is meaningless, people will believe any story, no matter how ridiculous, if it ends with them getting to have the stuff they want ...as Josh Holland of AlterNet says, "If you could create a political party that convinced a large number of people that by electing you they could eat all the ice-cream they want, and then sit on their butts watching TV all day and never put on an ounce, you’d have a pretty good chance at gaining power."

The US is in especially deep, no nationality has consumed their way into crushing debt more efficiently than my fellow Amerikans. Yesterday The Mud Report ended with a call to 'bring corporate capitalism to a grinding halt'. Today it's one road to 'how': Stopping conspicuous consumption, genuinely wanting and being happy with less, growing and making our own, these are the ideas and actions that will hobble the runaway corporate agenda. Timothy Leary's advice to "Turn on, Tune in, Drop out" still works.

With the consuming season accelerating toward the insanity of Black Friday now would be a great time for real austerity to take hold. A great time to realize that you'll never fill your psychiatric prescription with more stuff. Only wanting less can curb corporate capitalism. More tomorrow on felling the beast, but for the next few minutes why not relax, relax, You're getting sleepy... Your legs are feeling heavy...Your arms are feeling heavy...You're falling into a deep sleep...