Read the Huffington post article here. When people try to defend the assertion that technological unemployment is not a threat to the monetary economy I show them these two graphs.
We can see that as we move forward we require less and less human labour to support our production economy. This is great for efficiency, terrible for consumer spending power. Add to this that 78% of all companies are NON employers, meaning they are companies of one. Labour share of GDP has been falling every year as machines take over humans for the extraction of raw materials, the production, and distribution of goods. The only thing humans are capable of doing is consuming but that's all on borrowed money that can never be paid back because humans are no longer employable when compared to machines.
Seeing as how i've been slacking on my blogs i figured i'd come back into the mix, full force, with not one but TWO posts today! This second post is also from another Huffington Post article posted today entitled, "Top Industries For Becoming A Billionaire". Which is a top 10 list assembled by Forbes magazine of industries ranked by number of billionaires within each. Just like my previous post i'll keep it quick and get right to the list accompanied by a Zietgeist point of view. Let's begin.
#10 Sports - 15 Billionaires
If you've seen or read Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky it's easy to see why this is such an offensive metric. The first industry on our list of industries with the most billionaires not only has nothing to do with global social well being and public health, but add to it the fact that professional sports was designed as a distraction for the masses and you get a double whammy. One more ripple effect is that the wealth accumulated by these sports figures goes to feeding luxury wants, thus rewarding other socially offensive industries built on unsustainable consumption.
#9 Manufacturing - 18 Billionaires
Private ownership of natural resources, their unsustainable extraction and exploitation, and the market driven artificial scarcity that affects the cost and thus the affordability of all products derived thereafter has concentrated wealth into the hands of the very few. Manufacturing's purpose is to serve the needs of the global population, not the wallet's of a select few who benefited from the entitled legacy of corrupt elite's before them.
#8 Real Estate - 27 Billionaires
Private ownership is a fiction. It is restricted access enforced by the threat of violence. Shelter is a common necessity of our species. It should be the goal of society to provide shelter in all of it's various forms and functions for all mankind. Having shelter subject to the monetary market insulates it from it's social purpose and restricts access for those that need it as much as those that have access. The concentration of wealth in real estate spits in the face of impoverished people across the globe.
#7 Fashion and Retail - 28 Billionaires
Clothing and retail, like real estate, when subject to monetary market drivers also restricts access to functional and well designed garments to those that need it just as much. The concentration of wealth in this industry is based on status symbols and celebrity endorsements being used to brain wash consumers into demanding unsustainable production from brand name labels. A waste of resources and totally unsustainable.
#6 Food and Beverage - 31 Billionaires
Just like clothing and shelter, food is a basic need of any species. Subjecting food production to the monetary market restricts access to impoverished people across the globe. We have the technology for abundance in food production but we lack the economic model to distribute it as needed. Wealth concentration in an industry so basic to human survival is probably as offensive as you can get, especially when referring to access to clean water. The most profitable multinationals aren't even providing nourishing food but instead stocking store shelves with toxic, GMO laden ingredients and enough sugar and fat, to give most of the population diabetes or coronary heart disease. But hey, i guess they're helping the medical industry to grow, right?
#5 Service - 31 Billionaires
This industry includes medical care and just like food is a basic human need. It has the same social implications on global well being and social health. Restricting access due to monetary market drivers is inhumane. As a social species our sole purpose in life is to serve each other as brothers and sisters which volunteers do around the globe, not for monetary compensation, but for the joy of helping a neighbour.
#4 Energy - 35 Billionaires
Energy is vital to all other industries and is just as fundamental to social well being as the raw materials of production. Accessing the technology needed for harnessing renewable energy and to create abundance is being limited by the monetary market economy and driving wealth into the hands of a few. Most of the current international conflict is over energy resources which should, by nature, be common heritage of all mankind.
#3 Media - 37 Billionaires
Media is a social service and thus should not be subject to private profits. Journalism 2.0 is democratizing media delivery but is being fought against by media moguls with political influence through lobbying and campaign contributions. Pulling the money out of media will bring the truth back in media. Corporate interests cannot be allowed to control and bias mass media with unethical goals and intentions. This results in propaganda.
#2 Technology - 51 Billionaires
If all technology were open source, sure there would be no billionaires but we'd be light years ahead of where we are now. Technology is what provides access abundance to the world. Throttling it's advancement and innovation by restricting collaboration and rewarding competition via the patents, fictional intellectual property rights, and the monetary market system is preventing us from reaching our full potential as a society.
#1 Investments - 100 Billionaires
The investment industry does nothing for social well being or social health. It's sole purpose is to track the money sequence of value. It's growth, profitability, and it's wealth concentration only rob the planet of resources and benefits an elite few. It's very existence is not needed for the planet to thrive sustainably.
It's been a busy year trying to volunteer my time as a local chapter coordinator and editor at zietnews.org, such that i haven't been able to publish a blog in over a year. Do not fear as my draft folder has been growing and growing as i write notes for procrastinated blogs. Today marks my return to the blogosphere and i've chosen an article in today's Huffington Post to return with, entitled America's Ten Disappearing Industries.
In the concise style of this blog I'm simply going to list the industries and give you a quick analysis as to why said industry is disappearing. I encourage all my readers to question my analysis and do further research into my comments. I guarantee it will take you on a wild ride. And now onto the list:
#10 - Telecommunications - Change in industry size, 2007 to 2011: -11 percent
This is an easy one, Moore's Law is allowing us to create smarter more efficient devices that allow us to do more with less. The more efficient and robust a technology becomes the smaller the industry required to maintain it becomes. It used to be that you needed a pager, a fax machine, a land line, an internet connection, a cable subscription and a mobile phone account. With my current smart mobile device i have access to all of the above functionality with a single mobile voice/data account at a fraction of the price in hardware and service cost.
#9 - Banking - Change in industry size, 2007 to 2011: -11 percent
Online banking and ATM's adding to the already ubiquitous trend of technological unemployment which is causing a decline in consumer spending power which causes a decline in qualifications for borrowing, which causes a decline in investment leveraged spending, which causes a decline in banking revenues, and the cycle continues.
#8 - Construction - Change in industry size, 2007 to 2011: -12 percent
Austerity measures due to the global debt crisis are decreasing infrastructure spending by global governments. Private sector construction is taking a beating due to the same decreased consumer spending mentioned in the previous point. The decrease in size of this industry further results in more unemployment and further consumer spending power decline, and the cycle continues.
#7 - Automotive - Change in industry size, 2007 to 2011: -13 percent
I hope you're starting to see a re-occuring trend here with the consumer spending-decline-cycle thing. But this industry gets the added bonus of global peak oil production being passed and oil reserve depletion causing a rise in the price of oil eating away at profit margins, causing layoffs and reducing spending power etc. The high price of gasoline is also decreasing demand for the uber profitable, high horsepower, sports cars, SUV's and luxury vehicles. Environmental impact is also making personal internal combustion engine powered vehicles less popular with the masses.
#6 - Retail - Change in industry size, 2007 to 2011: -15 percent
Online shopping and other related advancements in technology have caused increases in efficiency and thus brick and mortar layoffs are the result. Reduced consumer spending causes declines in revenue and resulting layoffs. Manufacturing efficiency is creating product abundance and perfect competition that drives prices and profit margins down to zero causing more layoffs. Advancements in 3-d printing which will democratize product manufacturing will not help either.
#5 - Supermarkets - Change in industry size, 2007 to 2011: -20 percent
see above
#4 - Capital Markets - Change in industry size, 2007 to 2011: -21 percent
This is the vampire of the bunch. It feeds off the success of other industries since it is merely an exchange facilitator. When all other industries take a hit, wall street cannot "tax" non existent transactions. No exchange (i.e.business), no fees for facilitation. Investment depends on industry growth, no growth, investments go south thus reducing spending power from investment losses.
#3 - Warehousing - Change in industry size, 2007 to 2011: -25 percent
Real time Point of Sale (POS) data makes Just-In-Time (JIT) delivery even more effective and efficient reducing the need for warehousing. Purchase orders are filled on demand. Global logistics are simplifying the transit routes causing the need for fewer distribution centers (DC's). Technological unemployment at it's best.
#2 - Restaurants - Change in industry size, 2007 to 2011: -26 percent
Restaurants move in tandem with retail. Reduced consumer spending due to technological unemployment and you close doors due to reduced demand. More home cooking as well as a move toward healthy organic food is making major food franchises buckle.
#1 - Newspapers - Change in industry size, 2007 to 2011: -28 percent
Do i really need to explain this one? I'm sure anyone reading this digital blog will understand the implications of Journalism 2.0.
The big question is, who will replace the GDP of these dying industries? I'm afraid the answer is, nobody. The decline in these industries is not due to a failure within the monetary market system but is, by design, an expected result of it.
A popular buzzword for opponents of The Zeitgeist Movement is the tendency to project a fear of conspiracies. A Resource Based Economy is simply a central nervous system of the planet's resources. If we take a look at a functional definition of a system, it's easy to see why people would ignorantly associate it with a conspiracy.
Most systems share common characteristics, including:
Systems have behavior, which involves inputs, processing and outputs of material, energy, information, or data;
Systems have interconnectivity: the various parts of a system have functional as well as structural relationships between each other.
Systems may have some functions or groups of functions
The difference between a conspiracy and a system is that a conspiracy is a hidden or often a secret system of arrangements and partners. It is the unknown aspect that essentially separates it from any normal workflow system. What appears to be happening is that lack of knowledge or information is causing what should be regarded simply as a system is being erroneously labelled as a conspiracy. However the information is available, transparency is there, and the ignorance is not due to the lack of transparency or available information it is due to the lack of research effort.
One must be aware of what they label a conspiracy and what is merely just a system operating on environmental drivers such as profit, shareholder value, return on investment etc... To all the NWO fanatics, just because YOU don't know how it works doesn't make it a conspiracy. A lack of knowledge does not equate to a lack of available information.
This has been a very common objection since the release of Zeitgeit: Moving Forward. My responses to the comments have been as follows:
The only way it can happen is if it happens inside every one of us first. When it does, it affects your actions on a day to day basis. People take notice and the information begins to spread. This is the very nature of social networking and the viral effect.
Historically only 40%-60% public support has been needed for successful social movements to reach a tipping point. This is the point where some power holders begin to shift their resources to philanthropic endeavours. It is not necessary to convince the world, only a small portion of it. Successful social movements also require a catalyst in two stages, one to ignite the core supporters into uniting, which has already happened with the 2nd movie and the formation of the movement, the second catalyst brings attention to the cause with which the movement uses to gather more support. This is the global economic crisis we have been seeing since the tech bubble crashed last decade. A great study by Bill Moyer lead to the publication of an article entitled History is a Weapon - The Eight Stages of Successful Social Movements. If you study these eight stages you’ll see that we are in the middle of a global social movement that cannot be stopped.
The more information people have the more they start aligning with each other in terms of values and motivation. The following video by Daniel Pink on Human Drive sheds an eye opening look into what really motivates humans. Previously, information was limited to local, community, or regional broadcast methods so the information spread slower than needed in some cases to generate critical mass. With the internet, information exchange around the globe has become literally instantaneous. This is why the world new about the earthquake in Haiti as it was happening before the USGS could officially report it. The world just got really small really fast. National borders have all but disappeared in the world of online social networks. Global support for international inhumanities now has an ally in online social networks which is why Tunesia and Egypt are being discussed by a global conscience. The technology is here, the need is as great as ever, and the catalyst is here. Never before in the history of mankind have these elements lined up properly, especially the technology component. A portion of the population has the ability to contemplate the potential of the movement as being able to achieve maslows hierarchy and are thus motivated to work towards this direction in order to simply satisfy these needs. This is just a matter of information transfer. Over 2 million people have seen this message in just over a week. This rate of information exchange is unprecedented for such a controversial and fundamentally life altering concept. We have everything to lose if we don’t change, and we have everything to gain if we do. The question everyone must ask themselves is simple, will you change?
We are in an emergent global symbiotic relationship with the planet. This fact will render any socio economic system that does not recognize this, irrelevant and destined for failure. We live in such a system today. This monetary economic paradigm will go down in history as one of the shortest social experiments in our 150K years on this planet. Historians will look back on this time as a learning process for humanity, a bump in the road. We are the only species on this planet who pays rent. We are the only species on this planet whose waste does not contribute to the ecosystem. These are unsustainable paradigms that must be changed or we will parish as a species.
I updated my FB status today with a theory i just came up with. "People would want less if they could just find a way to get what they need." I realized that this may require an explanation since some people haven't really given any thought to the difference between a want and a need. Let's start with definitions. Want: something that is desired, craved, required, or needed. Need: a requirement, necessary duty, or obligation. The first thing you notice is that the definition of wanting includes desiring that which is needed. Whereas the definition of needed does not include desires or cravings. If this were a mathematical equation it could be said that Wants = Needs + Cravings or Desires. So my initial theory is sound, in that if a persons needs are met, their wants would only then consist of cravings or desires.
The second foundation for my statement lies in the proposition that, if ones needs are met, they then become more qualified to determine the relevance, sustainability, and legitimacy of their cravings or desires. It reminds me of a quote from a movie i saw as a kid called Weird Science. Two young teenagers were reflecting after they had successfully manufactured the woman of their dreams through a magical science experiment. "She was everything i ever wanted in a girl before i knew what i wanted." This familiar scenario suggests that knowledge affects desire. The more you know about a situation the better you can determine the outcome of achieving your desires.
It has been said that happiness is the delta between what you have and what you want. Logic would suggest that mankind can achieve increased happiness by first supplying that which is needed to the world. Education is a need, not a want. it is crucial for survival. If education were in abundance, cravings and desires would voluntarily be reduced to that which is sustainable and abundant instead of damaging and scarce. The achievement of needs and the reduction of wants brings down the delta on two fronts.
We can then summarize by saying that supplying the worlds needs in abundance would have the positive side effect of reducing global demand for unsustainable resource extraction. This would satisfy key concerns for both environmental activists and social welfare organizations around the world since you have provided for the worlds needs in an environmentally sustainable system.
The following is a typical example of how the scientific method of problem solving would be able to provide us with a better, more consistent, and accurate calendar with which to synchronize the globe.
As our knowledge of the solar system and it's perennial occurrances increases with each generation of astronomers, physicists, and mathematicians, we have gained enough information to improve the accuracy, reliability and predeictability of our calendar system. The current western calendar system, the Gregorian Calendar created in 325 A.D., was adopted based wholly on it's ability to track religious observances. Several proposals for new calendar systems have been submitted that eliminate many of the inefficiencies of the current calendar. Inefficiencies such as:
It is not perpetual. Each year starts on a different day of the week and calendars expire every year.
It is difficult to determine the weekday of any given day of the year or month.
Months are not equal in length nor regularly distributed across the year, requiring mnemonics (e.g. “Thirty days hath September…”) or knuckle counting (ridges are 31, valleys are 30 except first valley [February] is 28 or 29 in a leap year) to remember which month is 28, 29, 30 or 31 days long.
The year’s four quarters (of three full months each) are not equal (being of 90/91, 91, 92 and 92 days respectively). Business quarters that are equal would make accounting easier.
Its epoch (origin) is not religiously neutral. The same applies to month and weekday names in many languages.
Each month has no connection with the lunar phases.
The benefit of utilizing a calendar is to be able to schedule, track and document events with accuracy, consistency and reliability. If there are ways to improve these three attributes they should be tested, analyzed, and the superior method should be utilized until a better system is available. This is the the scientific method. Case and point, the World Calendar created in 1930 was proposed to the united nations and rejected by the U.S. on the sole basis of religious tradition requiring a 7 day week. Another shining example of established institutions (namely religion) holding back civilization from emerging out of the dark ages based on newly discovered information.
