We Can Do Better!

WATCH THIS VIDEO http://storyofstuff.com/downloads.html

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All problems in human society come from very simple causes

1) COMPASSION, OR THE LACK OF IT
Everybody cares, but how far do the boundaries of compassion extend? Do we just care about ourselves and our families and friends. Do we care what happens to somebody else, especially if we will never meet or even see that someone else. Our city, our class, our race, animals; trees.

2) FEAR, usually fear that there is not enough for everybody, meaning that we can't afford to help others, because then we won't have enough for ourselves.

3) WISDOM, VISION, CLARITY, SEEING DEEPLY
different words for the same thing.
When you turn on a light, do you see the power plant upstream, the garbage dump the whole light fixture will inevitably end up in.

Every action has consequences and implications, direct and indirect. Do you understand how the simplest actions of your life, such as buying a pizza, are not simple, in fact are the result of a very complicated manufacturing and supply chain? Seeing that is wisdom, taking things for granted is foolish.

If you really thought through, as best as you could, all the consequences and implications of how you are living, you would live very differently, and, my belief, be happier and healthier.

It's all really very simple:
selfishness, fear, and shortsightedness, or compassion, courage, and wisdom.
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WHAT WENT WRONG WITH THE ECONOMY?

In the simplest of terms, the people who kept it going, the poor and middle class people who created the demand for goods and services, don't have enough money to spend to keep the whole house of cards going,
BECAUSE
the rich got so greedy, downsized so many people, didn't pay enough people good wages , moved factories offshore, and raised executive salaries through the roof while doing it.
Everything else is a detail.

Productivity went way up, profits went way up, and the owners and executives kept it all for themselves. Occasionally tossing the workers a few crumbs, usually firing them and making one person do the work that used to be done by two people.

Food chains are built on the little critters at the bottom of the food chain. When they aren't doing well, the whole food chain collapses. Henry Ford understood that it benefited him to pay his workers enough to buy his cars.

AND MAYBE THERE'S A BRIGHT SIDE

My personal belief is that environmental pollution is responsible for a lot of cancer, heart disease, asthma, and everything else.
The more we consume=the more poisons we create.
Less consumption=less cancer (and maybe you're the person who won't get it)

I think the whole idea of an economy based on production of material goods is dead, and we are seeing that in our health. This planet can only handle a certain level of toxins, whereas current economic models say that growth is good. That's wrong. Of course everyone needs to have their needs met in a comfortable way, food, shelter, etc.. but the way we're doing it very often results in watching your loved ones suffer as a result of toxins produced by the same system that employs you.
WE CAN DO BETTER!