08-26-2021, 10:11 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-27-2021, 01:35 PM by Eric the Green.)
(08-26-2021, 04:49 PM)Dustinw5220 Wrote:(08-26-2021, 03:08 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:(08-25-2021, 08:33 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: The real question may be even trickier: how do we deal with the End of Scarcity?.....................
We need new small businesses to
(1) fill niches that bankrupt entities leave behind
(2) create opportunities for people who would chafe in giant enterprises
(3) create jobs and generate public revenues through sales taxes
(4) adapt quickly to customer desires -- better than late-stage bureaucratized behemoths
(5) serve as a capital market (banks recycle loan payments into new loans)
(6) have a focus on the owners' income instead of buying politicians.
Small businesses create wealth. Almost everyone else devours the seed corn.
My hypothesis is that, since neo-liberalism has caused the great inequality and decline of the middle class, as well as the crises that threaten our survival and prosperity today, all that is needed is to overthrow neo-liberalism and replace it with a new political narrative, as George Monbiot puts it. That is a tall order, and the new narrative won't be exactly as Monbiot says, but it is do-able.
Once trickle-down economics is overthrown by outvoting the Republican Party by a strong enough margin to keep them out until they disappear or reform themselves, smaller businesses and other workers will have greater equality and that will bring more prosperity to the country. It may not be like the times when people assumed humans had no impact on the planet. Climate change, species loss and pollution won't disappear overnight. But at least the wealthy will no longer be choking the life out of everything with their neo-liberal deceptions. This will allow us to pass the kind of supports that Biden and other progressives are now proposing, and that will help us to deal with the environmental crisis as well as the declines in wealth among the people.
Right now it is crucial for as many people as possible to write/email Senators Sinema and Manchin and remind them that the whole issue of our national and world survival now depends on them. They must vote for the reconciliation bill on the Senate table. Otherwise we will lose our chance to avoid the climate tipping points due to happen soon. So, please write them!-- even if they are not your senators.
https://www.sinema.senate.gov/contact
https://www.manchin.senate.gov/contact-joe/email-joe
I've never written/emailed senators (or any elected/political figures) before so I'm not sure how I should go about it, what should I say exactly and how long should the messages be (if I do it, I want to do it right)? You don't need an account to email them, do you?
I also have serious worries/doubts that much can be done to change their minds (Sinema and Manchin may be moderate Democrats, but they don't sound like they're on our side) or that enough other Millennials will even step up to write/email them, but given the gravity of our situation and what's at stake, we must try anything at this point!
Just click on the links and go for it!
I just recounted for them the results of allowing climate change to continue by not passing the only legislation available that adequately addresses the scale of the problem. I'm not saying I did it the right way; just what seemed right to me; that's all anyone can do. These 2 senators are the key to passing this reconciliation bill; the world is concerned and watching, and they are the ones who will make the difference. The tipping points loom soon; you know the stakes: fires, floods, storms, sea-level rise, droughts, severe threat to our food and water, which in turn means more wars and more immigrants surging across our border (of concern to Sinema's state). I also mentioned to Sinema that she is a former Green and that her state is shifting blue/left so she should not worry about her voters. And that she could negotiate over the other aspects of the bill.