Comments for FIXCapitalism.com

Comment on “Make the Sahara Green Again” – Elon, Jeff, Bill, and Zuck? by Manish Panchal

Manish Panchal — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 03:44:51 +0000

Dear Christian & Philip,
Simple but very powerful message. You have shared some great examples to learn from.
It is definitely doable, only if there is a will To Do…
I see that priorities need to be changed from Inside out to Outside in by focusing on climate change impacts to humanity.

Comment on Participate by R.J.

R.J. — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 06:38:11 +0000

Capitalism, yes

Fair income distribution, yes

How, minimum living income.

Annuity established at birth

Then let free enterprise work, govt. as referee

Comment on Books by Titus Alexander

Titus Alexander — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 19:15:02 +0000

Here are some more books and sources of information on income inequality, particularly in relation to the UK:
The Resolution Foundation have useful graphs on income inequality to show trends and calculate your own position on the income scale at http://www.livingstandards.org/, as does the Institute for Fiscal Studies at http://www.ifs.org.uk/wheredoyoufitin.
1. the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks 2013 report saw inequality as one of the three most likely threats to the world.
2. An IMF working paper on Income Inequality and Current Account Imbalances argues that the entire deterioration of the British current account deficit between the early 1970s and 2007 could be explained by the rise in British inequality.
3. The economic case for greater income equality is also supported by an IMF Report Inequality, Leverage and Crises which shows how economic crises arise from widening income distribution.
4. The Spirit Level: why more equal societies almost always do better (2009) by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett presents compelling evidence that more equal societies are better for all. This evidence has been cited approvingly by all three party political leaders. See Richard Wilkinson on TED talks at http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson.html and more evidence at http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/research
5. Stewart Lansley The Cost of Inequality, Gibson Square, 2011
6. Will Hutton Them & Us, Little Brown, 2010
7. OECD report Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising
8. Linda McQuaig and Neil Brooks The Trouble with Billionaires: How the Super-Rich Hijacked the World (and How We can Take it Back), One World, 2013
9. David Rothkopf, Supercalss: The Global Power Elite and the World they are Making, Little, Brown, NY 2008
10. The case for closing the gap between top and bottom incomes is also supported by extensive evidence in the Marmot Review on health,
11. Hills Report Anatomy of Economic Inequality,
12. Daniel Dorling’s Injustice: why social inequality persists,
13. Ferdinand Mount’s The New Few: Or a Very British Oligarchy (2012) and Mind the Gap (2004),
14. Prince’s Trust/LSE study The Costs of Exclusion, 2007
15. Oliver James’s best sellers, Affluenza and The Selfish Capitalist: Origins of Affluenza (2008)

Comment on About Us by Titus Alexander

Titus Alexander — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 18:52:09 +0000

This is a very important initiative for the sake of our shared future and democracy. However, unless the super rich themselves see the need to create a more balanced distribution of wealth it will be almost impossible to make progress, because they have the wealth to distort the system in perpetuity, until it crashes.
However one potential reform not mentioned is reform of corporate governance: see ‘Firm Commitment: Why the Corporation is Failing and How to Restore Trust in It’, by Prof Colin Mayer, which argues that corporations have been high-jacked by a few, bolstered by the false doctrine of shareholder value, and that this should be redressed through the creation of Public Interest Companies and other forms of mutual ownership. See video which sets out his diagnosis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljz_i0FgQtw or a longer talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz3ERcXo1oo which includes more about his solutions.

Comment on Participate by Mary Blessington

Mary Blessington — Sun, 27 Dec 2015 01:48:03 +0000

I’ve heard it said that you can’t legislate morality, which is a moving target at best, but there seems to be a piece in these debates that goes missing: our individual roles. Our roles in creating and supporting this government and the companies that run it, our role every time we go to work and accept 80 cents on the dollar or keep our mouths shut when we don’t like what’s going on politically or otherwise at work because we need the job. It’s a microcosm/macrocosm thing, our jobs reflecting the bigger inequitable picture out there and our sense that there is nothing we can do about it.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

I have also heard it said that unless you have an educated voting populace with access to a free press, you can’t consider your political system to be a Democracy. I very much appreciate Mark Blessington’s research into these “forbidden” topics and I mourn the fact that they are not what most of us hear. Gives me hope that one day these simple truths will be available to everyone. Perhaps my grandchildren will live in a democracy.

Comment on The Struggle Against Joyless Materialism: The Art of Clark Fox by Robi Chakraborty

Robi Chakraborty — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 17:17:19 +0000

I love your work and more than that your insight into this capitalistic world we are trapped in.

Comment on The Struggle Against Joyless Materialism: The Art of Clark Fox by Molly Cheshire

Molly Cheshire — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 15:20:24 +0000

So interesting to get the backstory on your work!

Comment on The Struggle Against Joyless Materialism: The Art of Clark Fox by Ian Parry

Ian Parry — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 03:05:25 +0000

Best to you Clark….from Tasmania

Comment on Participate by immigrantvoice

immigrantvoice — Sat, 05 Dec 2015 16:01:57 +0000

I agree that creating regulations may partially fix unemployment
May be free start -up businesses from taxes for the first five years, lower taxes for business e.t.c will help to create some jobs
But the biggest issue is: creating mass jobs that will make a real living
In this scenario-
Government must step
Millions of jobs can be created by modernizing the communication systems, energy, roads, cites, bridges e.t.c
Look at Detroit. It can be fixed and become a beautiful places to leave with jobs
Just simply look at huge degradation in E. LA , Compton, Panorama city, Van Nuy’s, ohh there is much more, I don’t even know the names of those places. Start modernizing them- you will get millions of jobs
Ugly, so side walks, poor public transportation, strange looking buildings like boxes with ugly signs, homeless, mentally ill people ( another growing issue!!! with potential job opportunities)…
Yet, millions brochures for tourists advertise beautiful places around the world that don’t have that kind of ugliness…
Why not create your own beauty?? This is just Los Angeles
I can imagine how many of those falling a part palaces around US
I don’t even want to drive there some times, only if I have to once a year or so..
Yes, all that can be fixed
Plus, of course illegals must leave America, because big part of degradation cause by their presence. Shut up. It’s true!
I would also reform schools, by bringing back manors, culture, lessons of etiquette. You might be surprised, but inner human culture and low standards of living including unemployment are in correlation .
With more manured people around America will be a SAFER
When human surrounded buy nicer environment- behavior is changing
This call for a little transformation of press, media and movie industry
May be some will call it fantastic or impossible… but look!
Many families refuse to have neurotic TV at home, place their children into private schools- just to avoid stress and ugly reality
Does that mean to you that something wrong with reality?
You can’t make money by just selling weapons to public
This is another ugly side that is shooting here and there every day…
Unless government steps in with money to be spend and major reforms in society – no jobs will be created. More damaged minds.
Business will slowly shrink, die or transfer more production across the border….
and then the process will get completely out of control
Speculating on the word DEMOCRACY is not doing good any more
DEMOCRACY for young people on their 30-s has became the meaning of homo “culture’, all kinds of transgender etc. No more meaning for the DEMOCRACY
I understand , that by damming you down country it is easier to control population
but by cultivating so many idiots will never rebuild empire- it will suck it deeper into bottomless pit
Sorry for grammar.English is my second language

Comment on Participate by Jean SmilingCoyote

Jean SmilingCoyote — Fri, 04 Dec 2015 22:11:11 +0000

It’s not correct that not having but seeking work, by whatever definition you use, will get a person counted officially as unemployed. The other necessary element is that your status as seeking work must be REPORTED. People collecting unemployment compensation have to report that they are seeking work. This is the population normally reported in the statistics as unemployed. When people exhaust their unemployment benefits, they can continue to file for it and report seeking work, but this will not get them any money, and just use up State money to send them a form every 2 weeks (usually) telling them they’ve used up their benefits. Many people in this population just stop bothering to report, it not being worth any money. No one has yet provided an easy place for these people to report their status as involuntarily long-term unemployed and seeking work, and be officially counted as such. I see writers omit the reporting requirement all the time, and do sometimes comment publicly on it. I don’t see anyone having learned it yet. If a tree falls in the forest, and there’s no one around to hear it – no, it doesn’t make a sound, even though there is the movement of air caused by the fall.