Comments on: Checks for people who don’t like money

By: Kaihsu Tai

Kaihsu Tai — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:29:39 +0000

Mercedes said: “[Capitalism] is also the economic system approved by the Vatican”. Can someone provide a citation for this please?

By: Mike Ciul

Mike Ciul — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:48:38 +0000

Well, that was a bit snarky, but true enough in my view. Whether it’s hard to find present-day Christians who aren’t the son of God and are against capitalism, I think it depends where you’re looking.

By: josh

josh — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:21:59 +0000

“Its hard to find anyone thats a Christian and is against capitalism.”

I can only think of one off hand, Jesus. You may have heard of him, he’s the son of God. I’m sure there are others.

By: kuro

kuro — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 01:25:40 +0000

All though the points above are great (Capitalism is Cannibalism), i think the pyramid refers to the all seeing eye/new world order aspects of the current system. (A) I’m not a christian, but reading this is really inspiring, there’s actually lots of anti-capitalist christian groups, such as the christian Anarchists etc. This system turns people against each other.

By: sebastian

sebastian — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 19:42:04 +0000

All I have to say is that I like the “Capitalism is a Pyramid Scheme” tag. Even if it may not be true in the absolutely sense, it has some ring of truth to it by the (ill)nature of most it’s participants.

By: Mike Ciul

Mike Ciul — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 14:38:00 +0000

I would agree that capitalism is a system that requires a growing population. I read a couple of books lately that shed light on why this is our current system. Interestingly, they both trace it back to the end of the ice age 10,000 years ago.

At the time, the environment could only support a small number of very tough, feral creatures of the hominid, ruminant, canine, rodent, etc. variety. A tough animal lives a long time and produces a few offspring every year. As the glaciers receded, space was made for a huge expansion in population. Something interesting happens in terms of evolution in this case. There is a mechanism for rapid genetic adaptation one author calls “neoteny.” Basically this means animals retain more of their juvenile traits into adulthood. The result: civilized humans and tame animals. Tame animals live a short time but produce many offspring in their youth — an excellent means for rapid population growth.

And yes, religions encouraging procreation have the same environmental root as agricultural societies — the story of the flood in Genesis, for example, relates to the frequent floods of Mesopotamia that destroyed forests and allowed grains to grow in large areas of land. By simulating flooding with irrigation, humans were able to conquer the forest.

As we approach the limits of the new habitat that the end of the ice age provided, we may have to return to the former “feral” model of living. I’m not suggesting putting the genie back in the bottle — I suspect there is a way to go forwards instead of backwards — but often the new incorporates elements of the old, and we would do well to remember our origins.

By: Dr Kaihsu Tai

Dr Kaihsu Tai — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 00:03:59 +0000

No, Adam. The economies of this planet cannot expand much more without depletion of natural resources. Eventually, quaternary (financial), tertiary (services), and secondary (manufacturing) industries have to rely on primary production, namely agriculture. Maquiladora workers in Guangdong, Wal-Mart associates in Chicago, and stock-market analysts in the City of London all need to eat. Humanity hit jackpot with fossil fuels and Haber-Bosch last century, so advanced economies such as the European Union can go on with a ridiculously low 7 % of the population engaged in agriculture. But I am not naive/optimistic enough to expect to hit another jackpot like this anytime soon. With the need to reduce greenhouse gases and peak oil, we will either need to scale back somehow and re-engage in agriculture with a larger fraction of the population, or accept even more drastic global inequality than it is now. On either end of the 19th/20th-century wonder: Jean-Jacques Rousseau already worked this out in his draft constitution for Corsica. And recently scholars in China such as Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao have rediscovered that China’s recent economic growth is still built on the back of overworked and under-rewarded peasants: no surprise, really. Meditate on this mystery the next time you go to Mass.

By: Adam Villani

Adam Villani — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 10:05:31 +0000

About capitalism and natural resources — this holds true only as long as we’re strictly talking about a manufacturing-based economy. As our economy moves more toward service and information industries, a growing economy doesn’t necessarily have to rely on increased depletion of natural resources. Even within a manufacturing economy, there can be value added through higher-quality workmanship or other ways that do not involve consumption of more resources.

Also, as countries industrialize, environmental protection laws are also generally (though not, of course, universally) stronger in more prosperous nations. In essence economies grow by first providing necessities, then by providing luxuries, and eventually people whose needs are being met can, essentially, trade some economic liberties for the value inherent in clean air, open space, etc.

A completely pre-industrial country would generally deplete even fewer resources, of course, but industrialization is a genie that we cannot put back into its bottle.

By: Rudi Cilibrasi

Rudi Cilibrasi — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:09:43 +0000

Actually, I would clarify: Democracy ostensibly is supposed to represent the human being. In real terms, it is better to think of Democracy as an American Idol rerun. In short, it is a contest among the photogenic and popularites. It has been the case for many decades that the United States has ignored basic health needs of vast segments of its population in the lower and prison classes, for example, and these people do not “count” in our democracy. Legally, felons are prevented from voting. But more importantly, poor people in general are pushed out of the political process in a number of ways. So, I would say Democracy is a mirror and we’re getting what we deserve.

By: Mike3

Mike3 — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 12:45:42 +0000

It is interesting to note that certain financial and governmental models may be appropriate for growing populations, but may hit thresholds when they are no longer appropriate due to physical constraints such as the depletion of natural resources.

Our scientist and top governmental officials are aware of the potential breakdown of the capitalistic model when resources become scarce. That is why you see the increased interest in space exploration – to seek sources of natural resources in order to keep the model from breaking.