the little engine that could and how it got completely out of control and became a massive interstellar digital machine that threatens to wipe us all out unless we can gently redirect it first.

 

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We go to work. We make the stuff. We serve the customers. We shop.  We pay our mortgage. We spend our money.  We keep our economies working. All this is energy has power.

HOW we do all this is what matters.

In capitalist democracies this process focuses around

profit

Thankfully many of the problems and their solutions can be found there.

As we all know profit is the difference between what you buy something for and what it costs to enable you to buy it – from sourcing and making, to shipping, marketing, and distribution.

During this process people choose to distribute profit differently.  Some don’t count some of the costs of their business (like the effect on the environment).  Others don’t pay their employees fairly or the people who make what they sell. Some take advantage of loop holes and special tricks. This has meant that some people do very little and make a lot of money. And others risk a lot for almost nothing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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But the real trick here is a belief conjured by some clever people (this actually happened) somewhere that we need all this stuff and that we would be willing to give up some of our true values and dreams to get it.

(note from Jac: our family “gave up” lots of this stuff and absolutely nothing bad happened)

 

Nevertheless, our enthusiastic consumerism helped make the dastardly dreams of post WW2 mass production into reality.

and if we could do that then we also have the power to create something better.

Learning to do this is a step by step process.  Everyone has a part to play.  Depending on where you start some people may start new enterprises.  Others may wish to change the way they shop or where they work.  Spread the word. Or support these new enterprises with their time or money.

All these actions matter a lot.

They are the very first steps towards taking back our power and redeploying it in a way that is fair, sustainable, and inclusive.

This is an all hands to the pump moment people.  All ideas, contributions, and voices needed. It’s the HOW that matters. Get started here.

 

 

 

 

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1% of the worldwide population own 45% of the world’s total wealth.

(Credit Suisse, Global Wealth Databook, 2018)

80% of the world lives on less than $10 per day.  50% live on less than $2.50 per day.

(World Bank, Credit Suisse)

14 million people including 30% of all children in the UK live in poverty.

(Social Metrics Commission, 2018)

People who make our Adidas and Nike shoes are paid approximately $3.90 a day.
(Reuters)

The average UK worker is paid $150 a day.

An average CEO is paid $2307 per day.

A FTSE 100 CEO is paid $28,873 per day.

(Economic Policy Institute; Fortune; Office of National Statistics, NEW analysis)

 

Almost 30% of the world is either under or unemployed.
(Gallup, World Bank)

15% of all youth in the world and 20% of all youth in the EU are unemployed including over 40% in Italy, Spain, and Greece, and 16% in the UK.

(Eurostat 2015)

Over 40% of Americans feel stressed, irritable, depressed, sad, or constantly worrying.  Their biggest concerns are work and money.
(American Psychological Association, Auburn University)

On average Americans make over $60,000 per year compared with $3650 for 80% of the world.

Singaporeans on average make $93,900 per year putting them in 7th place worldwide. (PPP adjusted). (World Factbook)
Singapore has the highest depression rate in Asia.
(World Health Organisation)

The profit motive, when it is the sole basis of an economic system, encourages a cutthroat ambition and selfish ambition, that inspires men to be more concerned about making money than making a life.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – American pastor and civil rights activist