Interesting times

The old Chinese curse, "may you live in interesting times," is precisely the circumstance we inhabit this era.

Since the 1960's large corporations have abused their power and abandoned any responsibility to the general public or the planet, settling instead on short term gains and the elevation of their monetary standing.  That the planet and the general public are poorer as a result is something that ceases to be a surprise and has become a background reality leading to general resignation towards what little can be done to alter the course of humanity.

We are doomed to live in an increasingly gross and unfit environment.  Reports are made that the air quality in subways underground is equivalent to that of Beijing.  A terrifying prospect for anyone with long term exposure through their daily commute to and from work.  Result?  Listen to the echoing silence.  Suggested solutions?  A pin drops.  We all could hear it if it wasn't drowned out by the latest barrage of Trump news.

That one of the most successful exploiters of legal loopholes and privilege handed down from on high has become the leader of the United States is sad and the fact that anything he says is now tainted so that even the use of the word sad is linked to his obnoxious tweeting is even more sad.

The end of the world is coming but those who would delay its worse effects and prolong human existence in a humane way are in direct competition with those who are generating the worst problems and contributing to increasingly rapid disintegration of the infrastructure our planet needs to maintain itself.

On the one side, philanthropists and futurists and activists and anyone who takes the scientific literature seriously and makes an effort to reduce pollution and emissions.  On the other side, everyone else, who just wants to feed their family and consequently drinks the koolaid that whatever it takes to secure a job is worth the expense to the environment, their morality and somehow having enough money will make up for the loss of clean air, water, green space, etc.

Sad.  There are those whose sole talent is protecting the money of others who have the most.  These people are never held accountable and yet they deliberately and consciously destroy habitats, resources, cheat and lie, manipulate for the purpose of keeping the economy locked on the same track, and when they die their memory is preserved by these rich sellouts and their achievements looked up to as somehow noble when the actual results are dire and pathetic.

Dire and pathetic.  That's what most of economics should be entitled.  Take courses in lying, cheating and misdirecting the general public.  It's easy and it's profitable, as long as you don't mind wearing a gas mask and carrying a nanofilter for your drinking water. All that matters is the bottom line. Who won?

What used to be earth shattering news is now buried in remote blogs with comments sections filled with back and forths from who can only be plants or perhaps true sycophants who simply love to echo the battle cries of their pals and fill up cyberspace with nonsense and more misdirection of energy.  It is sad.  Real problems and concerns are evaded, ignored, buried along with those who actually lose their lives as a result of those problems.  The cry of fake news is louder than the cry of foul!  Foul play is somehow okay now.  It's the way things are done.  Crazy.  If you are not someone who goes along with this you are then seen as an iconoclast, an outcast, and far worse names.  The suggestion is made that you are weak, ill-informed, the smoke screen of confusion becomes so thick as to be impenetrable.  All part of daily business workings.

Recognizing the problem is a start.  There are so many examples of it, listing every one would take longer than simply identifying the closest to home, the most far reaching, and working on those for the sake of improving the future.  If right now is okay, then the opportunity exists for improvement through forward thinking and application of good practices.  If right now is not okay, then leadership is needed to address the wrongs and make changes through adjustments where possible and the free expression of the situation so that those who should be put to shame are not protected and those who are suffering may seek and find relief and support.

This is not a left-wing conversation.  This is a two winged flying conversation that needs both wings to get airborne.  If one wing is fighting the other, only the mud will get stirred.