A Better World Monday

I can't help but feel that things are improving, and a better world is on its way. Not just because coffee shops are close at hand, but because I can sense a critical mass of hope coalescing in a foam of discontent.

Last night I read about the injustice of the wealthiest of the wealthy stashing trillions of dollars in offshore private banks in order to avoid paying hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes. With this level of blatant greed and excess, the end of the status-quo has never seemed so real, or so close at hand.

Awareness is building, and many individuals are devoting energy toward making meaningful and satisfying personal changes. Such changes, collectively, are adding up to a cultural shift that is leaning toward justice and fair treatment of the human family, and the earth.

One era or paradigm ending means another begins. Our actions to restore balance are bringing about the end of the old ways. There has never been a better opportunity for change - we can see that a better world is needed, and is possible. But what will it look like?

In order to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity to create a new world, we have to be prepared with a vision of what we want to replace outdated institutions and practices. We need to think big, and imagine exactly what our ideal world would look like.

My ideal world would:

• have a 20 hour work week... or less.
• make war and weapons obsolete.
• have no use for advertising.
• ensure all of humanity has all basic needs met.
• replace competition with cooperation, and hate with love.
• have a 10,000 year plan.
• have garages so empty you could put an electric car in them, and still have room for a bicycle.
• cherish children's well-being, so would make sure there were no impediments to full time parenting.
• not have poverty or starvation.
• value happiness and well-being over material things.
• acknowledge that everyone has equal rights.
• have no use for insane hoarding of wealth because sharing would be the norm.
• be slower, more casual, and with a lot more laughing, creating, and relaxing together.
• be simple and sustainable.

We have to know what we want to replace current ways of doing things, and be able to visualize everything clearly. Then can we take advantage of this moment in history, and make positive change happen.

What does your better world look like?

Amazing Feats of Simplicity: Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie remained a simple man despite his fame
 and offers of wealth, self portrait

Woody Guthrie, troubadour of the common people and writer of songs like This Land Is Your Land, came into the world 100 years ago yesterday. Although he was born to a wealthy family, by the time he was a teen the family fortunes had changed. By age 20 he was on his own and penniless, like a lot of people at the time.

The Depression (the one in the 1930s) and dust bowl years were harsh for regular people, and Woody began to transfer his observations of the poor and downtrodden to song. In doing so, he became the first modern protest singer. Eventually he was courted by powerful interests that offered Woody 'opportunities', but he was very wary of the materialistic view of life.

In his writings, Guthrie explains that his father's pursuit of money and social status were a cause of personal and family trauma.

"…oil slickers, oil fakers, oil stakers, and oil takers. Papa met them. He stood up and swapped and traded, bought and sold, got bigger spread out, and made more money… Almost every day when Papa rode home he showed signs and bruises of a new fist fight, and Mama seemed to get quieter than any of us had ever seen her. She laid in the bedroom and I watched her cry on her pillow.

And all of this had given us our nice seven-room house."

Perhaps because of his early experiences of the drawbacks of a materialistic lifestyle, Woody preferred to live simply. He traveled by foot or boxcar rather than by boffo limousine. His first biographer wrote that Woody didn't seem to care much about money, and was just as likely to give his cash away to someone living on the street than bring it home for himself.

Although he could have amassed great personal wealth, Woody Guthrie knew from an early age what sacrifices needed to be made to live the 'high life'. He wasn't willing to submit to them, and made a choice that not many have the strength and wisdom to make.

Faced with the potential wealth and luxury lifestyle that was within his grasp, that is an amazing feat of simplicity. 

Grow Food, Not Lawns

A garden is pure, joyous, abundance

When I was a kid I lived in a neighbourhood dominated by, like most in N. America, manicured lawns. Although some homes had gardens in the backyard, all had expanses of green, weed-free grass up front for everyone to see and admire. Except one.

I never knew who lived in the house that was the one holdout in a sea of high maintenance living carpet. But I sure did admire the homeowner that dared to be different, and planted their entire front yard in potatoes every year.

I passed by the 'potato farm' on my way to elementary school, and it was my island of sanity on that walk. Something felt right about it.

It was probably what I perceived as a blend of practicality and defiance for the rules of a confused, and confusing, system.

As a kid, that made a lot of sense to me. It still does.



Update: Here is another front garden. You can't say it doesn't look 'neat', a common complaint of neighbours.

Opting Out Of The Machine

If we are not free, the machine will not work

There are many references to society being like a machine, but I have never heard one stated as well as Mario Savio did in 1964.

Savio was a leader in the 1964/65 Free Speech Movement that began on the University of California, Berkeley campus. The movement was fighting against repressive rules on campus that banned political activities and severely restricted students' rights to free speech and assembly.

In a now famous speech on the steps of Sproule Hall December 2, 1964, Savio said,

"There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious - makes you so sick at heart - that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part.

And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop.

And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all."

I consider simple living to be an alternative to being a cog in a machine intent on destroying everything in its path in the pursuit of profit.

I make sacrifices willingly, and joyfully, to put my body in the apparatus of the consumer machine. This is part of my contribution toward stopping the machine, stopping the destruction, and stopping the greed.

I am creating a new machine. One that respects the environment, and people. One that takes care of everyone. One that produces peace, love, and happiness.

That is where I am putting my cog.

Holding On, Letting Go

Things To Keep

1. Freedom
2. Cooperation
3. Music
4. Nature
5. Reason

Things To Release

1. Greed
2. The status quo
3. Inequality
4. Ego
5. Hate

John Trudell: Let's Think Things Through

John Trudell is a native American activist, poet, defender of Mother Earth, and subject of the documentary "Trudell". The doc is about a life of speaking out against the corporate/government alliance. It is about a life of speaking uncomfortable truths of genocide and environmental destruction. It is about Trudell's tribe, and we are all in it.

Native Americans, being the original caretakers of North America, are in a unique position to talk about sustainability. Their people lived here sustainably for many thousands of years, a feat of incredible strength, commitment, and wisdom. We could have learned so much from these original Occupiers over the last several hundred years.

We ignore the message of Native Americans at our peril. John Trudell is reaching out to all of us, because he knows that the machine that goes by many names (civilization, progress, the economy, markets, globalism, free trade, capitalism, military/industrial complex, consumerism...) is coming for all of us, regardless of what colour we are or where we live.

The machine needs to be fed, and all of us will become its fuel if we don't pay heed to the warnings native people have been giving us since first contact.

Rarely have I heard such a staunch defender of the Earth, human rights, and basic freedoms as John. He is inviting us to join him in rethinking what it means to be human. He is inviting us to join him in revealing the lie, and re-establishing the original green economy.

"Theoretically, if everyone that disagrees with the lie that has been imposed upon us - tomorrow, if everyone got up and said, 'I'm not going to enable the lie anymore', you would have nonviolent change, and you would have quick change.

The system goes upon our self-rationalizations and self-justifications and insecurity. That's how it works, and it has turned all of us against each other through distortion.

The one thing these people fear is that we would use our minds to attempt to see clearly. Our apathy makes us the enemy of our descendants. They want us to be in a position where all we think about is ourselves. We need to use our minds to think things through."

After thinking things through, I started NBA almost 500 posts ago to help stop the lie. It was after the 2008 financial crisis made things perfectly clear for me - I would do whatever I could to prevent my actions from enabling the lie that is oppressing us, and killing our planet.

I will not work for the lie, and I am not buying anything that supports the lie. In this quest, it is good to have people like John Trudell to remind me of my commitment, and help move me a bit farther toward truth, justice, and sustainability.

Watch Trudell to see how the machine continues to attempt to neutralize the continent's caretakers, and any other voices of reason, to pave the way for private profit, and public misery. Mr. Trudell's story is a tale of tragedy, triumph, and hope for a better future.

Money Myths vs Money Facts

Money myths are our culture's most cherished, most damaging lies

Myth #1: Everyone can get mounds of money if they work hard enough.

Fact:  Does anyone actually believe this any more? The global economic system is balanced in favour of a small minority, and always has been. This minority gets away with a lot of bullshit by making us think we can join them if we just stick to it and keep on working harder (insert sound of cracking whip here).

Myth #2: Money will make you happy.

Fact: Nothing of importance can be bought with money. It can't buy a problem-free life - it often creates more problems than it solves. Do we really think that the billions of people on our planet that don't have money aren't happy? Or 'can't' be happy until they are wealthy? Everything I have experienced while meeting people all over the world tells me this is not the case.

Myth #3: Rich people are greedy.

Fact: Not all rich people are greedy. I imagine, much like the rest of the population, most of them are quite nice. Misguided, off-course, hypnotized, chained to the perpetual wheel of want - maybe. But not greedy.

Myth #4: If some money is good, more is better.

Fact: Past an ideal, modest level of financial well-being, acquiring more money suffers from diminishing returns. Going from poverty to enough money to sustain your needs yields a huge payoff. Going from that to more than enough will yield less bang per dollar as you continue to spend.

In drug terms it is called tolerance, or reduced responsiveness. The richer one gets, the more one spends. Finally, like a seasoned addict, you need to blow more and more cash to get the same effect. Eventually you need to buy yachts and 30,000 square foot houses just to feel normal.

Myth #5: All you need is love.

Fact: Hold on, how did that get in there? This one is not a myth. This one is a fact.

It is true. All you need is love. It is free to feel, free to give, free to receive, free to enjoy. No money, no money myths needed.

No Sleepwalking Monday

"It's 2011 - wake up!"

The 1% controls billions by denying them what they need. 

The rest it controls by giving them everything they want... on credit.

Are developed countries waking from nightmares of excess to embrace simple, sustainable lifestyles?

As we gain an increased awareness of global power structures, and the apartheid they perpetuate, will we make the necessary sacrifices in order to improve equality?

Will the 20% that consume 80% of the planet's resources alter their behaviour in order to aid the 80% trying to get by on the 20% that is left?

We are waking up, and once we know, we can't un-know. I sincerely hope that we take this momentous opportunity to do the right thing.

Multitude Monday

Multitude, by Maroe Susti

It is not a matter of pretending that we are powerful when we are not, but rather recognizing the power we really have; the power that created the contemporary world and can create another.

- Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri

Being a lover of books, when I read a headline about "the book of the Occupy Movement", I was immediately interested. The article was about Hardt and Negri’s book Empire (2001), and how many believe it predicted and helped shape the current wave of protests. Empire is largely what the protests are fighting against.

The only way for the rich and powerful to maintain their interests and guarantee the global order, according to these authors, is to establish Empire, or a broad global collaboration among the ruling powers.

Far from being peaceful, this collaboration is maintained through a state of violence that permeates everything, and opposes democracy. Perpetual fear is used as a tool of control.

Hardt and Negri do not give solutions to these problems. But they outline the methods that can be used to arrive at our own solutions, and they point out the most effective way to make change happen - through the power of the Multitude. This is described in the book by the same name, which is a follow up to Empire.

The Multitude consists of people showing a multiplicity of differences - different cultures, ethnic backgrounds, lifestyles, etc. Differences can be maintained while we concentrate on what we have in common.

We all share a desire for love, social justice, fairness, environmental integrity, freedom, and sustainable systems, among other things.

Today, for the first time in global history, the Multitude is able to form, and with it comes new possibilities for how we live and govern ourselves. Communication technology provides the means for enabling different peoples to come together in order to talk, explore, discover, and plan for the future.

We are the Multitude, the David that will be the end of the Goliath that is Empire. And we are exercising our power to create a better world.

No Empire Monday

"The decline of Empire has begun and the revolution against it is in progress." - from Empire, M. Hardt and A. Negri

In Trainspotting, the main character, Mark Renton, decides to go clean and quit heroin. He is successful in doing so, and tries to "choose life" like the regular people he sees around him. Why, I am not sure.

Eventually Renton gives up his addiction, and looks forward to a 'better' life of mindless consumer addiction while living a culturally approved script.

"I'm going to be just like you: the job, the family, the fucking big television, the washing machine, the car, the compact disc and electrical tin opener, good health, low cholesterol, dental insurance, mortgage, starter home, leisurewear, luggage, three-piece suit, DIY, game shows, junk food, children, walks in the park, nine to five, good at golf, washing the car, choice of sweaters, family Christmas, indexed pension, tax exemption, clearing the gutters, getting by, looking ahead, to the day you die."

This is what he quit drugs for? This is what we have traded our freedom for? It is no wonder the masses are growing restless, and are beginning to challenge notions of Empire. The dream of democracy, and a better life has turned out to be a bit of a nightmare for millions of pacified workers.

People are working more and more for less and less, and are not happy about it. Negri and Hardt in their book Empire, have good news for these victims of contemporary global capitalism. They say that capitalism, "although seemingly impervious to anti-systemic challenge, is in fact vulnerable at all points to riot and rebellion."

Maybe the Mark Rentons of the world will find that consumer addiction and adhering to the regular life script can be as hazardous to your health as hard drugs. But rather than go back to heroin, perhaps they will join a protest somewhere, and hit back at the dead end choices we are offered by the men behind the curtains.

Perhaps they will say no to the addictions of capitalism and stuff, and gain their freedom through living simply. Perhaps rather than support it, they will help bring the Empire down.

The Empire is falling--they always do--and when it does, The People will resume control. Together we will create better, more sustainable and equitable ways of doing things.

No Corruption Monday

I didn't particularly enjoy grade school as a student. When I entered the school system later as a teacher, I discovered it wasn't much better from that end. Students and teachers both end up corrupted.

What bothered me in both roles was how the education system is increasingly set up to produce compliant workers, not independent thinkers. And not just education, but most parenting as well. You can be different, but not too different.

I always looked up to those people that thought differently - artists and rebels, musicians and writers, hermits and hippies, and all manner of misfits and malcontents. But it was hard for me to maintain my "Stick it to the Man" when all of a sudden I was a teacher, and I was the Man.

We do our youth a disservice by training them to accept cubicles, rather than help them break down walls and imagine something different, something better. I did what I could to foster independent thinking in my students, while realizing there was a larger world out there they would need to integrate into (if they chose to do so).

Schools may be turning out students that are well adjusted to the larger world, but what if that world is profoundly sick? If we all share the same delusion, how will we know we are delusional?

Let's stop corrupting our youth, and start telling them the truth: Our system isn't working, and we need people who can think differently and imagine better ways of doing things.

No Luxury Monday

Diogenes taught that simplicity leads to happiness

Diogenes lived in Athens, Greece in the fourth century BC. He believed that happiness was achieved through meeting basic needs and eschewing luxury. He lived as he taught, and resided in a barrel in the Agora, an outdoor meeting place. 

Diogenes felt that the person with the most was the one who is content with the least.

While the barrel was enough for the Athenian, the world was not enough for Alexander the Great. He is to have said "Had I not been Alexander, I should have liked to be Diogenes."

Once, while Diogenes was sunning himself, Alexander came up to him and offered to grant him any request. "Stand out of my light," Diogenes replied.

Nothing can give us the deep pleasure and satisfaction as the basic, simple things in life. Luxury is counterproductive.

Better to sleep in a basic bed while free, than in a luxurious bed while bound.

Time To Break Our Rusty Cages And Run

Charlie Veitch and Danny Shine (The Love Police), are more commonly known as the "Everything is OK Guys". Armed with a megaphone, sarcasm, and alarming truths, they use street theater to try and wake people up.

As hurried, worried workers march through their lives, and as the police (or rent-a-uniform security personnel) look on, The Love Police go to work on sleep-walking citizens.

"Everything is OK", they announce, "Go back to your jobs. Keep shopping."

Usually when we hear that we should not worry and that everything is alright, we become suspicious, and for a good reason. Deep down we know better.

We can feel how civilization and capitalism has caged us. Once gilded, these cages are now tarnished and beginning to rust. Our homes are fancy cages as we 'cocoon' with our families, then we commute in wheeled cages to our cubical cages at work.

We are caged birds that don't see that the bars are weak, and the door is open - why don't we try to escape? Why don't we fly away?

It's no wonder Chris Cornell was compelled to write the song, "Break This Rusty Cage". It is one of my favourites, and it is no wonder Johnny Cash, artist of the people, covered this powerful Soundgarden tune. Johnny was all about breaking cages during his career.

A cage is a cage, whether it is gilded, or rusty. It is time to break out, regain our freedom, and RUN. The choice is ours, and people like the Love Police are here to remind us that we can, and should, break free.

"Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves."

~ Henry David Thoreau

A Punk State Of Mind

"Beethoven broke all the rules, and turned out pieces of breath-taking rightness."

- Leonard Bernstein From: deviantART

I am not a card carrying punk, although I do appreciate listening to a good, thrashing, high energy tune or two before going out and battling greed and denial for the day.

I respect any group that rejects mainstream bullshit, and makes a point of destroying corrosive concepts such as high society, luxury, and privilege.

That is how I found myself reading "Portrait of a Thousand Punks: Hard Core Logo" by Canadian artist Nick Craine. It is a brilliant graphic novel that, through the telling of Hard Core Logo's story, tells the brief, flaming story of the punk movement.

Some would say that punk is dead. Thousands of punks, and the punk deep inside each one of us would disagree, for the energy of punk is the energy that we will need to radically change the world. But what is punk?

In the Introduction to Portrait of a Thousand Punks, Michael Timmins (Cowboy Junkies) provides his answer. I share an excerpt from his introduction here.

What is punk?

"Punk is: Buddy Bolden high-stepping through the French quarter, blowing maniacally; Robert Johnson returning from the crossroads; Hank Williams with his voice and pen spilling tears and blood; Charlie Parker cutting all comers on 58th Street; Elvis Presley launching into "That's All Right"; John Lennon shredding his vocal cords on "Twist and Shout"; Ornette Coleman weaving his plastic alto through smaller and smaller concentric circles; and Patti Smith firing her opening salvo with the line "Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine."

Punk is standing up and declaring "Fuck this and Fuck that... I'll do it my way."

It is taking on convention and
deliberately
forcefully
and most importantly
gleefully
tearing convention down.

It is action and commitment.
It is not hair colour, clothing, accents, age, record sales,
recording contracts, press clippings, poses, T-shirts, badges,
body fluids, videos, or tattoos.

It is energy.
An energy complex and mysterious enough to destroy and create at the same time.
Not possible to harness.
Not possible to bottle.
Not possible to recreate once dissipated.
Of the eight punks listed earlier six died
prematurely.

An energy that burns too hot to be contained by mere skin.
It is a form of expression that hits you
so hard    and
so deep   and
so meaningfully            it
grabs you by the stomach
picks you up out of your chair
drags you across the floor
and knocks you so silly that by the time it's through with you
you are seeing the world
your life
in a completely new light."

Yes, that is exactly what we need - to see the world, and our lives, in a completely new light. In the light of simplicity, a slow pace, equality, and fairness. In the light of freedom to be who you are, and to follow your passions while being supported by your community. In the light of living lightly on the land.

Let's question the damaging ways of civilization and capitalism. When we find things we don't like, let's have enough attitude and bravery to say, "Fuck this and Fuck that - I'll do it my way."

Let's break all the rules and create a world of 'breathtaking rightness'.

Hungry? Living In An RV? Move On Buddy...

(click to enlarge) From: LA Times

More and more cities are becoming officially anti-poor, but not as in helping eliminate poverty. Burbank, as shown by the above cartoon, isn't the best place to park your RV or other such wheeled abode for the night. So much for the freedom of the open road. Municipalities can think up all kinds of crazy bylaws to discourage the poor from, well, living, basically.


A friend recently told me of one such bylaw which states something like, "It is unlawful to feed the homeless". Orlando and Houston are two cities that a quick search reveals do not allow sympathetic citizens to help the less fortunate eat. You would think we were talking about feeding wild animals in a national park.




So much for simplicity and compassion. "Move along non-rich slackers. Nothing to eat here. Oh, and that will be $5 bucks for parking here last night. Please pay before you leave our town and never come back... unless you get money to spend."


Soon only the rich will have non-wheeled, stationary homes, and enough to eat. What will the rest of us do?

Capitalism And The Growing Ecological Dilemma

What we do to the earth, we do to ourselves

We are currently experiencing human-caused ecological stress like never before. We have been largely denying the damage we have been causing, even though the destruction has been monumental. Some scientists even believe there is enough evidence to show we have entered the Age of Anthropocene, where humanity's effects on the planet threaten the natural systems we all rely on.

For over 40 years environmentalism has not been able to slow the economic juggernaut that is driving this house wrecker. Why does capitalism blind us to the realization that a healthy environment is of primary importance, and without out it nothing else matters?

We have to look at our cultural ethic to find the causes of our reliance on extreme forms of capitalism and our growing ecological dilemma. Professor Donald Worster describes the capitalist approach in "jarringly stark terms".

Worster writes, "The land in this culture, as in any other, is perceived and used in certain, approved ways; there are, in other words, ecological values taught by the capitalist ethos. We may sum them up in three maxims:

1. Nature must be seen as capital. It is a set of economic assets that can become a source of profit or advantage, a means to make more wealth. Trees, wildlife, minerals, water, and the soil are all commodities that can either be developed or carried as they are to the marketplace. A business culture attaches no other values to nature than this; the non-human world is desanctified and demystified as a consequence. Its functional interdependencies are also discounted.
2. Man has a right, even an obligation, to use this capital for constant self-advancement. Capitalism is an intensely maximizing culture, always seeking to get more out of the natural resources out of the world than it did yesterday. The highest economic rewards go to those who have done the most to extract from nature all it can yield. Private acquisitiveness and accumulation are unlimited ideals, impossible to satisfy once and for all.
3. The social order should permit and encourage this continual increase of personal wealth. It should free individuals (and corporations as collective individuals) from encumbrances on their aggressive use of nature, teach young people the proper behavior, and protect the successful from losing what they have gained. In pure capitalism, the self as an economic being is not only all-important, but autonomous and irresponsible. The community exists to help individuals get ahead and absorb the environmental costs."

Surely not all capitalists strictly adhere to Worster's maxims. However, much of the current environmental desecration stems from the misapplication of the spirit of capitalism that he describes. Environmental costs of the harsh, self-indulgent aspects of our capitalistic system are quickly degrading and destroying the world's natural systems.

Pure capitalists cannot hide what has been done to the world's forests, for example. But trouble is also showing up in other areas such as water, atmospheric conditions, and soil depletion. Climate change threatens us with catastrophic weather events - the suffering people of Joplin, Missouri are currently experiencing these effects, but they are not the only ones to notice scary changes on the horizon.

Short term economic expediency dictates a narrow, irresponsible use of our collective natural gifts. Nature is over-simplified, the destruction is denied, and environmental problems are left for our kids to solve. We currently do not have any viable solutions to any of our pressing challenges. No provisions are being made to reinvest any of the great wealth generated by capitalism in the maintenance of a healthy ecosystem to safeguard options for the future.

Getting over our materialist mania will help us weed out the worst of the capitalists by withholding our dollars from their overflowing vaults. I am not buying anything they are trying to sell me. Ecological imperatives dictate that we simplify our lives, go forward with compassion, and create local, self-sustaining communities based on a free and fair exchange of goods and services.

Along the way, we will take our freedom back, heal our planet, and realize better, more balanced ways of living.

Contentment

"True contentment depends not upon what we have; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but the world was too little for Alexander."     Charles Caleb Colton

For about the past 10 years I have been quite content to not buy anything, or hardly anything. Living a small footprint lifestyle, and trying to approach sustainability has been rewarding and satisfying. Ultimately, it has made my life better, because I am just not into the whole buying and selling thing.

In the movie Say Anything the character Lloyd Dobbler (played by John Cusack) said, "I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that." I can relate.

One of my favourite things about living simply is that it has largely taken me out of the marketplace, except for basic things we all need. When I get money I put it in the bank - I can't think of anything else to do with it, as far as 'shopping' is concerned. I don't like shopping, and besides, I have what I need.

I have warm, dry shelter in a location I love. I eat fresh, tasty, whole foods. I have supportive friends and family in my community. I have time for creative activities like playing guitar, reading, and writing. I spend lots of time in nature.

My education has given me the desire to ask questions, seek answers, and apply what I know to make the world a better place. I feel safe and secure (as much as you can living in an earthquake/tsunami zone, or worse, under the increasingly right-wing Harper regime). I have a great partner that is my best friend. I have a healthy mind and body, although the 'healthy mind' might be a bit of an exaggeration.

To me, that all seems like enough. Would making my life faster and more complex make me happier? Could earning and spending more money increase my freedom and joy? I don't think so.

I feel like Richard Feynman when he said, "I am completely free, and there are no levers that can be used to influence me." I am the system's worst nightmare - I am content.

No Mischief Monday

Beware of predators wearing business suits

The Adventures Of Unemployed Man

I love a good laugh, as most of us do. Martin Luther King said, "I think a great deal of truth often comes through laughter." Indeed. The moment we lose our sense of humour is the moment we are in deep trouble. We need to laugh at the world, and at ourselves. When we let mirth into our lives, new ideas emerge.

And boy, when it comes to the economy and unemployment, we need new ideas. In The Adventures of Unemployed Man by Erich Origen and Gan Golan, we laugh while realizing the truths about the unemployed uncovered by the main superhero character as he confronts the evil Just Us League.

The Ultimatum - Dark Night of Self Help - starts out admonishing the unemployed to overcome the laziness that he thinks is holding them back from achieving The American Dream. But soon he learns about how the economic game is structured, and realizes that his motivational vigilantism and self help slogans won't be enough.

Ultimatum's day job as alter ego millionaire Bruce Paine has him overseeing Paincorp, the empire left to him by his father. When Paine confronts the board with what he has found out about the poor treatment of their workers, the board - chaired by The Man - oust him. As one of the unemployed now, Ultimatum begins to see the world through different eyes.

No more butternut Manhattan leather recliner from Pottery Barn in a 100 room mansion. Ultimatum's new digs are a tent in a tent city. But the residents there enlighten him further on the plight of the unemployed, and the evil evilness of the all powerful Just Us League that keeps them in their place.

Before long the big U on ex-millionaire Bruce Paine's chest stands for "Unemployed Man". And now instead of blaming the unemployed he is fighting the powers that are exploiting the common people for their own evil purposes.

Want to laugh while learning truths about distinctly unfunny things such as the disintegrating global economy, unchecked capitalism, and rampant inequality? Check out The Adventures of Unemployed Man.

Will Ultimatum motivate and inspire positive change? Will the people overcome The Invisible Hand and SuperMax? Will the dreaded Debt Blob eat everything in sight? Visit your public library to find out.

Fantastic Facts

"Thirty years ago, corporate CEOs were paid only around 78 times more than minimum wage earners. Today's CEOs earn over 4000 times more! In fact, they can make more in one year than average earners (not the lowest) make in 90 years! They're that good."

"If the USA maintained the same income distribution we had in the 1970s, the work force would earn at least three times as much as they do today - averaging about $120,000 instead of today's $40,000. As of 2007, income inequality was higher than any year on record, save one: 1928. Happy days are here again."

From: The Adventures of Unemployed Man

Funny, eh? It might be time for all of us to be superheros and have our own Ultimatum-approved revolution. I am sure the elites in the Just Us League would get a kick out of that.

Are You Outraged Yet?

I like to be as positive and optimistic as I can, but at times a bit of outrage can propel me into action faster. And it seems like there is more and more to be outraged about all the time.

A growing income gap between rich and poor, an economic system based on greed and exploitation, human-induced environmental collapse, and ineffective governments bought out by big business, are only some examples of outrageous situations that should be activating us in our quest for what we know to be fair and right. But it takes a lot to motivate the average North American, now weighed down by record amounts of fat and stuff.

When I was in Spain in 2002 thousands protested in the streets because the price of wine had gone up a bit. I remember thinking that such a thing would never happen back at home. We would just take the increase in stride and vow to work harder and make more money so we could still afford our favourite bottle.

Why aren't more of us outraged enough to take action against self-serving individuals who sacrifice the environment, their fellow humans, and plain decency in their quest for more? I wonder what it will take to jar us out of our comfortable complacency. I am not interested in inciting riots (much), but I would like to incite a bit of change.

Time to get outraged. Time to get busy.