One of earliest Project August dreams that turned into a predicted headline involved China inviting the dreamer to a BBQ in celebration of a great financial accomplishment.
Well, I’m not ready to pair up the next financial-type story with this dream, but I bring it up because it does have the same sort of feel here. Of course, the timing is off by about a month, but the rest really does seem strangely similar.
Introducing Chen Guangbiao, a very wealthy Chinese man who invited 1,000 homeless people in New York City yesterday for a great big meal. The article doesn’t specifically mention a BBQ, but I would imagine some sort of large-scale cooking arrangement here.
Snippet from Reuters:
Chinese millionaire set for lunch with 1,000 homeless in NYC
(Reuters) – A wealthy Chinese businessman who tried to buy the New York Times planned to serve a free lunch to 1,000 homeless people in New York’s Central Park on Wednesday with 250 of them dining in the park’s Loeb Boathouse restaurant.
Chen Guangbiao, who made his fortune in the recycling business, took out newspaper advertisements last week inviting “poor and destitute Americans” to lunch in the park.
During the meal, the Chinese philanthropist has promised to serenade his guests by singing “We Are the World,” the 1985 charity hit song to fund African famine relief.
“I want to spread the message in the U.S. that there are good philanthropists in China and not all are crazy spenders on luxury goods,” Chen told the South China Morning Post about his motivation for the lunch.
(You know, the story doesn’t really give a strong sense of when this thing occurred or will occur, and I wonder whether August might be on the table.)
Backwardation
So, that was a story that relates to the BBQ dream in a very direct way (the manifest content), but the next story matches our more metaphoric Project August headline (which was, “It’s Now Official: China Overtakes US as Biggest Economy.”)
So, wouldn’t one expect some very good GDP numbers if you saw all green up arrows on the stock markets yesterday?
Welcome to the land where good news brings stock markets up, but so does bad news!
Here’s the deal…
“US GDP shrinks 2.9% in first quarter”
Wow, that’s quite a lousy number, but there’s nothing to see here, folks, nothing at all! Just look at all the green up arrows….see, the market is fantastic!
I find it hilarious that I have to locate this news overseas at the BBC. Another indicator about what gets fed to our bashful investing sheep.
Conscientious objectors or sheeple syndrome?
Ask any financial analyst about why something like this could occur. I mean, if the GDP is going down, then what’s so “up” about the market?
They will invariably mention that it’s not the actual number that matters, it’s how it compares to the ESTIMATES. Ah, so if they have an estimate of negative 5%, and the number comes in at negative 2.9%, then that’s a huge celebration, right?
By the way, why don’t we ever see even numbers, like 3.0%. The economic numbers always look like food prices…you never see a $5 gallon of milk, it’s always like $4.98 to trick you into thinking it’s cheaper than it really is. Certainly the government isn’t doing that to our economic data?
Okay, so anyway, the estimates of our GDP were probably bigger than 2.9% and thus Wall Street celebrating a lower loss than expected, right?
HA! Tricked you there….
Get this (and I quote from BBC):
“This was worse than the previous estimate of a 1% contraction, and also worse than economists’ expectations.”
Well, there has to be something of good news in there! How about this next snippet? It gets even worse!
“Consumer spending – which is responsible for more than two-thirds of US economic growth – increased by 1% in the quarter, rather than the 3.1% rate as first estimated [oops, I was wrong about the food-price thing].
Trade was also a bigger drag on the economy than previously thought, with exports falling by 8.9% rather than a previously estimated 6%.”
What the Bleep is going on here? Rigged markets? It’s the only thing I can think of, but going back to our Project August headline: It’s still on target….as the US loses ground, China gains.
Unrelated to Project August but still economic
I include this next bit because I love a good paradox. The headline is this:
“Whole Foods to pay $800,000 in overpricing case”
I can envision all the healthy people doing what my initial reaction was: Hooray!
However, this is a huge whammy for the little capitalism we have left in this country’s oligarchy-run trainwreck. This story has Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged written ALL over it. Basically, Rand’s USA government was stepping in and determining all the laws and selling prices for the big corporations (anti-trust and anti-monopoly was the big them in Atlas Shrugged).
This Whole Foods story is slightly the same…the government (the courts) deciding what’s appropriate or not appropriate.
Granted, WF apparently did some devious things that aren’t related to honest monopoly, but the accusation of “overcharging customers” has a pretty definite anti-trust sort of feel to it. So, we have big government on the prowl, making everything right.
Solutions?
Here’s the paradox…Who DOESN’T feel that they are being gouged at the organic health food stores? On the flip side, who likes living in a free democracy with a free capitalistic structure to it? Okay, well there you have it. You can’t have it both ways, so let’s invent a new system that won’t have this problem.
I nominate Jacque Fresco’s Resource-Based Economy. Any other ideas? If you’re thinking socialism, real capitalism, or any sort of –ism, chances are that it will rape the Earth, and therefore, I will not support it. But you never know…give me a try.
If you want to keep a money system, then at least get rid of big private interests (the word “interest” is referring to every single way you can interpret that word). You’ll want to look into something like William Spademan’s rCredits up there in Massachusetts.
Another possible starting point for research is here.
Interestingly, it seems the well-to-do countries are doing so at the expense of the non-well-to-do countries. This inequality may not last too much longer, as indicated by this meeting of the lower 133 countries recently.
The dream of 2014?
If you’re ready to explore what might happen after the current bubble economy pops, you might want to start with this thrilling Project August dream. The dreamer was floored when she found out who visited her in the dream. You might be floored too, especially if you’re at all familiar with constellations…
…and Finally…the clock is ticking…
I hope you’re seeing how all these dreams are coming together. In this section you’ll see how the previous dream might be so vital in the coming days, perhaps even as early as August.
To get into this material, check out this link, but then be sure to get the background on how our Project August dreamer pegged this whole potential meltdown. The article, which includes full analysis, is here, and the recent update is here. Don’t miss it!
Copyright © 2014 Chris McCleary. All rights reserved.
My thoughts on the Resource Based Economy it already exists! – in a bad way.
Let me explain.
People on welfare have a card (EBT = Electronic Benefits Transfer) that is not money, rather a system of electronic digits put into an account. No money was printed, no cash exchanged, no sweat equity in involved. Heck, these persons didn’t have to stand in line, waste any time waiting for food (days of old), anything free and have no idea what it means to “earn” ones keep because they are not contributing to society in any shape or form. Some of these persons buy food with these plastic card the average working individual could not purchase. Some of these same persons have cars decked out with obnoxious sound systems and fancy wheels seemingly only the wealthy could afford, but hey, if you don’t have to spend money on necessities, the more for those fun items seen by all because without a task in earning a keep, these do nothing recipients are cruising the neighborhoods 24/7.
The Resource Based Economy is minus the cause and effect. A life is empty without contributing something for society. Resources do not appear out of thin air, although for much of the population it does.
Quoting from your link to The Venus Project – (also the one image of a utopia city looks like a mouse maze)
“Modern society has access to highly advanced technology and can make available food, clothing, housing and medical care; update our educational system; and develop a limitless supply of renewable, non-contaminating energy.”
…
“In an economy based on resources rather than money, we could easily produce all of the necessities of life and provide a high standard of living for all.”
Who is “we”?
It takes people power and in time yes, machines can do even more but as machines take over, people are removed from the process, are less physical and become lazy, disconnected from the reality that one must be engaged to have a life, what we call living. There is a lot to be said for creativity and being rewarded for it. I don’t care how one is aiding society, do something, feel good about it and then of course there would be a justification for the available resources, so everyone can now “work” the same or rather contribute to society and be rewarded, but for those that do nothing, they should get nothing. Simple cause and effect. Also, as one is removed from the value of goods produced, the care taken is nonexistent. Come on, we all know about trashed subsidized homes, things that are free, because the attitude is different towards “free” things – we all know that feeling of disconnect from free gifts.
Another typical story for the Resource Based Economy – inactive persons watching tv all day/night, eating food till their knee, hip and shoulder joints are so overwhelmed (obese people are everywhere!) they need replacement – free surgery, free food and free transportation (right to the front door) to the store so one can continue the cycle of free access to to the technology that makes available food, clothing, housing and medical. Meanwhile someone grew the food, drove the transportation, manned the store registers and on and on and on – people providing benefits for those contributing nothing.
My solution requires an active soul –
A Resource Based Economy must go hand in hand with an active and creative society. When one is allowed to be creative and giving, they spend more hours having fun and wonder where the time went. With no employment structure, all would be volunteering and would be rewarded with access to these plastic benefit cards, because they were earned, yet knowing someone, a body made all things possible. Oh, how empty a life when one is not serving humanity all the while having high expectations in being personally served on all fronts. Sounds a lot like the life people lead now, those on both ends of the spectrum, which includes royalty.
“My solution requires an active soul –
A Resource Based Economy must go hand in hand with an active and creative society. When one is allowed to be creative and giving, they spend more hours having fun and wonder where the time went. With no employment structure, all would be volunteering and would be rewarded with access to these plastic benefit cards, because they were earned, yet knowing someone, a body made all things possible. Oh, how empty a life when one is not serving humanity all the while having high expectations in being personally served on all fronts. Sounds a lot like the life people lead now, those on both ends of the spectrum, which includes royalty.
CJ, do you want the good news or the bad news first?
Your excellent rant is actually what Fresco’s system is all about! Granted, I’m not advocating HIS system necessarily (there are others out there), but we do have to acknowledge that any monetary system that isn’t directly related to the available resources will collapse eventually. The society will kill itself.
The good news is that Fresco’s proposal is exactly what you’re emphatically wanting! There are no subsidies in a RBE. Laziness is looked upon as an abnormal condition needing to be resolved. But the other part of Fresco’s proposal is that we don’t criminalize people for this behavior. We treat it holistically.
Want to sit on the couch all day? Instead of penalizing the person, this holistic society asks the question WHY with unconditional positive regard. “Why” is important because it seeks the root cause. Once the root cause is known, the true solution is then found.
Incidentally, laziness is symptomatic of an underlying problem. Despite the going theories in this world, humans WANT to accomplish their life mission. When they are not accomplishing their mission there is angst and anxiety. We humans have been conditioned to ignore this angst and medicate it with food, TV, beer, etc.
Your apparent distaste for the RBE should actually be aimed at the current paradigm you and I live in, because the current debt-based atrocity/experiment is actually what enslaves the people by putting them on the couch with a perpetual bag of potatoes.
Our current system FEEDS off laziness. In fact, laziness is partly what keeps the economy going, as bizarre as that sounds. Similarly, our economy feeds off bad science and terrible engineering. This is precisely why you have to buy new trinkets more frequently now….because the system requires cheaper and cheaper resources and cheaper and cheaper labor (yet another unsustainable feature of the current paradigm).
We work our butts off for what? A mortgage or car loan created out of nothing to serve the system. Here’s what’s so funny…we work our butts off (by the way, this hard work has nothing to do with our life mission), and we think the loan paperwork is saving us, but it’s actually our signature that helps save the system!! No new debt, no system. It’s that simple. Thus, we have purposeful war, created by the very people who stand to lose the most when the economy collapses.
There’s no reason that SURVIVAL has to be about getting a job. How ridiculous! Famine and poverty are actually contrived in this cherished system of ours. We have the technology to prevent poverty and disease, but corporations and huge hegemonies feed off our conditioning and programming while poor Chinese workers slave away and live in cardboard boxes while we feed our faces with donuts and hamburgers.
No, the RBE is not about laziness, although I can certainly see how people who were conditioned in this corrupt system might think that. RBE does require a higher level of consciousness, else it fails. In fact, the RBE encourages a higher level of consciousness, so based on the reaction here, it might take a resource-based collapse to make us return to our roots….
Our roots are in nature. If we don’t become one with nature, then nature has not choice but to shake us flees off her back. RBE is all bout sending the ridiculously boring and tough jobs to robots who can do it better, faster, longer, etc. This frees us up to accomplish our life mission so that we can reduce our anxiety, stress, heart failures, corrupt and self-serving behavior, etc.
I can go on and on, but just don’t have the time, unfortunately. CJ, as always your posts are fantastic. Keep it up, but just realize that RBE is probably about 180 degrees from what you perceive it to be. Take care and many blessings!!
Cheers, Chris
P.s. charge cards and/or welfare is NOT NOT NOT resource based economy. Welfare isn’t given out based on how many carrots or watermelons are available (i.e. resources), it’s given out based on how many people come into the claim office. That’s about as far removed as you can get from a RBE.