[GJM] corporate sociopath

[marguerite hampton]

"corporate sociopath"
Posted by: "lurban kohler" lurbankohler at yahoo.com
Sat Nov 18, 2006 4:48 pm (PST)
Urban wrote in part:
 
In case you read this Eco, your response to the
building of the future, that it would cost too much,
makes me feel somehow we need to be reminded money has
no actual value, therefore NO amount is excessive if
spent to create a sustainable planet. Money is a human
artifact. It's power has been hijacked by the dark
side. Were the forces of "light" to regain control of
this power, surely we should be as willing to employ
its magic to sustain the earth as are the forces of
darkness which control it now willing to employ it to destroy!
 
eco:  I seem to be back in the good graces of Yahoo
again and am receiving posts and am as well able to
post to Yahoo lists. 
 
Urban, what I was attempting to say here is that in
the present circumstances -- the way the GMS is
set up, money does have value and is bought and
sold like any other commodity.  This is why we pay
points to acquire a loan.  Which is a very large
part of the problem.  Also, in the manner in which
production is structured today, the "external costs'
are largely ignored.  What I mean by external costs
are negative effects on the environment and consequently
on the human family.  These effects went largely unoticed
for thousands of years, but have finally caught up to us
where they can no longer be ignored.  Global climate
change has a very large profile.  So, remediation costs
which should have been included in the initial pricing of
the product were not included.  Consequently, we are
faced with a barrage of remediation costs accumulated
over thousands of years and which the Stern Report
fortells will be in the trillions of dollars as we attempt to
deal with global climate change.
 
          One of the things we have to come to grips with is that
          whatever activity the human family does, there is a
          negative impact on the environment whether that activity
          be raising food or building structures.  And advanced
          technology comes with a higher price tag than does
          simpler forms of technology such as building a grass hut
          using human labor vs building the type of structure Reinhold
          proposes using advanced technology.  So, whatever the
          structure Reinhold proposes does when it is completed,
          there are still negative external costs attached that will
          quite probably be ignored as always.  Most of these costs
          will be associated with materials acquisition, but dependent
          upon what type of energy is utilized some external costs will
           be energy-related.  Which is one reason we need Zero Point
           Energy as it is known to be relatively free of external costs
           compared to wind or solar power.
 
           I just viewed 25 windmills put into action by the Kumeyaay
           Tribe of Campo Indians here.  The cost of constuction for
            this operation was $75 million dollars excluding the negative
            impact on the environment for parts production, etc.
 
            I did not have the opportunity to find out what the anticipated
            ROI on this project is, but if external costs are included --
            meaning the costs of production of parts on the environment
            then this project would probably not make sense.  

            One of the ways corporations evade external costs is to 
            do projects in the developing world where the laws are looser
            and external costs ignored.  Which is another reason why many 
            U.S. jobs are going offshore.  

            In many cases, the external ignored costs could offset any gains
            that seem to have been made when looked at from an "up front"
            position.  

            The conclusions I have arrived at over time, and which I am sure
             the GMS has also considered,  is that environmentally-sensitive
             projects simply, at this time anyway, do not have the
capability
             of generating the kind of income/profit necessary to cover the
             costs of labor and other associated costs  + the ROI necessary
             to attract investors and pay dividends.  

             We need to be able to have a system based on recapture, recycle
             and 100% reuse just as nature does.  However, we also have to
             recognize that if this were in effect, the need for human labor
would
             further drop to around 3% of the available workforce.  Yet
today, 
             we are already staggering under the need for only 30% of the 
             world's available human labor force.  So it is obvious that we
cannot
             continue with the same kind of economy/monetary system that has
             worked in the past.  This is a whole new ballgame. 

             Let me try and make this a little more clear re: external costs
 
:             If the cost of a pound of beef included external costs using
today;s 
             methods of production, the price would likely be up around
              $90 a pound -- for oil it might be as high as $300 a gallon. 
Yet our
              government subsidizes both oil and beef, excluding
externalities, 
              so as to keep prices low and encourage continued excessive 
              consumption of these and other products so the elite and other

  investors such as retired persons may continue to reap high ROI's.  

The formerly large and mainly white middle and lower upper class was largely
built 
on the travel, oil, beef, and insurance industries through ignoring external
costs.  And, this is why the U.S. became the most prosperous country in
the history of the world while doing more environmental destruction than 
at any time in pre-recorded history since World War II.  What we sow, we 
will inevitably reap.

For more on this may I suggest Jim Bell's book: "Achieving Eco-nomic
Security On Spaceship Earth" available as a complimentary download
at Jim's website:  www.jimbell.com 

marguerite aka eco 
              
     
 
       .  .   .
 
 
 
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