tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post6100096072450567163..comments2023-07-25T07:08:51.934-06:00Comments on Bill Longstaff: I have met the enemy and they ain't all capitalistsBill Longstaffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-5452677129015533052013-08-20T01:49:57.435-06:002013-08-20T01:49:57.435-06:00I thihk, Bill, you'll agree that capitalism qu...I thihk, Bill, you'll agree that capitalism quite skilfully manufactures demand. It's instrumental to maximizing production and profit. There's an entire industry devoted to grooming children to become tomorrow's consumers and their parents today's. Their demographics are mapped and dissected and analyzed to death, the better to target them effectively. <br /><br />As we get older, Bill, we come to consume less, to get more life out of what we do buy, and hence become far less interesting to the forces of capitalism. We're debt averse for obvious reasons and that rules us out as players.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-40589687400508389722013-08-18T10:58:00.907-06:002013-08-18T10:58:00.907-06:00Bollocks, Anon. I've never bought a cel phone ...Bollocks, Anon. I've never bought a cel phone and my printer, too, works great and I've never had any trouble getting ink for it. And, oh, I've driven the same car — a little, no-frills Honda — for 23 years and it still runs like a top. The lesson is buy less, and when you do buy, buy quality.Bill Longstaffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-16348411801572008082013-08-18T00:11:45.945-06:002013-08-18T00:11:45.945-06:00Bollacks Bill. We don't demand. We are force...Bollacks Bill. We don't demand. We are forced into it. Ever try repairing and using a cell phone that is older than 3 years? Enforced obsolescence. My printer works great, but they don't make ink for it any more. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-41530915613582884082013-08-17T18:02:48.809-06:002013-08-17T18:02:48.809-06:00Mound, if the rest of us didn't demand, and de...Mound, if the rest of us didn't demand, and demand, and demand the products capitalists produce, such ills as you mention in your third paragraph could be avoided.Bill Longstaffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15883751372039947365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-60668505545647284002013-08-17T14:29:40.720-06:002013-08-17T14:29:40.720-06:00Unfortunately, Bill, Steyer is an exception. War...Unfortunately, Bill, Steyer is an exception. Warren Buffett is also an exception when it comes to inequality yet he dismisses climate change as a hoax.<br /><br />I think that anything or group that promotes unfettered growth in today's world places itself at odds with mankind. Capitalists discount the future, the world our kids and grandkids will have to live in, and, in doing that, cause great future harm and suffering.<br /><br />Capitalists keep us running into walls and we see them all around us. Some, such as deforestation and desertification, are visible to the naked eye from space. Others are tangible in such things as the collapse of global fisheries and the exhaustion of groundwater stocks.<br /><br />As Anon mentioned, corporatism is the love child of the unholy union of capital and political power and that's an enormous threat to our democracy.<br /><br />Of course there will be exceptions but they don't represent the face of the captains of capitalism.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4804513671389132165.post-58781470822158751672013-08-17T13:40:17.975-06:002013-08-17T13:40:17.975-06:00Actually, I think that the human invention of The ...Actually, I think that the human invention of The Corporation is the enemy, because we hold corporations to a far lower standard than individuals. Tax standards, accountability standards, environmental standards all have harsher consequences for an individual, because they cant sever themselves from the consequences, the way a corporation was DESIGNED to. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com