Do You Know?

John Darvill

1996

Published in:

The Northwest Technocrat, 2nd quarter 1996, No. 343

... The Cold War is over. The U.S.S.R. is no more, and Russia in its present state can hardly be considered a major threat. What enemies does the U.S.A. face? The so-called terrorist nations, Iraq, Libya, perhaps North Korea, or some of the Latin American countries? Why then is the U.S. military budget still $285 billion? North Korea's military budget is $5 billion, Iraq's $3 billion, Iran's $2 billion and Libya's $2 billion, then throw in for Syria another $2 billion. Quite a discrepancy; is this huge U.S. defense budget necessary? Or is it still a good means of assisting an ailing economy, an economy that would surely collapse, if the defense budget were drastically cut and an attempt made to replace that expenditure with goods destined for the consumer market?

... Concern is expressed regarding climatic change -- the average temperature tendency for the climate of this planet to be warming. This trend is the result of the increased emissions of carbon into the earth's atmosphere -- the biggest single source of this being the automobile. In the 1950s there were 2.6 billion people on earth and 50 million cars. There are now about 6 billion people and 500 million cars. If the business and political leaders have their way, in another 25 years there will be a billion cars on the road. In China today there are approximately 2 million passenger cars; by 2010 the projection is for 20 million. Thailand expects to be producing 1 million cars by the year 2000. Other developing nations have similar grandiose plans. An average car getting 27.5 miles to the gallon emits 35 tons of carbon over its lifetime of 100,000 miles. Each additional car adds that much to the total of carbon emissions -- if they are well maintained. The emissions increase with poorly tuned vehicles. Again we ask? What is the criteria? Is the survival of life on this planet to be sacrificed on the high altar of short-term monetary expediency? Or will some sanity prevail and the well-being of this planet and its inhabitants become first priority? For this to happen the system that depends on the distribution of goods and services by means of commodity valuation, using any form of debt token or money, will have to go and be replaced by a governance of function based on energy accounting.

... Stockpiled in bunkers and scattered across eight states, are 30,600 tons of chemical weapons that the U.S. military is hoping to eventually destroy. Technical problems related to this planned destruction have pushed back the deadline for destruction from 1994 to 2004. The estimated cost of incinerating 3.3 million chemical weapons has soared from $1.7 billion to $12 billion. But, the cost of this operation is far outweighed by the potential risks that grow as the weapons decay. The Army has issued precise estimates of the maximum number of deaths that would occur at each site in the event of an accident at any of these locations. They are: Umatilla, Oregon, 3,717 tons -- 10,350 deaths; Tooele, Utah, 13,616 tons -- 30,400 deaths; Newport, Indiana, 1,269 tons -- 18,000 deaths; Pueblo, Colorado, 2,611 tons -- 1,600 deaths; Pine Bluff, Arkansas, 3,850 tons -- 16,000 deaths; Edgewood, Maryland, 1,625 tons -- 2,000 deaths; Blue Grass, Kentucky, 523 tons -- 1,800 deaths; Anniston, Alabama, 2,254 tons -- 11,600 deaths. We wonder which has the priority? The mounting dollar cost of disposal, or the risk to human life which increases the longer the destruction is delayed.

... More on global warming. In the last 135 years the average surface temperature of the earth has risen more than 1.5 degrees F. 1995 was the hottest year ever recorded -- an average 59.7 degrees F. In Antarctica, an iceberg the size of Rhode Island broke off and flowers bloomed on the ice shelves. Seas warmed off southern California are decimating populations of zoo plankton that sustain fish. Northern Europe had very extensive spring floods. Eleven hurricanes, the most since 1933, hit the Caribbean. More than 800 people died as a result of the summer heat wave in the U.S. midwest. London had its hottest, driest summer in 200 years. Northeast Brazil suffered its worst drought of the century; Rio has already had three times as much rain in eight days this January as it usually gets all month. Siberia was a full 5 degrees F. hotter than normal in 1995. Alaska had very little snow this winter; Memphis, Tennessee had plenty. But, we just have to keep producing more automobiles!

... Technology makes jobs, or so the fairy tale goes, and so we find that in the following high-tech industries that they have laid off the following numbers since 1993: IBM, 63,000 -- AT&T, 40,000 -- Boeing, 28,000 -- Digital Equipment, 20,000 -- Columbus Engine Co., 2,000 -- GTE, 17,000 --. We wonder if those people now looking for non-existent jobs still think that technology creates jobs?

... So it goes on in a litany of woes that at times befuddles the mind. Nothing changes except for the worse, and still we cling to this archaic concept of money as a medium of exchange in return for person-hours of labour, all this when it is becoming abundantly clear that labour, from a human standpoint, is a declining commodity. This is an election year and all kinds of promises and phony statements will be made. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, raising taxes, lowering taxes, more government, less government -- all the old panaceas of a bygone age. Instead of being misled by all of this vapidity, ask your own questions. Where are these jobs coming from? If you raise or lower taxes what will be the real result? If you manage to make a dent in the deficit, what about the debt? What is to be done about global warming? And if any meaningful measures are undertaken how will this effect the monetary economy? When will the defense budget be cut back to a realistic level? And, likewise, how will this effect the monetary economy? What about the problems of soil erosion, water depletion and soil contamination -- how will this effect our ability to grow sufficient food? How are we going to be able to feed and care for a growing population with a declining resource base, a decline in arable land, coupled with the aforementioned problems? In short, how are we to cope with problems of an advancing technology? By continuing to try to use remedies of a bygone age? An age of human muscle power and scarcity? In an age of potential abundance? Again, we cannot continue to attempt to distribute goods and services based on commodity valuation using any form of debt token or money. We need a government of function using energy accounting as a medium of distribution and control, nothing less will suffice. We cling to this outmoded Price System at our peril.