Do You Know?

John Darvill

1996

Published in:

The Northwest Technocrat 4th quarter 1996, No. 345

... According to Statistics Canada, single family incomes in 1961 outnumbered two-income families by 3.5 to 1. By 1991, this ratio had been reversed; two-income families now exceeded single incomes by 3 to 1. This has resulted in enormous change: stressed out families, neglected children, and two people working to accomplish what once was performed by one. Thirty-nine percent of the workforce is now considered to be part-time -- 5% higher than in 1989. As the work-force shrinks and overall income declines, the scale tips more in the other direction.

... The world's 358 billionaires have a combined net worth of $760 billion, equal to that of the bottom 45% of the world's population; or that the average CEO in the U.S. now brings home about 149 times the average factory worker's pay. In 1995, chief executive officers of the top companies in the U.S. made an average of over $4.3 million a year, about $12,000 a day. Someone on minimum wage made $8,500 a year. In other words, a top CEO made more in one day than a minimum wage worker made in over a year. As more technology is introduced, as the time-rate of doing work expands, the down-sizing will accelerate, and more power will fall into fewer hands. More than a quarter of the world's economic activity now comes from the 200 largest corporations. Up to a third of all world trade takes place internally among different units of global companies.

... Money, as we know it, is dying. Bitbux, E-Cash, Cybercash, Netbills, Digicash, and Mondex, are just some of the forms of bank and non-bank pseudo-wealth passing through trademark and patent offices or are already in experimental use. It will be money that weighs nothing and moves at the speed of light. The average "smart card" is a chip embedded in plastic. It can store about 80 times as much information as the typical magnetic stripe on a credit card. Technocracy spoke of energy-accounting in its inception over 60 years ago; it is now close to reality. We need only to replace this system that exchanges its goods and services on the basis of commodity valuation, using any form of debt-token or money, with a system using energy as a basis of measurement, and we will then be well on the way to solving most of our social problems -- the technology is in place; why not utilize it for the benefit of all? This monetary economy is based on nothing but confidence -- your confidence, habit or faith; it is a faith as powerful and essential to modern life as any religious belief, and just as tenuous; but now it is misplaced.

... In today's economy, one sees or hears almost daily of lay-offs, or firings. Those words have a nasty connotation, and, in the spirit of George Orwell's "new-speak", some of the larger companies are changing their phraseology; they no longer speak of lay-offs or firings, but now refer to: "Release of resources", "Career-change opportunity", "Strengthening global effectiveness", "Involuntary severance", "Elimination of employment security policy". If only their creativity extended to some beneficial ideas.

... We, as a people, have yet to face up to the challenges of rising population, declining resources and the probable effects of global warming. With the projected increase in population in China, and without any rise in consumption, China's demand for grain will increase from 335 million tons in 1990 to 479 million tons in 2030. This would leave a shortfall of 216 million tons, a level that exceeds the world's entire 1993 grain exports of 200 million tons. Where is the extra grain to come from? The U.S.A.? Highly unlikely, the U.S. population is expected to grow by 95 million over the next 4 decades; the U.S. will also face a shortfall as demand for food grows. During this time more cropland and water will be lost to non-agricultural use. Other areas of the world will also face large population increases with the resulting demand for more food combined with a shrinking agricultural base. The world's reserves of grain are now down to 49 days of consumption, and global grain production hasn't risen in the past five or six years. A serious crop failure in any of the grain growing areas of the world would have calamitous effects.

... We pour 60 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere daily by the burning of fossil fuels and the cutting down and burning of forests. What effect will this have on our future ability to grow food? Satellite photographs show that five percent of the ice floating in the Arctic Ocean has disappeared. Those photos show that an area equal to twice the size of Norway has lost it's ice since the mid 1970s. This probably doesn't raise sea levels, because the ice was already floating. A similar occurrence in Antarctica would raise sea levels appreciably and cause widespread flooding. We should be taking steps to counteract those trends, but, in a social system where the bottom line is the ultimate, this is not going to happen.

... The population projections being made for the next several decades are probably not going to occur. This planet, together with all the problems we are causing, cannot sustain such growth. If we do not effectively cope with these problems, nature will, and we will not like that eventuality.

... The many problems confronting us today are made by us -- and can only be resolved by us. The resources are still available; the technology is in place; the personnel, with the necessary knowledge and expertise, are likewise in place. What is needed is the realization of the seriousness of the problem to make people demand a change. To do this they must be informed; but, this they are not. They are, by and large, mis-informed; the information is available; one just has to look for it. However, the necessary information will not be found on TV, radio, or in newspapers -- but in journals and organizations more concerned with the facts than in ratings or advertising revenues.

... Technocracy is such an organization; it has been attempting to inform the people of North America of the urgent need for social change for the last 60 years. In fact, it is the only organization that is attempting to prepare the people of this continent for viable social change. We must stop looking for short-term economic expediency -- crying -- "Me"! "Me"! "Me"! "Now"! "Now"! "Now"! Such noise must be replaced with a look to the long-term survival of our species. It can be done. All that is needed is the will for intelligent change; all else is in place.