It's times like this when I want to sell all my belongings and go live in an ecovillage.
Like a lot of people, I am pretty mad at Wall Street and the banks. All the talk about financial regulatory reform just dredges it up and refocuses my anger.
I am very tempted at the moment to pull all of my money out of my 401k. It's not like I have a whole hell of a lot in there as it is. I know I would take a huge tax hit, but I’d almost rather that the government had that money right now than these corporate criminals. It makes me so mad that they're doing things with our money that we're not aware of, and if we did know about them, we probably wouldn't approve. Just consider the pieces of the puzzle that we’ve already put together:
• Speculators driving up the price of gas
• Hedge fund managers gambling with derivatives and other cockamamie schemes
• Sub-prime mortgages
• Usurious interest rates
• Preposterously huge bonuses
Maybe we should all just take our money and hide it under our mattresses until there is a fundamental change to the way the system works. I’m not talking about financial regulatory reform. I am really beginning to lose hope that government will fix the problem. Until we get campaign finance reform, there is no way politicians are going to really regulate business. Not really. And even if we do have some gains under this Democratic government, they will be lost the next time we have a Republican executive or legislative branch, who will just relax enforcement like they did under Bush, or repeal the reform altogether.
The problem is the system. We are so dependent upon layers and layers of infrastructure. There is no transparency. We are so far removed from the process, we have no idea what is being done, either to our benefit or detriment.
And this is true of so much in our culture. Like our food supply. Do we know where our food comes from? Do we know what has been done to it or added to it? Do we know if the producers exploited slave labor to harvest or process it? Do we know whether or not we're eating genetically modified foods and if so, are there any long-term or unseen health effects of that?
The list goes on of dangerously complicated factors in our daily lives. The power grid. Health care. Manufacturing and retail. The media.
Layers upon layers within every industry, and all the industries are interconnected. At any level, bad things could be happening and we wouldn't know it. And if any one of the levels were to fail, we'd be screwed. We could try to fix the layers, but that is not enough. As long as a system exists where some people profit by hiding their misdeeds within a ridiculously convoluted structure, there will be no fixing it.
The only solution is to change the system. Strip away the layers.
This diary started out as a rant about my frustration, but I can’t stand feeling hopeless for long. I have to believe that something can be done.
So what can we do?
For starters, we can withdraw our money from the big banks and start using our local credit unions. Credit unions have a completely different motive for being in business than banks. They’re not out to make a profit at our expense, and it shows. They pay higher interest rates, charge fewer fees, and spend less on marketing, executive bonuses, and most importantly, lobbying.
We can stop charging on our credit cards. I know that a lot of people (like my husband) are trapped and can’t do this right now. But if you can, do. Whatever expenses you can cut to make this happen, cut them. We have to stop feeding these bastards. Up until recently, I thought they were providing me with a valuable service. Now I know better. They are evil. Period.
We can buy organic, from small, local growers. This frees us of the biotech industry, the pesticide industry, the retail chains, the banks that partner with the retail chains, the food additive industry, and the political campaigns and action committees supported by these industries to keep regulation out and keep you in the dark. Not to mention, we’ll be benefiting the Earth, and our health.
We can start gardens in our backyards. Composting keeps kitchen and yard waste out of the landfill, while providing the best fertilizer known to man. For free. Irrigating with graywater saves valuable drinking water and reduces pressure on the environment. And, of course, it is really rewarding to share the spoils of the garden with friends and neighbors. Anyone can do it, even people living in apartments.
We can buy second-hand. Craig’s List is great. So are most of the thrift stores. Products that are sold new at retail chains are most likely manufactured by desperate people making pennies a day. Often, manufacturers send those jobs overseas not just to exploit cheap labor, but so they can engage in environmental and public health practices that would be illegal here in the United States. But even a "Made in the USA" label isn’t a guarantee of fair wages or ethical practices.
We can repair things when they break rather than buying new. Clothes, appliances, cars, shoes, furniture. Repairing things rather than buying new not only thwarts manufacturers who send jobs overseas, it supports small local repair shops and keeps items out of the landfill.
There are countless other ways I can think of to simplify our lives, and in the process, the system. Biking to work. Cooking at home. Supporting locally owned businesses. Converting to solar & wind energy. Bringing reusable shopping bags to the store. Using the library or supporting the used book store. Learning to make soap. Bartering with friends. Drying clothes on the line. Downshifting.
But the most important way of all is to SPEAK UP. This is why I love Daily Kos. There are a lot of freaking Randroid anarcho capitalists in our country. They still naively believe that the invisible hand principle is going to save them. It is up to us to shout as loud as we can that their beloved corporations are not looking out for the better good. That all is not fair in the world of free-market capitalism, and that companies that succeed in collecting obscene profits and putting their competitors out of business often do so through deceit, exploitation, and corruption. Activities they would excoriate if done by the government.
And there's an even bigger group of people we have to get through to. Unfortunately, most people in this country just Don’t Want To Know. People in this country know damn well that abuses are going on. But they can’t be bothered to care, or, heaven forbid, try to do something about it, even if these unacceptable practices are hurting them directly. It's not because they're just too busy living their lives and trying to pay their bills. We all are. That's just an excuse. It is because they are lazy, or just don't want to be faced with unpleasantness. The more we speak up, the more they will be forced to listen.
So, keep speaking up, you awesome people. I refuse to believe it is completely hopeless.