One of the biggest questions of our time:
Can we help fix this? https://video.nostr.build/99ccdf9d88390ea582c8f74470c0a9aa1018344ac22a7e9bb815d9a3432fe948.mp4
Discussion
A deadly accurate critique of the criminal enterprise the IMF and world bank have been running for decades.
I’m not sure if we can unfortunately
I think Bitcoin plays a role
One currency standard as opposed to a caste system with 180 kinds reduces the ability to squeeze and trap people
The debt trap only works because you have global dollar standard but people in poorer countries earning a far worse currency
Also ability to convert energy reserves directly and permissionlessly to reserve currency instead of only being able to obtain it via borrowing or trade or investment is huge
Yellow parenti on nostr lfg
Build an entirely new digital infrastructure that is not fundamentally extractive.
Great idea 💡
Maybe 💭
Before offering help, we should stop sabotaging them 🤷🏽♂️
“We” is a word I’m struggling with.
Im forced to pay taxes in the US and I don’t support 99% of what those tax dollars go towards.
Are you "forced" though? Isn't it voluntary compliance? Aren't 1040 forms like a confession? Is your accountant twisting your arm?
Still "we" are all part of the same system. We participate and benefit from the system. Recognizing that is the first step. Then we can start questioning the names we use. For example I don't call Mexico third world and I don't call the US first world, because that plays along with the US exceptionalist narrative. I'm Mexican, by the way
Global majority countries is a much better term
It’s where most of the world’s people resources land and labor are
But the video has to be 40-50 years old
He also fails to mention their socialist governments and lack of free markets
Why do you think they lack free markets
Just take Brazil as an example, trying to ship a $150 phone costs $200 in import fees (I tried recently)
Argentina multiple spouts of 100%+ inflation, makes trade extremely difficult
Chile under dictatorship from 1973-1990
Not saying they don't also get exploited, but I think a lack of capitalism and freedom makes them primed to be exploited
yeah, the Spanish colonies in latin America were soooo socialist. And then in the 20th century most contries almost fell into socialism again if not for the brave efforts of the CIA to organize dozens of coups to impose dictators. That made us blossom like never before!
This is all a function of "cheap" labor which is a function of monetary manipulation.
A T-shirt made in China should cost just as much as a T-shirt made in the US but their money is so bad it makes it economical. Their labor is so devalued by their monetary units leaking.
the minute we stop thinking of ourselves as consumers, buying only what we really need from local producers, we deprive our government of the power to manipulate other countries. we purchase so much useless or redundant stuff that ends up in landfills.
the corpo marketers don't want us using our things for decades before replacing them. they want us on a constant repurchase cycle. we have the power to end this.
or maybe USD collapse will end it for us.
I would say this exploitation narrative is still a victimhood narrative.
I think sovereignty (individual and collective) is more important than inequality. And for that philosophy is more important than anything else.
The people anywhere in the world are poor not because they're exploited, but because they exploit themselves and one another.
Being poor is a matter of perspective. One can call it poor, another calls it permaculture and simple living.
Being poor is irrelevant. What is needed is to be free (or sovereign). From themselves and from others. For me Buddhism is one of the things that helps the most, among other philosophy in general.
This exploitation narrative is still a victimhood narrative.
IMO it’s an outcome of the currency caste system
Yeah, I agree with that perspective. It's a currency caste system, right on. But one can say that's the financial perspective only.
Because there's other facets that are important to life also. One can be spiritual and philosophically free too. And that eventually leads to financial freedom, in the long term.
uhm... maybe I'm naming the obvious but to practice "permaculture" you need resources such as land. Which is one of the first things that get stolen when a territory is colonized. When you are born in a city in the wrong cast (the one that was displaced by colonialism) there is no change in "perspective" that gives you food and shelter. For YOU freedom is more relevant than not being poor because that is YOUR problem. You are projecting you experience to others
Then in that case land would be really your problem, not "colonialism", is it not?
I'm just saying to focus on what's the actual problem and reduce all the other things that are not. Don't suffer more than what you have to suffer is all I'm trying to say.
This is why I talked about Buddhism as opposition to other "victimhood" narratives. Because there's plenty to be angry about but that doesn't solve our/your actual problem.
Will arguing with me help solve your actual problem also? Perhaps not. That's all I'm trying to say. We should focus on the issue, not dwell on suffering. Create the alternative we want to see in the world.
I do agree on thinking about the "real issue" or the "root cause". I do understand that a person can use victimhood to obtain resources and cope with real life. At the individual level it can be a limiting belief that can be addressed with a change of attitude, or an expansion of self-consciousness. But here we are talking about the collective level. When you see an entire cast/race/country can't lift themselves, despite being told ther individual outcome is the product of their individual effort (mith of meritocracy) and despite having the same human capacity on average, you may suspect that there is a systematic effort to kept them like that. Then the root cause to address is the system.
Land is only the example of why not having food to eat is not an attitude problem but a real resource constrain. But beyond food a modern society produces other products and services for which you also need tools, factories and other stuff that generates value. That's what someone called "means of production". Some people say that controlling means of production vs not controlling them is the root cause of being rich vs being poor. You know were I'm going...
So many replies. I’m not sure many of them have read your most excellent “Hidden Repression”
we need Proof-of-Read
This is bs commie propaganda.
The reason the people are poor in those countries is socialism.
That’s beyond silly. There are plenty of rich European socialist countries
Yeah Argentina used to be rich as well, so did Venezuela
First read tales of an economic hitman. Then reflect on options
I like how he says “pooer”
Miss me with this white man's burden shit. We should fix our own house instead of telling others how to live.
What do you think my house is? I am an American
Bankers hate when the people come to the realization that the people can issue their own currency. (Socialism) Which is why the love it when we lump Socialism with Communism.
A fine example of Socialism that worked was when Abraham Lincoln Issued currency directly from the treasury to win the civil war. Bankers prefer that we borrow from them and pay them interest.
Which is why they assassinate everyone that tries to issue public currency. They feel that issuance of currency is a private affair.
This agitation is not going to work. There's nothing socialist about creating a money that anyone is free to use at their own discretion.
Every Socialist that has ever directed the treasury to issue the countries credit has been killed with exception to Alberta's Premier William Aberhart.
So how can you claim that issuing currency is not socialist? When literally every socialist stripped private bankers of the right to issue currency.
Further more why would a human not freely use a currency that is issued by the treasury and not a bank across the ocean.
Either you lack understanding, are a troll, or are a banker trying to stay relevant.
> So how can you claim that issuing currency is not socialist?
I can issue a currency right now. Anyone can. I don't need anyone to agree to do it with me.
> Further more why would a human not freely use a currency that is issued by the treasury and not a bank across the ocean.
Lot's of reasons. They don't want to. They don't feel like it. The local currency devalues too quickly, like in Argentina for example where the public repeatedly chooses to use a foreign currency. Whatever reason, they have that right. And they can also just issue a currency if they want and use that, if others are also willing to use it.
> Either you lack understanding, are a troll, or are a banker trying to stay relevant.
You're still playing yesterday's game. This agitation doesn't work anymore.
There is more than enough space on this Earth, and it provides ample resources for everyone.
We could lead a paradisiacal life—together, every single human being on this planet! So why don’t we?
What is the true origin of the problem of unequal distribution? Does it stem from the fear of having too little oneself?
can we start by not calling it third world? What about "looted countries"? No? Ok, what about "Countries under Imperialist Dominance"? Name a country in the "Third World" that doesn't fit that definition
I like global majority countries
Third world is a term that was used during the cold war for countries that were not aligned with the two main factions.
I know. I learned that not so long ago. But in present day nobody uses it in that sense. When was the last time you heard somebody refer to China as a Second World country? And people would think you are sarcastic if you called Argentina Forst World. Not to mention that the framing is US-centric. Why not the USSR First and NATO second?
In present day "First world" is used as "model for what a country should aspire to be" and "third world" is used as "failed to achieve that model" or even more despectively "third category".
This narrative has been used as an excuse to implement socialist policies in third world countries for decades.
It’s these policies that are the primary cause of poverty not exploitation.
It’s not a narrative
Socialism is bad
So is colonialism
