How would extraterrestrial anthropologists characterize Earth’s dominant socio-economic system? It’s not difficult to imagine their dismaying report: “Earth’s economy glorifies waste. Its economists rejoice when a product is disposed as waste and replaced with a new product. This waste is perversely…
If we accept that our financial system is nothing but a wealth-transfer mechanism from the productive elements of our economy to parasitic, neofeudal rentier-cartels and self-serving state fiefdoms, that raises a question: what do we do about it? The typical…
You know those disclosures on your credit card statements? That it will take 27 years to pay off your balance if you only make the minimum payment each month, and so on? You might not be aware of it, but…
Short, intense directed apprenticeships that teach students how to learn on their own to mastery are the future of higher education. So it turns out sitting in a chair for four years doesn’t deliver mastery in anything but the acquisition…
Many well-intended people want to reform the status quo for all sorts of worthy reasons: to reduce wealth inequality, restore democracy, create good-paying jobs, and so on. All these goals are laudable, but if we don’t change the way money…
In traditional feudal systems, serfs were the landless peasantry who worked the land of their feudal lords in exchange for protection. In our present-day neofeudal system, serfdom has a different definition: present-day serfs own little or no productive capital and have…
The ongoing oligarch theft labeled an “economic recovery” by pundits, politicians and mainstream media alike, is one of the largest frauds I’ve witnessed in my life. The reality of the situation is finally starting to hit home, and the proof is…
Poverty demoralizes. A man in debt is so far a slave; and Wall-street thinks it easy for a millionaire to be a man of his word, a man of honor, but, that, in failing circumstances, no man can be relied…
Poverty demoralizes. A man in debt is so far a slave; and Wall-street thinks it easy for a millionaire to be a man of his word, a man of honor, but, that, in failing circumstances, no man can be relied…
Last week, I published an article highlighting how the use of “alternative financial services” has continued to increase despite the so-called economic “recovery.” These services include payday loans, refund-anticipation loans, pawnshops, rent-to-own services, and the little known, but recently surging, category called…
The era of living off borrowed money is over in Greece, and the Greek people now have a choice. Almost four years ago I wrote Greece, Please Do The Right Thing: Default Now (June 1, 2011). Default remains the only real…
The era of living off borrowed money is over in Greece, and the Greek people now have a choice. Almost four years ago I wrote Greece, Please Do The Right Thing: Default Now (June 1, 2011). Default remains the only real…
Debt-serfs who make the difficult and risky transition to small-scale business owners find they have simply moved to another class of serfdom. The core dynamic of debt-serfdom is that debt-serfs must borrow money to buy essentials while the wealthy borrow…