Market Annihilation

When it comes to our relationship and future with markets, I see a very clear picture: we either destroy them or we'll be destroyed by them. I'm aware that this goes against everything we've been force-fed all our lifes, so bear with me while I try to explain.

Let me start by asking a simple question: what's the friendship of your best friends worth? I have two best friends left. One of them is good with his hands in and around the house; he's a plumber by profession, but give him a set of tools and he'll build or fix anything. The other one is good with cars, not so much motors, but everything else, from bodywork to interior electronics. I'm good with computers and words. Well, relative to my best friends anyway. If either of us need help from the others, we're always there for each other. And besides that, we meet almost every weekend to talk, watch a movie or play some game. Now, what's that worth? If I had to pay any of my friends the going rates for their expertise, I'd be bankrupt. But their friendship is worth even more, so much so that it's impossible to say what it's worth; it's priceless, it's beyond money.

I'm sure you'll agree with that. Some things have no price. I'd go one step further and say that most, if not all things have no price. Or at least they shouldn't. They should be removed from any and all consideration about price, profits or cost. Let's try another question: what's your life worth? In other words: what would you pay to stay alive, to not die? Here's a scenario for you to consider: you've fallen from a boat in the middle of the sea and you can't swim. On the boat stands a man with a lifebuoy. You clearly need saving, but instead of throwing you the lifebuoy, the man asks "how much?" or says "I'll throw you this if you give me all your money!" We all agree that man is a complete asshole, right? He exhibits a lack of humanity. So why don't we automatically think the same of the pharmaceutical industry that charges ridiculous prices for life-saving medicine?

Healthcare is a clear example of something that doesn't belong in the realm of markets. The rule of supply and demand, of negotiating a price between availability and need, breaks down when your health or your life is at steak: you would pay anything to stay alive, wouldn't you? You'd go into debt if you had to. And that's exactly what we're doing now, to millions of people. Let's try another example. Have you seen the movie Don't Look Up, or any other movie about an asteroid threatening all life on earth, an "Extinction Level Event"? So, don't we need more eyes on the sky? We do, but there's no market incentive to do so; asteroid impacts happen only once every couple of million years.

And what about the environment or anthropogenic climate change? Even when we try to combat carbon-emissions using market-incentives, we fail. All we've accomplished is to create a new market for trading emission-rights between industries. Did you know that much of Tesla's profits, some 20 percent, come from carbon credit sales? Tesla Carbon Credit Sales Jump by 116%. What Tesla saves on carbon emissions is bought by another company that emits the same amount; no reduction in actual emissions is achieved, instead cleaner industries simply make more profits.

Those are just a few examples of things at the heart of human existence in the 21st century that do not belong in a market. And there's so much more; food, water, electricity, housing, education, democracy, politics: they all should be completely removed from the dehumanizing constraints created by markets and prices. Even the news and our online discussions are constrained and directed by market-forces, incentivizing click-bait headlines and confirmation-bias bubbles. Our democracy is reduced to a fund-raising competition, our politics completely subservient to economic forces, and our daily lifes ruled by financial and economic concerns. Let me ask you: is this freedom? Or is freedom assurance that if and when you need that lifebuoy, it'll just be thrown to you? I think the latter.

You know why some manufacturers advertise that their product is made manually? Well, in this age of automation and mass-production it gives the product an air of quality, luxuriousness and uniqueness, and wealthy customers will gladly pay for it. Supercar manufacturers, like McLaren, Ferrari and Lamborghini, have stuck to their hand-built cars. But the fact remains that they could be built by robots and at assembly-lines, as long as there's decent quality-control in place. Automation and A.I. should be liberating to us, but it isn't when work is an essential link in the marketplace of production and consumption. Automation is now a threat instead of a blessing. Robots are threatening our jobs, and that's an existential threat in a world where having a job is the sole condition for having a decent life.

Market capitalism is without doubt the dumbest way to organize a society. If that big thing approaching our planet from the sky is a spaceship instead of an asteroid, I'm sure the aliens will have a good laugh and be on their way. "Look at those primitive creatures! How barbaric! Look: the lasers orbiting their planet are aimed at themselves instead of threats from the outside! Let's move on, there's nothing of interest here..." That's how I imagine such a discussion between aliens would go. Or maybe they'll be so disgusted that they'll annihilate us before moving on. And if they don't destroy us, we will do so ourselves of we don't let go of this stupid system that works for just a few of us. So please watch the below linked video with a discussion about what's next, what's "after capital". It's a subject that should be close to all our hearts, if we want our species to survive.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog and reading my posts dear reader, I appreciate that a lot :-) If you like my content, please consider leaving a comment, upvote or resteem. I'll be back here tomorrow and sincerely hope you'll join me. Until then, stay safe, stay healthy!