Getting real

I can't remember exactly when it happened. But one day sometime ago it turned out that if you had some money or something else that was like money and/or some future income from say a field, you were allowed to borrow some more money against this to use for example to buy a plough. In fact you weren't really buying a plough. You were actually borrowing a plough from the people that lent you the money. This transaction was based on lots of assumptions. The assumption that indeed with this plough you would be able to guarantee that you would make the money you needed to payback the value of the plough plus whatever you needed to continue living etc. The value of the stuff that was put up against the loan of the money for the plough. AND the cost of the loan itself.

When the transaction was a simple plough this was not that complicated to work out and I am assured that this was a good idea though frankly I do have my concerns, especially when for example the cost of borrowing the money was in the hands of the person lending the money. But soon after that regulators showed up and apparently they were supposed to keep all these transactions on the straight and narrow.

And then sometime not that long ago a series of really wierd things started to happen. Suddenly everyone needed a loan for everything. Perfectly good companies started borrowing all sorts of money and creating massive amounts of debt. Perfectly good countries and people started doing the same. (see growth below).

Unfortunately the assumptions that seemed pretty benign back there in paragraph one suddenly became really important. AND that concern about conflict of interest from back in paragraph two also turned out to be kind of serious too. The next thing you know everyone needed a plough. And some people needed ten or fifteen. Until the actual value of themselves and their company became very small indeed compared to the money that had been loaned to it. In fact most companies over the last thirty years became big balloons of fake money. And so long as they kept on growing and growing and making enough money to pay the people who loaned them the money and still carry on they did just that.

All sorts of nonsense has ensued as a result of these balloons of fake money masquerading as companies. It has effected the way we live. What we want. How we live. Important things like community, connection and citizenship have been replaced by call centres, consumption and commercialism. Not to mention a few sleepless nights. These companies and their (sometimes rather mis-managed) balloons of money have driven mass production, massive marketing budgets and messy closets everywhere. Alot of fake money, creating fake advertising to get you to have fake needs and then fulfill them with fake products.

This is stopping. Because growth isn't infinite. But also because eventually we were going to figure it out. And we have. And we are. And we will. It really is time to stop feeding this nonsense. One act at a time.

repair. recycle. reuse. or just don't replace it. get off your computer and walk the dog. go see a friend. and just talk. or if you really need to buy something stop and take the time to seek out the artisan. the small brand. the quality production. spend twice as much and buy something that will last. don't go see another rubbish movie that took tens of million of dollars just to distribute. hang out with your kids instead. or go meet your neighbour. you know the drill. we are helping, indeed funding, the fake balloons to control our lives in so many ways you'd be reading the list till your ninety. its definitely time to start getting real instead.