The jobless rate is rising
What angers me, and so many more, most is that we all know what's wrong. We know we are overconsumers. We know that our synthetic materials are built from powerful and destructive industrial processes. And yes dear friends, we also know that all this growth is fueled by the zealous drive to become the world's wealthiest man, woman or company. Do you know how much profit Exxon declared last quarter, the first quarter of 2010? They posted a 6.3 billion dollar profit. Sit and think about this for a moment. Please don't whizz by that number. 6.3 billion dollars in profit, not revenues and in only three months. By the way, this is up 38 percent over last year when they posted a 4.5 billion dollar profit.
This is not a breaking news story. We all know how much money industrial moguls, financial wizards and mega corporations have made over the past few decades as they romped freely in a deregulated financial playground. But what about 'us'? Why are we playing along? Is it the same as the drug trade where demand fuels supply? If we stopped buying the latest upgrade, would things slow down? Of course they would, but then our unemployment would go up. Or would it?
Our economic leaders, often trained in the financial sector, have led us to believe that if we stop consuming, we stop producing and then we stop working. I, and I am not alone, beg to differ. We just need to make the shift (okay, maybe it is a leap) into an economy that is based on collaboration and cooperation. We need to dropped the armed struggle. We need to… actually, if you think about it with a clear mind, there are not that many things to change. If we could change the mindset from one of defending ones interests to sharing one's excess, we would rapidly change our planet. I think it will happen. I just think it will happen the day after the magnitude ten earthquake or the nuclear explosion in one of our major capitals where millions perish. Or maybe the aliens will invade and finally knock some sense into us?
In the meantime, we do need to do something about this unemployment. Not that it makes a major difference in the grand scale of things, but despite the hard times, we've been hiring; we're trying to do our part. Others must too.
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