Quote:
Originally Posted by Skybird
It's an unhealthy dysbalance for sure.
I also think that economies depending so massively on exports like the german one, indeed are not strong but weak, vulnerable economies.
An economy should produce with a focus on the local, regional demand. What cannpot be produced by oneself, is traded from others. I think trade should be limited to this simple philosophy. It may not make the few people incredibly rich, but it would adress a whole lot of problems affecting all, for lowering traffic emissions over insane banking philosophies and the need to manage ressources so that they last as long as possible insteasd of wasting them as quick as possible, to a fairer distribution of vital goods people need for a living, and battling slave work and the ruthless exploitation of the weak.
But since we all know that the wealth interests of the few are so much more important, and that their wealth gives them power, we can trust in that such changes like outlined above will not happen. at least not peacefully, and without civil wars and blood-dripping revolutions. If you have the power, you must not accept without resisting that your power gets questioned and your legitimation gets put into doubt. And the greater the greed, the smaller the sense for fairness, justice and responsibility.
Still a nice vision to dream. Nobody has forced us to sell it away so carelessly. The ability to overcome many of our genetic programs we do have - if only we would have the will. And some , mostly smaller examples from historic (and smaller) societies shows that it is possible. What hinders us to learn from these examples? Bad habit, and too huge a population.
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You are 100% correct. We are in an unstable situation that will continue as far as our industries can use cheap labor. But what happens when those third world countries achieve a standard of living equivalent to the west ? Where will we offshore our industries ? At that moment the system will collapse. It just can't go on forever.
We have to boost the local economies, instead of offshoring everything to places where the cost of production is almost zero and then sell those finished gizmoes fro gigantic profits in our countries. Societies cannot thrive only on greed.
Its funny, I was just watching after 20 years Carl Sagan's Cosmos and in one of the episodes he mentions how the newly formed Dutch Republic in the late sixteenth century realised that to prosper you had to have a successfull economy so profits were good. But you couldn't base your entire society only on profits. Their leaders it seems were much more far sighted than our idiot politicians. Stupid politicians that haven't learned a thing from history.