Alternatives to Political Systems Consumerism Economics Society

The Story of Broke

Craig Mackintosh November 10, 2011

1 Less than a minute

We’ve seen The Story of Stuff, The Story of Electronics and The Story of Cap & Trade. Now Free Range Studios brings their latest entry — The Story of Broke. If the first three videos are commentary on economics run amuck, this latter one is commentary on what comes after…. (Hint: economic collapse.)

The focus here, however, is that we’re not in as big a mess as it seems, if we can just shift our priorities. The focus is on misspent taxes — aka subsidies — and the corporate lobbyists who secure them. As I wrote recently, we need to get the money out of politics, and, as the video here stipulates, we need to stop subsidising our own destruction. It’s just not smart….

</span></p><div class="g g-3"><div class="g-dyn a-34 c-1"><style> @media (min-width: 350px) { .infeed { height: 90px; margin:auto; } @media (min-width: 500px) { .infeed { height: 90px; margin:auto; } } @media (min-width: 800px) { .infeed { max-width:729px; margin:auto; height: 90px; } } </style> <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script> <ins class="adsbygoogle infeed" style="display:block;" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="image-top" data-ad-layout-key="xxxxxxxx" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4709140704829756" data-ad-slot="5264186828"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script></div></div> <blockquote> <p align="left">The United States isn’t broke; we’re the richest country on the planet and a country in which the richest among us are doing exceptionally well. But the truth is, our economy is broken, producing more pollution, greenhouse gasses and garbage than any other country. In these and so many other ways, it just isn’t working. But rather than invest in something better, we continue to keep this ‘dinosaur economy’ on life support with hundreds of billions of dollars of our tax money. The Story of Broke calls for a shift in government spending toward investments in clean, green solutions—renewable energy, safer chemicals and materials, zero waste and more—that can deliver jobs <em>and</em> a healthier environment. It’s time to rebuild the American Dream; but this time, let’s build it better.</p> </blockquote> <p>

Craig Mackintosh November 10, 2011

1 Less than a minute

One Comment

Paul says:

November 11, 2011 at 10:10 am

I agree with the diagnosis, but I don’t agree that we need the hierarchy of government to get in the middle of our sustainable investment decisions. I’d argue that government is the reason we have all these problems (thanks to its creation & protection of corporations, theft/taxation, and it’s monopoly of violence over the rest of us) and it certainly is not the place to look for a solution to these problems. The sustainable solutions of the future will be decentralized and distributed, not centralized and hierarchical.