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3/29/2011
Plenty of water if we are smart about it
Saw this headline in the ST today. Roughly I guess it is about the use of water or getting more water for the needs of the people. Actually, there is no rocket science about plenty of water if we are smart about it. I did not go through the article but just want to borrow the headline for a simple discussion here.
Stretch this statement a bit further, there is plenty of food, energy, land and resources if we are smart about it, even in this little rock. The silly thing that human beans are doing is over consumption, Greed. We just want to consume and consume and consume, all for one silly formula called growth. We need to be growing, keep growing. Without economic growth everything will fall apart. And if our consumption is not enough, import more people to help to consume, to increase demand for land, energy, goods and services, and demand and more demand. Fucking silly thing to do I think.
So we keep chasing after more water, more land, more energy, and more people to use them. And we will never have enough of water, never have enough of land, never have enough of energy, and never have enough of people.
Are we really that smart or simply daft? If every country is doing what we are doing in the pursuit of growth, mother Gaia will die in double quick time. The Americans are irresponsible consumers of the earth's resources to conduct wars. Are we that different? We are also over consuming and wasting precious resouces in our build and rebuild programmes.
Besides over consumption, the thing that bothers me is wastage. When good and usable things are discarded just because they are old and out of date is the in thing to follow.
ReplyDeleteThe silly thing about all this 'saving the earth' nonsense, comes from my insurance company, telling me to opt for electronic statements to save a piece of paper, for one whole year, mind you.
In between, they continue to send me useless marketing brochures, meaningless reports, which I cannot be bothered with, whenever they want to tell me about reducing bonuses etc.
Then there are banks that send you application forms for credit cards and loan applications of all kinds, by the dozen, four page statements even when the account is inactive, etc. That is not a waste of paper?
In case you get the wrong impression, I have been recycling papers, plastics, glass and metal for years. Sometimes, I ask myself whether I am doing a silly thing, when others are wasting like nobody's business.
Sorry Folks if what I say hurts.
ReplyDeleteMe says since man(kind) will destroy Earth long before its' own natural demise(end), forget about conservation in whatever.
But, it does not mean we MUST HOARD and USED UP the resources and deprive others.
Sharks conservation/protection and hence consumption have being made a very controversial issue. Me says if You love them, eat them all You like. Same goes to other exotic species, better eat them and enjoy than let them be destroyed for no better reason than the encroachment of the Human Species. They definitely serve better purposes as foods.
patriot
If we have plenty of water.
ReplyDeleteIf we have plenty of flats.
If we have plenty of power.
If we have plenty of food.
If we have plenty of buses and trains.
Trouble. Prices fall. Oversupply.
Trick is to make sure that everything is not enough. Then prices can go up and up and up. Then can fetch good price.
But one thing must have plenty. Cheap worker. The prices can go down and down and down.
What do Singaporean want? Higher prices for their properties? Higher prices for water, food, power, transportation? They all come in a package.
One size fits all solution?
ReplyDeleteOver cunsumption is the expected consequence of economic policies focused on mad consumption driven by "instant free money".
ReplyDeleteThere used to be a time in the years where our hardworking and thrifty forebears used to labour diligently and save their hard-earned cash -- spending was calculated, and whim or impulse buying was frowned upon and the individual judged by his peers as "having no self control".
Enter economist John Maynard Keynes circa 1940 or so with his criticism on the "evils of hoarding". Hard work and thrift only rsulted in people (anf governments) being too cautious with their money, and this "scarcity" meant that economies grew too slowly, and there was constant unemployment -- unacceptable for the likes of Lord Keynes.
His new theory of the govt being the central controller of the economy and could operated the economy like the accelarator of a car: if the economy slows down, you press the accelarator. If the economy over heats and inflation is rampant, you ease off the throttle and if necessary apply light braking. He called it "boosting aggregate demand" and this erroneous theory is still taught today in all of the top economic schools.
The mechanism to achieve this was monetary and fiscal policy, using PAPER CURRENCY -- able to be printed at minimal cost -- not gold (the barberous metal) because gold severely limited the govt's ability to control the money supply: monetary policy to ensure that the "greedy hoarders" didn't get their way. Under fiscal policy -- the govt using the tax system could control the amount of "aggregate demand" by taxng people and spending the money on govt programs. This ensured "employment". Under monetary policy the govt would control the amount of available money therefore negating the necessity to save. Which means : you can consume without saving
So relax folks -- your money is fast losing its value. Spend as fast as you can. Buy whatever you want RIGHT NOW -- don't worry about saving, and if you run out of money -- do what the government does: BORROW.
If saving money attracts 1% or less, but borrowing money costs only less than 2-3%, what do you thnk is going to happen? People will borrow and spend more than they will save. And spend they will -- like drunken sailors on shore-leave -- consuming everything they can, wasting a lot because it is "cheap".
Govts will go crazy too -- borrow, borrow and borrow some more. When they crash: bailout -- which simply means BORROW. Ireland -- borrow, UK -- borrow, Greece -- borrow, Spain -- borrow, Portugal -- borrow.
Enjoy, people!! Consume like it is a roman orgy -- when you've eaten until full, vomit it up and continue to EAT SOME MORE!
Waiting For The Storm
ReplyDeleteFacing and accepting truth is one of the most difficult things for a human being to do. No one likes to have a change of state from "I'm feeling great!" to "Oh shit!!". Nonetheless, I shall outline the 'dangers' of this spend-consume-borrow-consume-some-more policy for "economic growth".
The following impacts "the average person", not the high-rolling entrepreneur, privately wealthy or over-paid govt thug.
1. S'pore is essentially a service economy meaning it only "works" if people keep spending like lunatics on "services": e.g. financial services, legal services, management services, domestic services, blow jobs, karaoke, consuming food, gambling, massages
2. Hight ticket items like homes and cars ensure that a HUGE amount of individuals productive financial capital is used to CONSUME these high-ticket items. If one spends $1 mil on the home and $100k on the car, that money is CONSUMED which means it is unavailable for other uses. Sure you need to live somewhere and personal transport is great. However if the figures were more "reasonable" -- like say, HALF, you have left a substantial amount of money.
3. Over-consumption and wastage will eventually lead to a collapse in some area of the production cycle. Inter-temporal capital structures are already severely distorted due to the re-direction of capital into housing by the politicised HDB-CPF legalised Pyramid Scheme.
4. Water is the world's next resource to experience some form of "event". Do you really believe the govt telling everyone that the S'pore water supply is "safe" until 2060? Gimme me a fucking break. This is a government statistic and thus should attract the required skepticism.
5. Because of the huge consumption toward housing and cars, the majority of Singaporeans are ill-prepared for some sort of negative economic event -- i.e. most Singaporeans simply have NO LIQUIDITY. (again, I'm not referring to the very wealthy ones -- just the average person)
So there are danger signs right in front of our eyes. All the data can be verified by simply searching Sing Stat and MAS sites.
Plenty of water.
ReplyDeleteSo, is price of water going down
or up together with electricity
tariff?
patriot