The real start of the Crisis. and solutions..

Here is the shortest version of the road to the Crisis. One you won't see in the papers. Yet.

The blame on the crisis is not only with the bankers. It all started with greed. There are many beginnings with that factor, this is one of the major ones.

In the 80's shareholdership started to put profit over community. Offshoring began. Profits increased while jobs were lost. The governments supported this sale out. To compete the big corporation said they needed cheaper labour, and no Unions. That last bit they didn't say aloud of course.

The Chinese and Indians now started to produce most consumer goods. Although their people work(ed) for indecent little in the sweatshops, still people, materials, land, production and transport in these countries had to be paid for. These dealings may have made the outsourcing companies a profit, but it made the West as a whole a big loss. The West now needed to import more than it exported and slowly dived into debt. A few years ago, the USA exported for 50 billion each year to China and imported for over 250 billion a year. So the only ones getting richer were the CEO and shareholders of the big companies. Everyone else lost.
The rising countries, like China, even were so nice to support the growing debts of the USA for a while. But since they USA became ever poorer and their consumer market couldn't keep on paying for all the goods, the USA began to overdo on the whole Buy on Credit thing. While the USA went ever deeper into debt, China started to look for people who could actually really afford their goods: their own people. Both India and China may have well the biggest rise in middle class in the world. Huge growth markets indeed. Thus the Chinese and Indians have started to focus on their own interests. With their wealth they then started to also buy up all resources in the developing countries, especially Africa. And with so much money tied to China, the West can't offer real competition. And by the way, weren't we also just robbing those resources most of the time, by bribing local lords and presidents and forgetting about the population? So, no need to cry there.
Now the USA and Europe have no (real big) production, no resources (outside its own borders) and are not longer of interest for the new Kings of the planet. We do have lots of people without jobs, huge debts, corrupted regimes that keep playing democracy and very greedy managers at the top of almost every company or civil service. The big companies that became very very rich with exporting our work, now have their overpaid CEO's complain they need help to compete with the Chinese and Indian economy. They want support to keep on building unsustainable cars that have been outdated by decades. They want support to build TV's that burn energy like it comes as cheap as unemployment. They want government support from politicians that have started to invent money to pay for everything. Hahaha.

Was it all them, the greedy shareholders? No, we participated, or at the least didn't protest the work it gave those that helped them. And loads and loads of managers, leaders helped with this process. They outsourced, fired people and changed the books to need. The bankers were just the ones to give us the final blow. They were exposed because the foundation for stabile growth in our society had evaporated, and just as us, they didn't want to see. We hadn't learned ourselves to think ahead or beyond their personal task horizon.
You cannot learn ethics from talking nice about being good, because you don't know where you stand until someone puts a gun, black money or a monstrous target in your hands and talks nice about it. In business often you won't even recognize the gun, until there's a body and smoke. And then with modern banking, you don't even get to see the countless bodies and the smoke. You didn't even know it was a gun, because you never questioned the context or learned to be really curious about what system you contribute to. You can claim you did your best for a good boss, who paid a decent bonus and made the targets. wow. That's second world war German Wehrmacht officers speaking: "Wir haben er nicht gewusst." (We didn't know we were murdering all those Jews, etc.) Any management education that doesn't counter that kind of talk in advance is but a blind follower training.

So our business culture is rotten, our governments incompetent by lack of treasure and spirit and our vision and laws outdated. What to do?

The cure is also not in the papers (because this will undermine the same powers that sold your job to foreign powers and used this money to buy all the media, just so they could even make money on telling us that it was not them, but just a few greedy rogue bankers who got us in trouble)

A: Forego on all debts. It's totally outrageous to consider that there is enough work, that there are enough empty buildings to give everyone a roof over their heads and is enough food to feed everyone. There is also enough to do, but because it's not owned by the right people, we have millions of poor without work, home and or enough food. The law and the government should serve the whole and not a happy few. At the least when people or countries are in trouble because of debt, lower the rent, instead of increasing it. Give them space, instead of stress.

B: Demand and perform with integrity and awareness of bigger patterns. Ethics, or values are not only there to save us from crime. They are there, to create trust and faith in our shared purpose and beliefs. They are there to act within self accepted frames that give hope to people, protect nature and support the progress of individuals, groups, countries and our whole civilisation. All high ranking people must not only take care, they must be examples. Why is it that we all know Nelson Mandela was such a man and so few modern industrilists and politicians give us that same feeling?

C: Totally transform to green and sustainable. A huge overhaul will mean huge amounts of work for everyone. Just like the years right after WWII, it's getting everyone to participate in the (re)building of our society. Protecting the interests of those who'd pressure everyone to protect their interests, would be the most stupid thing to do. The will use pressure and lies to stop any such move. tss, they also can play along and help us all cleaning up the planet, rebuilding society and creating value for everyone.

D: Switch to micro economy. Take the power from the big corporations into your own hands. We have the knowledge and techniques to make every house and city self supporting in energy, materials and food. Transition towns are a great example of this. Small crafts people can start anywhere with little means. Through exchange of means, stuff, info and help we may become less dependent on money and those who have the biggest bundles of it. Check out,as a participants in that change revolution with millions of players around the globe, not because they are THE answer: Better,Transition Town movement or  P2P foundation.

E: Switch to an Experience Culture. What gives you most pleasure? Being with friends and family or a night before the TV? The having loads of goods, or having friends and sharing with them? Really consider what makes you truly happy and you'll see a culture needs way less to flourish. The best Example is Costa Rica, A very small ecological footprint and as happy as most Americans.

Good luck taking your dreams in your own hands.

Two Very Clear Ways to Understand Occupy



Two helpful pictures to understand the Occupy Protest. The First is a change of Paradigm. The Old doesn't get the New in any way. The Old is the Corporate world as it is today. The New is the Networked Society.

Look at the picture and consider on which side you live, on which side you('d) want to be and if you believe it's possible? It tells you your current place in the world.

What world do you live in?

A Model to Understand the Protest and Its Aim Better
The Second picture shows a simple model to understand the difficulties of the protest a bit better. And offers some advice how to see what really is the issue and who should be working together and who are not doing that, yet.

The real focus of the protest revealed and understood

Many people resist change. Change is always scary. This is why sometimes beaten women stay with their violent men. This is what they know. Many Honest Loyal seem to think being a 'little' cheating should be accepted as part of the game. The new world Occupy favours might be worse. Thus the Honest Loyal dislike the protest and on top of that they are being fed prejudiced news.

The protest is also being harassed by the Corrupted Loyal, who defend the system, often with arbitrary means. They think they have to protect the system against all attacks. Police intimidation, Prejudiced media and all forms of extreme Loyalism seem to side with the Honest Loyal, but the Corrupted Loyal are as far away from it as the protesters in a different direction. This is what the Honest Loyal often don’t get. Because the Corrupted Loyal seem part of the same system as they. Countless movies of heroes committing mass murder for good have made sure of that.

There’s also always a lot of citizens who seem to think, 'our government is a corrupt, but it is ours and someone must take the decisions'.  Well sadly, the Corrupted Loyal are often being played by the Corrupt Disloyal. They are being bought, they are being played. And the Honest Loyal often don’t seem to understand that the Protesters are aware of this. That is why the Protesters or Honest Disloyal are so angry. They see the corruption better, because they understand that everyone has a choice. They choose to be Honest and see others being Dishonest. The Honest Loyal often think everyone but real Gangsters are Honest and that Honesty is, or should be the same as, Loyalty. They forget that being Disloyal to the system, may be still a way to help the system to become better. Think about Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. They protested the Status Quo, definitely for the better!

At the same time many Protesters often think the Honest Loyal are part of the corruption too, because they protect things as they are. They are not! They are the people the Protesters are also fighting for. How to solve this?

Tips on How to fight Corruption and improve the system.

The Honest Loyal should aim to protect Stability and Honesty and dare to admit that not everything is alright, because the whole system they so proudly protect includes the protesters. So stability is served when they are curious and willing to find out how to (re)integrate the protesters within the system.

The Honest Disloyal should target Corruption and those parts of the system that threaten Stability and Honesty. Then they can work together with the Honest Loyal. They both want a stable and trustworthy Honest System, with Honest People.

The Corrupt Loyal are seen by the Honest Disloyal as agents of Corruption, while they too want to protect the System. The Corrupt Loyal should strengthen their Loyalty by serving Honesty. They should put aside Prejudice and Corruption in order to strengthen the system within the Law and with Honesty. Thus they can win the trust of many Honest people, by upholding the Law towards the Corrupt Disloyal, who are the real crooks in the System. And those that are corrupt in the sense that they receive money to turn the blind eye to Corruption and Crime, or are being paid to misrepresent events in their media? They are Corrupted Disloyal.

When these three sides take on the Disloyal Corrupt together they can win. With their victory they can create the space and trust for an open dialogue. Then they can reflect what can stay as it is, and what might be improved upon. This is how South Africa beat Apartheid. This is How the Berlin Wall fell. This is How Occupy and Loyal Citizens can help Capitalism to revitalize into a Healthy Green and Honest Economical Model for everyone.

5 reasons why all we’ll see way more very nasty accidents like Fukushima in the future, and why we’re not going to stop them.

Technosink: Why the engineers will keep on building accident prone power plants.

A Technosink is the hard wake up call, that happens when scientists or engineers thought they had it all covered.  Right when we believed engineers had ruled out all nasty possibilities, within a technical framework, and then harsh reality destroys the illusion of control. Murphy’s Law breaking down engineering arrogance. Take nuclear power plants. Building a very safe reactor house is worth nothing if the cooling systems breaks down, you lose control over the electricity in running the system, computers get virused or all people either die or flee the building. But engineers have a job to do. Build a safe plant. Check the drawings of nuclear power plants on the Google. In all of them the water system is quite vulnerable. Now think Earthquake, terrorists, violent revolt, war, mudslide, unlucky plane crash, tsunami, gas cloud, hurrincane or several of them at the same time, etc. You’ve got the whole plant protected and then you can’t flow new cooling water to the plant. So getting the job done, within the given framework, is not always the point. We only allow for accidents that we can imagine, and then hope the unimagined won’t happen. That’s inviting a technosink.

Aperock: Why the Top Dogs keep on endorsing damaging wares.

We may look like humans, but much of our actions are based upon our ape brain. We still act like monkeys when it comes to power, overview, hierarchy. Monkeys want to be on top. They want to keep and strengthen their position. In a forest craving to be the top monkey harms only a few other monkeys. It won’t harm the forest. But we are apes that can harm the forest. Washington is teeming with politicians and lobbyists who don’t give shit about their issue, only that that issue provides them with status, money and (self) importance. They automatically fight for the wellbeing of their organisation, issue, etc. Collateral damage in bankruptcies, loss of limbs to land mines, number of people without health care or proper education is taken for granted. If you happen to be a top monkey in the Nuclear tribe, you want it to rule the energy production and fight alternative power innovation. If your power is connected to the importance of nuclear power and the developing of new projects you not only endorse it. You reason objections away and perhaps even actively keep the lid on (almost) failures and accidents. It’s only the nuclear scientists without nuclear interests who warn against it. We apes don’t look at the bigger picture. We just do the best for us and our rock. We are blind to those cases where taking care of number one (yourself) is actually damaging ourselves, our society and our offspring in the long run.

Tribal Loyalty: Why employees keep on working for the wrong things.

For many, many centuries we lived in (family)tribes. Often survival of the tribe, especially in lawless or dangerous surroundings, depended on loyalty. We love loyalty. Getting the job done is what counts, because than the whole family will have some deer to eat tonight. But times and society have changed. If your job is to endorse nuclear power, weapons, tobacco or selling choking mortgages you still act like your company is your family tribe. You do your best for the company. And failing gets you fired. And while we were hunter gatherers this was a good idea. But even your selfish genes should oppose ancient tribal loyalty in damaging cases. Company loyalty is not a good idea when you get paid to illegally dump toxic waste into the ocean or endorse nuclear power, when you know what (almost) accidents are hidden under the table. The ecological fragility of society and environment is endangered by selfish organisations (also the Banking Crisis, and Enron scandal were part of this) willingly keeping the lid on dirty deeds of all kinds of nature. Not because they are evil, but because of stupid inbred tribal loyalty.

To betray the tribe was the worst possible crime. We still condemn whistleblowers instinctively. They often never find another job, because they are unreliable, untrustworthy and unfaithful troublemakers. But time has changed. Whistleblowers may betray a their smaller tribe, but often act in interest of the bigger whole. They see the bigger picture. They see that keeping the lid on trouble that may help their company, but may cost the state millions, pollute regions, create sickness for many in the future is wrong. And by exposing the lies of the management, they may help everyone including their managers and their children from bigger and more important threats. Wikileaks started with exposing governments. We need the same for all companies that damage the planet and do not think twice if other options are possible. Forced transparency will help companies to become honest and develop well being for society and earth. Now if that isn’t added value and worth something than I am an idiot.

Orgmind: Why dirty organisations don’t change their ways

Organisations have minds of their own. I’ve seen organisations where everyone wanted to go left, and still the organisation went right. Organisations have goals and reasons for existence that everyone contributes to. If your organisation is the best car builder, it will keep on building cars and endorsing cars as the transport solution. Mostly organisations identify with what they are currently doing. If you build cars driving on petrol, you hire lobbyist to protect your company, even when, petrol is running out and prices sky rocket. There is a way out though: If it sees itself as the best transporter, there may be a time when cars become obsolete, and this company will be the herald of the new transport solution. Many have heard the story, but we forget the lesson: Nokia once made rubber boots. The organisation is still there, but something entirely different. During the second world war, many American factories turned within a few months, from producing whatever, into weapon manufacturers. Still these needs crisis thinking and broad minds. There is a crisis, but sadly many narrow minds. So nuclear energy companies and project developers who have a lot of money invested will keep in doing their thing. And only force of law, or a mind and approach shift like within Nokia will stop them.

Sustainability: Why we won’t change our ways.

We have a modern active society that consumes a lot of energy. And we have a solution to prevent damaging too much of nature: sustainability. So we can get back to sleep. Nuclear power is among the answers that will provide the much needed energy. If fact we need more and more of it: for our computers, for our mobile phones, for our gadgets and soon for our cars too. And more and more people arrive at this level of luxury, they all want what we have too. That takes a lot of energy. Luckily we have sustainability. That is all the energy we put into continue our current ways. We don’t want to change. We don’t want not to use all that energy. We don’t want to lose our TV, I-Pad or Plane holiday to Thailand.  So there is a huge pressure to make it possible for all of us to have energy and lots of it. And in a democracy the politicians are pushed to provide the wishes of the masses and big corporations who also don’t want to change. Growth, especially economical, is the big wish. We need to push forward or our society, country will lack behind and lose power, influence and meaning. This we all have ingrained in our system, politics and society. So we’ll keep on moving forward until disaster strikes, be it new nuclear disaster or the dying of the seas. In the mean time we hope that sustainability will help us to find the magical new invention that will help us to stay on top within the same frame of mind, same culture & same use of energy. Since this is an impossible wish, nuclear power is so far the only source of energy that will keep providing our energy addiction. At the least this is what the nuclear apes, tribes, engineers orgminds and spin doctors keep on telling us. Sadly they do have a point, until new disaster strikes.