<story><title>Lessons from the Long Depression</title><url>http://www.coppolacomment.com/2019/04/lessons-from-long-depression.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>andrepd</author><text>Reading this sort of things is getting gradually more grating for me to read.&lt;p&gt;We organise ourselves in a system where: &amp;quot;a world in which goods and services are so cheap to produce that less and less capital is required for investment, and so easy to produce that less and less labour is required to produce them&amp;quot; is not a &lt;i&gt;life-transforming utopia&lt;/i&gt;, but a catastrophe. The author constantly points this, points how growth in the &amp;quot;long stagnation&amp;quot; never materialised into better conditions and a better standard of living, and how that didn&amp;#x27;t change until war came.&lt;p&gt;Yet he never ceases to operate in the same system and to try to find the answers &lt;i&gt;within&lt;/i&gt; the system. It never even crosses his thought that... perhaps the fundamental tenets of the system should be changed, or at the very least questionable. All he does is find convoluted ways of patching the a broken system &lt;i&gt;from within the system&lt;/i&gt;.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rsync</author><text>&amp;quot;We organise ourselves in a system where: &amp;quot;a world in which goods and services are so cheap to produce that less and less capital is required for investment, and so easy to produce that less and less labour is required to produce them&amp;quot; is not a life-transforming utopia, but a catastrophe.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I understand - and sympathize with - your reaction.&lt;p&gt;However I have a suspicion that the authors stance is correct and, indeed, there is something catastrophic involved.  If not due to the circumstances, then to our response to the circumstances (which, as you say, would &lt;i&gt;seem&lt;/i&gt; to be heavenly).&lt;p&gt;If, however, you place stock in the notion that (most) humans find happiness and meaning and fulfillment in completing meaningful and valuable work, I think it starts to make sense.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;You and I&lt;/i&gt; might have the personal makeup - or find ourselves in a stage of generational or familial development - to find meaning and joy in a post-scarcity, post &amp;quot;work&amp;quot;, nuanced and refined existence.  I like to think I do.&lt;p&gt;But I can imagine not having that makeup and while I might not be able to point to &amp;quot;the absence of scarcity&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;not having meaningful work&amp;quot; as my affliction, I think without a doubt &lt;i&gt;something&lt;/i&gt; would be afflicting me.</text></comment>
<story><title>Lessons from the Long Depression</title><url>http://www.coppolacomment.com/2019/04/lessons-from-long-depression.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>andrepd</author><text>Reading this sort of things is getting gradually more grating for me to read.&lt;p&gt;We organise ourselves in a system where: &amp;quot;a world in which goods and services are so cheap to produce that less and less capital is required for investment, and so easy to produce that less and less labour is required to produce them&amp;quot; is not a &lt;i&gt;life-transforming utopia&lt;/i&gt;, but a catastrophe. The author constantly points this, points how growth in the &amp;quot;long stagnation&amp;quot; never materialised into better conditions and a better standard of living, and how that didn&amp;#x27;t change until war came.&lt;p&gt;Yet he never ceases to operate in the same system and to try to find the answers &lt;i&gt;within&lt;/i&gt; the system. It never even crosses his thought that... perhaps the fundamental tenets of the system should be changed, or at the very least questionable. All he does is find convoluted ways of patching the a broken system &lt;i&gt;from within the system&lt;/i&gt;.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>umadon</author><text>This article is better than most, in that its conclusion steps outside the bizarro world of platonically ideal economics and mentions, ye gads, history and politics. But even so, it&amp;#x27;s worth nothing that the writer&amp;#x27;s paycheck depends on an imagination constrained by current arrangements. Always useful to check a bio:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.financialsense.com&amp;#x2F;contributors&amp;#x2F;frances-coppola&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.financialsense.com&amp;#x2F;contributors&amp;#x2F;frances-coppola&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anyway seems like there&amp;#x27;s a lot of these warnings from mainstream sources lately... and there&amp;#x27;s a commensurate rise in seemingly leftish candidates, at least in the US.</text></comment>