“Sergey Brin at Google who just had the thought of, well, if we give away all the information services, but we make money from advertising, we can make information free and still have capitalism. But the problem with that is it reneges on the social contract where people still participate in the formal economy ( people are no longer paid for the content they create in this model). And it’s a kind of capitalism that’s totally self-defeating because it’s so narrow. It’s a winner-take-all capitalism that’s not sustaining.”
Jaron Lanier
The internet destroyed the middle class, Salon Magazine
It’s Not Far, And it’s Time We Did it…
The digital revolution (and like you I do enjoy all the perks) has been disruptive to many industries. Kodak’s gone, the camera is part of a device we know as a smart phone. In today’s Financial Times the editorial suggests France’s internet transaction tax is a bad idea. The French have this notion of using a 4% tax to fund their arts programs. You know all those things that the digital revolution killed. But, this idea would be meddling, and at first glance if you are a patriotic open market, free trading, red blooded capitalist you ought not to be doing such a thing. Those French! Or should we? We need to update capitalism. It means altering the rules of the road. It means developing a set of policy’s worldwide. The financial sector is a mess. The atmosphere desperately needs our attention, and millions upon millions of people in Europe and the USA need to be put back to work. It doesn’t have to be this way. With our economic system in desperate need of an upgrade there couldn’t be a better moment than right now to bring to heel and rebalance this great global enterprise for the sake, not of the elites, but for the sake of the common good. Call me a dreamer, but that’s what novelists do. We show the world the way.
HOT SPRING HONEYMOON
Jolene spoke out for the award ribbon women, “One thing me and the girls have been good at is changing how a man sees things.”
“Teamwork that’s the whole idea,” Keefe said.
“Me and the girls ready to do whatever needs getting done.”
“Sal and I are ready too…” Mitzi said.
“We didn’t come here to just sleep with Fletcher McCrea,” Jolene was being as honest as she could. “We ended up here because we didn’t much care for how the world was changing out there.”
“This isn’t pie in the sky,” Keefe lifted his glass to toast, “To Meadowhawk and the people who love her, and heaven and to the good citizens doing the common good and end up there.”
