I'm In My 70's And Would Gladly Die For The Economy

[Ron Green]

If it were a moral economy. One that works for people rather than for Capital. An economy that enables local trade, with compassion built in through cooperative and worker-directed enterprises. An economy that measures its success not by a GDP, but by indexes of human happiness and basic needs met.

An economy that encourages simple and sustainable living in communities and on the earth, not tied to consumption of needless empty “goods and services” and monetized with debt in a constant transfer of wealth, or rather claims upon wealth, to Wall Street.

An economy that honors and supports human traditions and differentiates them from nostalgia. One that doesn’t misunderstand the word “freedom” so completely that it encourages people acting through their fear to deplete and despoil their surroundings and our common home, this planet.

Giving $800 or $1200 dollar checks to people in the hope that spending will “bubble up” through the economy is a whole lot better than giving billions to extractive, rent-seeking players who control this whole shit show. But is that a move you’d die for, Senior Citizen?

For my part, I’ll go willingly to the gurney in the hallway, but only if our national economic conversation goes MUCH deeper than anything we’ve heard so far.

[LakeArenal]

1. If that were so, there would be no thought to kill off old people.

[hlthe2b]

2. Oh, stop it. Why are you promoting the RW meme that is nothing short of trying to normalize

the perception that older Americans, the disabled, the chronically ill are EXPENDABLE.

Gee, who does that remind me of...? Hmmm. Do we likewise call it the "FINAL SOLUTION?"

Yeah, I'm:

[SWBTATTReg]

7. Amend! Every life is precious, and no amount of moral jusification/economic policies/etc. is...

ever worth a life. Period. Regardless if it's related to Green, redneck, etc. type of economic policies.

[Ron Green]

12. By that reasoning, our health care "system" is not worth the lives it costs

year after year, our highway system isn’t worth the fatalities, and our climate policies aren’t worth it either. All of which are strongly supported by our governments.

[SWBTATTReg]

13. BS. These systems are here to try and serve all, the fact that they don't save everybody...

doesn't mean the systems aren't worth it. It's just that some things you can't do, beyond our capabilities. E.g., someone having an uncurable disease, but we still try. I never said what you inferred on your own, our health care isn't worth the fatalities, etc. I never said this. You did.

[StarryNite]

3. A moral economy would never expect you to die for it.

[Ron Green]

6. Precisely. n/t

[liberalmuse]

4. Just because people are more suseptible or elderly...

does not mean they are "weak". There are so many, many people who are elderly, have a compromised immune system or are disabled that are invaluable to our society. To think that sacrificing them would be for the greater good is not only horrific but short-sighted (at the very least). If you need to sacrifice anyone for the economy, that economy is a shit economy. We need an economy that is more localized and benefits the most people possible, not just a minute few who hoard resources and treat their employees like serfs.

[Ron Green]

14. Yes, I've got to recommend your last sentence, on the occasion of Earth Day!

[Brainfodder]

5. For this economy?

Fuck this economy, I hope it has to restart from scratch, and ALL the current billionaire class is dropped down to broke idiot status and beaten up daily for a while.



How dare I be for fairness, I know, I am a horrible person.

[orwell]

8. Dying for Dollars...

...dollars that we have now proven repeatedly are created out of thin air.

In other words you would die (something real) for the economy (something virtual.)

What a pile of shitfuckery...

[Ron Green]

9. I surely won't die for this economy

but I would give my life for the one we need.

[Ferrets are Cool]

10. I wouldn't. Nor would I ask anyone else to do so. You can rebuild an economy.

Once a person is dead, that's it.

[Ron Green]

11. I understand your reluctance (or refusal.)

Many people have died for some cause “greater than themselves,” usually a war but sometimes civil rights or worker issues, for example. As an older person with underlying health problems, I’ve decided that, if there were somehow a way to come out of this pandemic with a Moral Economy in place or even in progress, I would give my own life for that.

Since there’s almost no chance of such a transformation, my own refusal and reluctance are in place, just as yours. But in this time of worldwide dying, it’s natural to decide what’s worth dying for.