Preston MacDougall<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mas.to/@tg9541" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>tg9541</span></a></span> They get it from the “Atlas Shrugged” novels written by <a href="https://mstdn.science/tags/Russian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Russian</span></a> emigrée <a href="https://mstdn.science/tags/AynRand" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AynRand</span></a> (where the ‘hero’ is a character named John Galt). Her hyper-rationalist <a href="https://mstdn.science/tags/Objectivism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Objectivism</span></a> philosophy (<a href="https://mstdn.science/tags/empathy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>empathy</span></a> is a sin) was perversely melded into the ethos of so-called fundamentalist <a href="https://mstdn.science/tags/Christians" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Christians</span></a> already worshipping <a href="https://mstdn.science/tags/prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prosperity</span></a> in the <a href="https://mstdn.science/tags/UnitedStates" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>UnitedStates</span></a>.</p><p>I saw an excellent essay on this <a href="https://mstdn.science/tags/American" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>American</span></a> phenomenon entitled “Who is <a href="https://mstdn.science/tags/Jesus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Jesus</span></a> Galt?” that has since been ‘disappeared’. 🤷🏻♂️</p><p><a href="https://mstdn.science/tags/Resist" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Resist</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.science/tags/DoNotComply" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>DoNotComply</span></a></p>
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#prosperity
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Austrian<p>Where does prosperity come from? From nature? from authorities? from unions? from capital accumulation? When capitalists accumulate capital, everyone, even the poorest, prospers. When <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/government" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>government</span></a> or unions interferes with the market, <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prosperity</span></a> shrinks. <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/capitalaccumulation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>capitalaccumulation</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/capitalism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>capitalism</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/unions" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>unions</span></a></p>
Bongolian<p>John K. Glenn: What <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Democracy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Democracy</span></a> Brings: And What the Cuts to the National Endowment for Democracy Take Away</p><p>• Democracies are more secure<br>• Democracies are more prosperous<br>• Democracies are safer</p><p><a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/uspol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>uspol</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>trump</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/maga" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>maga</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/security" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>security</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prosperity</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/safety" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>safety</span></a><br><a href="https://snyder.substack.com/p/what-democracy-brings" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">snyder.substack.com/p/what-dem</span><span class="invisible">ocracy-brings</span></a></p>
Wen<p>And not a measure of GDP that most people would appreciate!</p><p>Despite growth in 2024, living standards fell. Inequality, weak public investment and government cuts threaten prosperity. Labour must offer voters something different </p><p>They don’t appear to embarking on that journey - the cult of Thatcher and household 3economics is strong in Reeves.</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/13/the-guardian-view-on-britains-broken-economy-thats-your-bloody-gdp-not-ours" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">theguardian.com/commentisfree/</span><span class="invisible">2025/feb/13/the-guardian-view-on-britains-broken-economy-thats-your-bloody-gdp-not-ours</span></a></p><p><a href="https://mastodon.scot/tags/UkPolitics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>UkPolitics</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.scot/tags/GDP" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GDP</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.scot/tags/Benefit" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Benefit</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.scot/tags/Prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Prosperity</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.scot/tags/Reeves" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Reeves</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.scot/tags/VoodoEconomics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>VoodoEconomics</span></a></p>
Andreas Sternowski<p>If we were to draw up a balance sheet of our <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/civilization" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>civilization</span></a> since the industrial revolution, <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prosperity</span></a> would be at the top of the assets side. On the other side, we find two serious liabilities: the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/destruction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>destruction</span></a> of <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/nature" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>nature</span></a> and growing <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/social" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>social</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/tensions" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>tensions</span></a>.<br>It is becoming increasingly clear to us that these liabilities are no longer sustainable. We need to make fundamental changes to this balance sheet.</p>
small circle 🕊 in calmness<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://ec.social-network.europa.eu/@EUCommission" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>EUCommission</span></a></span></p><p>Talking about energy transition I wonder how sentiments change that some people express here on this channel. Talking about the ones dripping with cynicism and bile, even on uplifting and positive announcements. Posted by folks who can only think good <a href="https://social.coop/tags/EU" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EU</span></a>, bad EU, judging a singular entity. Now dark energy flows so abundant, it becomes painfully clear we need protect and foster beacons of <a href="https://social.coop/tags/freedom" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>freedom</span></a>, <a href="https://social.coop/tags/peace" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>peace</span></a> & <a href="https://social.coop/tags/prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prosperity</span></a>. We need <a href="https://social.coop/tags/European" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>European</span></a> <a href="https://social.coop/tags/union" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>union</span></a>.</p><p>☀️ Positive energy<br>😎 Harbors light!</p>
Deborah Sampson<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://scicomm.xyz/@ianrosewrites" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>ianrosewrites</span></a></span> <br>Finding a productive use for anxiety…<br>Like <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/volunteering" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>volunteering</span></a> in your <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/community" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>community</span></a><br>Or joining political <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/nonprofits" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>nonprofits</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/fighting" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fighting</span></a> for…<br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/equity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>equity</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/health" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>health</span></a> & <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prosperity</span></a> for everyone.<br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/resistance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>resistance</span></a></p>
UniversityofGroningenLibrary<p>New in our electronic <a href="https://social.edu.nl/tags/collection" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>collection</span></a>: </p><p>➡️ Reimagining <a href="https://social.edu.nl/tags/Prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Prosperity</span></a><br>Toward a New Imaginary of <a href="https://social.edu.nl/tags/Law" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Law</span></a> and <a href="https://social.edu.nl/tags/PoliticalEconomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PoliticalEconomy</span></a> in the <a href="https://social.edu.nl/tags/EU" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EU</span></a></p><p>🔗 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009236195" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">doi.org/10.1017/9781009236195</span><span class="invisible"></span></a></p><p><a href="https://social.edu.nl/tags/OpenAccess" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>OpenAccess</span></a> <a href="https://social.edu.nl/tags/economics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>economics</span></a> <a href="https://social.edu.nl/tags/InternationalRelations" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>InternationalRelations</span></a> <a href="https://social.edu.nl/tags/EuropeanUnion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EuropeanUnion</span></a></p>
BerlinFokus<p><a href="https://berlin.social/tags/Democracy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Democracy</span></a>, <a href="https://berlin.social/tags/Freedom" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Freedom</span></a>, <a href="https://berlin.social/tags/FreeSpeech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>FreeSpeech</span></a>, <a href="https://berlin.social/tags/Prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Prosperity</span></a>, <a href="https://berlin.social/tags/Equality" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Equality</span></a>, <a href="https://berlin.social/tags/Security" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Security</span></a>, <a href="https://berlin.social/tags/Rules" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Rules</span></a> .. everything is under <a href="https://berlin.social/tags/Siege" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Siege</span></a> now by greedy <a href="https://berlin.social/tags/Oligarchs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Oligarchs</span></a> worldwide.</p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/z-b2Db513rU?si=QKYZomYx80zTdBV8" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">youtu.be/z-b2Db513rU?si=QKYZom</span><span class="invisible">Yx80zTdBV8</span></a></p><p>They think they can win because we are divided.</p><p>Are we ?</p><p>.</p>
WIST Quotations<p>A quotation from Swift, Jonathan:</p><p>«<br>If Heaven had looked upon riches to be a valuable thing, it would not have given them to such a scoundrel.<br>»</p><p>Full quote, sourcing, notes: <br><a href="https://wist.info/swift-jonathan/30372/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">wist.info/swift-jonathan/30372</span><span class="invisible">/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://zirk.us/tags/quote" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>quote</span></a> <a href="https://zirk.us/tags/quotes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>quotes</span></a> <a href="https://zirk.us/tags/quotation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>quotation</span></a> <a href="https://zirk.us/tags/God" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>God</span></a> <a href="https://zirk.us/tags/money" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>money</span></a> <a href="https://zirk.us/tags/prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prosperity</span></a> <a href="https://zirk.us/tags/reward" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>reward</span></a> <a href="https://zirk.us/tags/riches" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>riches</span></a> <a href="https://zirk.us/tags/value" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>value</span></a> <a href="https://zirk.us/tags/wealth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>wealth</span></a></p>
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<p>The following link can change your world view.</p><p>Seriously, you need to read the linked post. If you worry that someone will take advantage of the system or get what they don't deserve, and that makes you angry, read the post for a dose of plain civilized thinking.</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/economics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>economics</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/food" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>food</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prosperity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/basicincome" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>basicincome</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/postscarcity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>postscarcity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/mutualaid" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>mutualaid</span></a> </p><p>Hat tip to <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mindly.social/@floofpaldi" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>floofpaldi</span></a></span> <br>cc: <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://hollow.raccoon.quest/@raccoon" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>raccoon</span></a></span> <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://infosec.exchange/@tinker" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>tinker</span></a></span> </p><p><a href="https://infosec.exchange/@tinker/113765243630873685" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">infosec.exchange/@tinker/11376</span><span class="invisible">5243630873685</span></a></p>
Gerd Aschemann<p>Both sides could live in <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/peace" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>peace</span></a> and <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prosperity</span></a> if they could somehow leave their aggression against each other behind. In Europe we needed centuries to overcome our differences, I hope it will get faster in the larger Palestine region. First step should be to form two separate states based on <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/democracy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>democracy</span></a>, <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/secularism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>secularism</span></a> and <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/humanrights" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>humanrights</span></a> - without foreign influence.</p><p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/israel" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>israel</span></a></span> <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/palestine" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>palestine</span></a></span></p>
Nonilex<p>“Understand …, these so-called [<a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Trump</span></a>] policies … really are not about a plan for strengthening our <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prosperity</span></a> or our <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/security" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>security</span></a>,” <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Harris" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Harris</span></a> said.</p><p>She then repeated a promise she made, to applause, when accepting the nomination at last month’s Democratic national convention:</p><p>“I will never sell out America to our competitors or adversaries, never, never. And I will always make sure we have the strongest <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/economy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>economy</span></a> & the most lethal fighting force anywhere in the world.”</p><p>- MVP <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/KamalaHarris" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>KamalaHarris</span></a></p>
Paul Schoe<p>A 2-minute video about Tom Walz repairing his car.</p><p>Will normalcy and decency return to politics? </p><p>This is what politics used to be.</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N-B0_OKkeg" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">youtube.com/watch?v=3N-B0_OKke</span><span class="invisible">g</span></a><br><a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/Vote" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Vote</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/Decency" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Decency</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/Prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Prosperity</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/Democracy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Democracy</span></a></p>
Paul Schoe<p>Since Trump will lose the vote in almost every demography except for white nationalist men, he will have a lot of groups to blame when he loses the election.</p><p>People vote for a prosperous future for their children and themselves, not to keep a criminal out of prison.</p><p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://masto.deluma.biz/@dogzilla" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>dogzilla</span></a></span> <br><a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/Harris" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Harris</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/Vote" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Vote</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/Prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Prosperity</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/Criminal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Criminal</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.world/tags/Conman" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Conman</span></a></p>
Zhi Zhu 🕸️<p><a href="https://newsie.social/tags/JDVance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>JDVance</span></a> on CNBC says that if immigration was the path to prosperity, then "America would be the most prosperous country in the world." (Who wants to tell him ... )<br>- <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://threads.net/@aaron.rupar/" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>aaron.rupar</span></a></span> </p><p>America IS the most prosperous country in the world in terms of GDP (Gross Domestic Product).</p><p>Sources for images below:<br><a href="https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-by-country/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-by-c</span><span class="invisible">ountry/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-top-economies/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">investopedia.com/insights/worl</span><span class="invisible">ds-top-economies/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://globalpeoservices.com/top-15-countries-by-gdp-in-2024/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">globalpeoservices.com/top-15-c</span><span class="invisible">ountries-by-gdp-in-2024/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://newsie.social/tags/Immigration" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Immigration</span></a> <a href="https://newsie.social/tags/Economy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Economy</span></a> <a href="https://newsie.social/tags/Economics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Economics</span></a> <a href="https://newsie.social/tags/Prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Prosperity</span></a> <a href="https://newsie.social/tags/Business" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Business</span></a> <a href="https://newsie.social/tags/US" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>US</span></a> <a href="https://newsie.social/tags/UnitedStates" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>UnitedStates</span></a> <a href="https://newsie.social/tags/USA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>USA</span></a></p>
Hebrew by Inbal<p>Gaza was another example of that.</p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-IDrjkJa08/?igsh=MXBobGxsODFrZTk4MQ==" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">instagram.com/reel/C-IDrjkJa08</span><span class="invisible">/?igsh=MXBobGxsODFrZTk4MQ==</span></a></p><p>In the years leading up to 2005, Jewish communities in Gaza worked tirelessly to transform the land into a flourishing and productive area. </p><p>Through sheer dedication and innovative agricultural techniques, they turned the desert sands into fertile grounds brimming with life.</p><p>These communities built lush greenhouses that produced vibrant tomatoes, peppers, and flowers, which were exported globally, showcasing the potential of this land</p><p>Modern infrastructure, schools, and medical facilities were established, creating a thriving environment where families could live, work, and grow</p><p>This development was a testament to the hard work and resilience of the people who believed in the potential of the land</p><p>When Israel decided to disengage from Gaza in 2005, it was a poignant and emotional moment</p><p>Gazans were given everything. They destroyed it all in months</p><p><a href="https://babka.social/tags/prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prosperity</span></a> <a href="https://babka.social/tags/jewish" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>jewish</span></a> <a href="https://babka.social/tags/native" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>native</span></a> <a href="https://babka.social/tags/israel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>israel</span></a></p>
Nonilex<p><a href="https://masto.ai/tags/KamalaHarris" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>KamalaHarris</span></a> said that if <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Trump</span></a> is re-elected, he would give <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/TaxBreaks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TaxBreaks</span></a> to big <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/corporations" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>corporations</span></a>, cut <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/SocialSecurity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SocialSecurity</span></a> & <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Medicare" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Medicare</span></a>, weaken the <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/MiddleClass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MiddleClass</span></a> & reduce <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/access" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>access</span></a> to <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/HealthCare" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HealthCare</span></a>.</p><p>“They do not lead to <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prosperity</span></a>. They lead to <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/inequity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>inequity</span></a> & economic <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/injustice" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>injustice</span></a>,” she said of Trump’s agenda.</p><p>“We are not going back. You’re not taking us back.”</p><p><a href="https://masto.ai/tags/ProsecutorHarris" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ProsecutorHarris</span></a> <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/CriminalTrump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CriminalTrump</span></a> <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/ProsecutorVFelon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ProsecutorVFelon</span></a> <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/law" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>law</span></a> <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/democracy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>democracy</span></a> <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/POTUS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>POTUS</span></a> <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/TheFirstButNotTheLast" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TheFirstButNotTheLast</span></a> <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/HarrisForPresident" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HarrisForPresident</span></a> <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Election2024" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Election2024</span></a> <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Harris2024" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Harris2024</span></a></p>
David Clubb <p>This second guest post by Professor Calvin Jones about Wales’ economy is part of Afallen’s objective of elevating the terms of the debate in Wales about how our economy operates – and what can be done to improve it. You can read Calvin’s first blog post <a href="https://afallen.cymru/2024/02/28/if-we-tolerate-this/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>. </p><p>Header photo: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/34825346@N02/20658747674" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">courtesy of Jim Nix.</a></p> <ol><li>The problem (as defined by me)</li><li>Solution the First: play their game</li><li>Solution the Second: invent another game</li><li>Escaping our history</li></ol> <blockquote><p>London never sleeps it just sucks,<br>The life out of me,<br>And the money from my pocket.</p><p>‘Londinium’<br>Mark Roberts / Catatonia<br>© Brodyr Warner 1998</p></blockquote> <p>Ah, what a song. But is it a metaphor or… just a song?</p><p><strong>The problem (as defined by me)</strong></p><p>So. We all know Wales has some longstanding economic… issues. There has been a tendency by some – perhaps increasing – to blame our economic woes on the ‘noisy neighbours’, handily dovetailing with concerns about cultural and linguistic marginalisation over the centuries. It was the English what did it!</p><p>So far so defensible. Maybe? But this notion ignores the (resolutely English) single mother scraping by on Universal Credit in Newcastle. Welsh ‘economic exceptionalism’ wilts a little when you realise the UK is probably the most regionally unbalanced country in Europe. As I have <a href="https://afallen.cymru/2024/02/28/if-we-tolerate-this/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">previously argued</a> there <em>is</em> something different about peripheral economies and Wales <em>does </em>seem to suffer from peripherality more than most, but the specific ‘Welshness’ of this needs unpacking. We might start with the more widely applicable notion that ‘<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Veins_of_Latin_America" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">development develops inequality’</a> through a process of <em>unequal exchange. </em>Markets are <em>organised</em>, and this is done by powerful firms, institutions and countries that are resolutely <em>core –</em> right in the middle of the nexus of relationships, geography, intellectual property and ownership that constitute political-economic power. Then, if the system allows such actors to exploit and extract critical natural and human resources that might emerge in the periphery, well… them’s the rules.</p><p>It is one thing to recognise and (as I do) accept this characterisation of the global economic system. Quite another to know what to <em>do</em> about it. As <a href="https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Joshua_(WarGames)" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Joshua</a> discovered in Wargames, sometimes the only winning move is not to play.</p><p>But that seems… impossible. So how do we play to win? Or at least lose less badly? How do we halt or at least reduce the flow of value out of our little part of the periphery, and capture more of it here?</p> <p><strong>Solution the First: Play their game better</strong></p><p>Imagine Wales is a rusty old bucket. With a dragon on you say? OK, fill your boots. But try to fill the bucket with money – from the Westminster block grant to the Welsh Government, and out via procurement; or from Welsh residents’ wages or welfare payments; or from Wales-based company exports; and it all drains away through the holes in the bottom. Fill those holes and the money stays longer, adding more wages, profits, and wellbeing.</p><p>Plugging the holes – stopping the leaks can take many forms. And it is potentially powerful, because we start from a low base – this is, for example, an overwhelmingly farmed country that imports almost <em>all </em>its food. Nuts! My <a href="https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/151984/1/Project_Report_Input_Output_Tables_Wales_2019.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">economic model</a> suggests if we could shift these purchases so that just, say, 10% more of consumer spend was on <em>Welsh</em> food – so about 85% imported instead of 95% – we could add over £1 billion to Welsh output, £500m to value added, and create around 9,000 jobs. <em>If,</em> of course, we could find the land to grow the food people want, and at the price they could afford. More on which… later. Or perhaps in a future blog if my head starts hurting.</p><p>This form of localisation has of course more than purely economic benefits. The pandemic and subsequent supply shocks (Ukraine, <a href="https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/details/9811000" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">that bloody boat</a>) made it crystal clear that long supply chains are often <em>vulnerable </em>supply chains – the last thing you want for critical products (like, I dunno, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/jan/14/nhs-medicines-shortage-putting-lives-at-risk-pharmacists-warn" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">medicine</a>). Meanwhile, exchanging functionally identical products between countries may make economic sense (somehow) but is energy-and-climate bonkers.</p><p>It’s not just ‘stuff’ of course. The 16th Century Acts of Union welcomed Wales into England’s warm legal embrace, and the consequence, half a millennium later, is a suite of common EnglandandWales legal and professional structures. Not only judges, but planners, architects, and lawyers of all kinds can work (pretty much) seamlessly across the porous border. The result has definitively <em>not</em> been the hollowing out of the English professional class by expansionary Welsh firms 🙂.</p><p>This financial, professional, competence, and I would argue, ‘civic’ leakage has left us with an economy that is narrow and weak, and a cultural life <a href="https://www.iwa.wales/our-work/work/iwa-wales-media-audit-2020/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">lacking depth and reach</a>. Is it any wonder that graduates from Welsh universities (along with those from the North) <a href="https://luminate.prospects.ac.uk/migration-patterns-of-the-highly-educated-across-uk-regions" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">flock to the South East</a> of the UK to work? Or that the UK Government, along with private companies simply can’t find an excuse to undertake R&D in Wales – in fact, <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN04033/SN04033.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">anywhere outside</a> the ‘Golden Triangle’? Or that Welsh companies are always the acquired, never the acquirer?</p><p>Plugging the leaks – playing this game better – means concentrated, nuanced engagement with a system that is stacked against the peripheral. It means, for example, going far beyond what <a href="https://www.alliancembs.manchester.ac.uk/news/the-foundational-economy-influencing-economic-policy-and-practice-in-wales/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Karel Williams</a> characterises as the ‘postcode stock-take’ of current public procurement tracking, welcome though that is. On this side, things are now harder with the new(ish) UK Internal Market Act which ensures no regulation will “directly or indirectly discriminate against a service provider from another part of the UK”. So – <em>no local sourcing for its own sake</em>, any more than when Brussels was looking over our shoulder. This is the sort of ‘level playing field’ that ignores structural power and pre-existing financial ‘clout’. And <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68747537" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">works so well in sport</a> of course.</p><p>For the public sector then, deep thought is needed to reshape procurement to genuinely demand ‘foundational economy’ and social (and perhaps cultural/linguistic) benefits in ways that will be naturally more deliverable by – and this is important – responsible, sustainable and embedded Welsh businesses. To ensure that the new <a href="https://www.gov.wales/social-partnership-and-public-procurement-wales-act#112516" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Social Partnership Act</a> comes to life in a way that, perhaps, the Future Generations Act initially struggled to. And critically, to be prepared to <em>pay more</em> for contracts that deliver a wider range of benefits, and which at least begin to change the structure of the Welsh economy. To (as Karel Williams and Kevin Morgan suggest) actually resource, develop and reward <a href="https://business.senedd.wales/documents/s93989/EIS5-24-19P7%20Evidence%20from%20Professor%20Karel%20Williams%20and%20Professor%20Kevin%20Morgan.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">strategic procurement as a profession in Wales</a>. To work to a situation where we procure locally, not out of the goodness of our public sector hearts, but because it <em>delivers</em>. Easy then.</p><p>Of course, localisation is not only about public procurement. The largest UK experiment in re-localisation so far was of a completely different sort. To illustrate, in England the ‘<a href="https://www.preston.gov.uk/article/1791/The-definitive-guide-to-the-Preston-model-" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Preston’ model</a>’ focused on the localisation of public procurement to deliver a claimed £40m improvement in the town and perhaps £200m across Lancashire as a whole. Excellent stuff. But <em>Scotland</em> meanwhile has undertaken the localisation – indeed, effective <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autarky" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">autarkisation</a> – of its <em>£10bn</em> higher education system. Students don’t go in, students don’t come out! Around 85% of Scotland’s UK-resident students are Scottish, and the great majority stay there after graduation – with of course huge impacts on the economy. It’s like North Korea, but with worse weather and an unstable political system.</p><p>And this is the result of a deliberate and calculated decision by their regional government – right at the start of devolution – to treat Scots differently but <em>only </em>if they made an education decision seen as more widely beneficial. Could we do this in Wales? Well, there was clearly no appetite when tuition fees were last examined by <a href="https://www.gov.wales/maximum-tuition-fee-wales-will-remain-ps9000-kirsty-williams" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kirsty Williams in 2017</a>, and perhaps our smaller sector makes it a bit more difficult to sell: eight universities compared to fifteen (as of today, Tuesday, but <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cxe9r8ml5nvo" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">don’t hold me to that</a>). But this is a sector that is about to undergo a significant cross-UK shake-out in any case, as international student numbers collapse and the <a href="https://wonkhe.com/blogs/ofs-assessment-of-university-finances-warns-of-need-for-structural-change-to-stave-off-risks-of-provider-collapse/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">business model goes with them</a>. Here we have a real and urgent opportunity to re-localise. At the moment, there is little ‘extrinsic’ incentive for academics to set themselves the task of helping solve Wales’ problems over a sustained period; no large ongoing research pots, or ‘local impact weightings’ in career progression or hiring for example. Given the difficulties inherent in squeezing globally-recognised papers from studies of a small, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-of-uk-economic-statistics-final-report" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">data-poor</a> regions, it is left to individual academics to undertake (<a href="https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/research/impact-and-innovation/research-impact/pinpointing-fuel-poverty" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">often excellent</a>) work through the hard yards of developing <a href="https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/2810301-cardiff-university-joins-forces-with-cardiff-capital-region-and-other-local-universities-and-colleges-for-future-collaboration" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">external stakeholder relationships</a>, and bending large UK-level grants to Wales-appropriate ends.</p><p>Given the almost laughably low level of business <em>and</em> government R&D undertaken in Wales, can we really afford the vast majority of academic research <em>in</em> Wales not to be<em> for </em>Wales? If Universities are looking down the barrel of big reductions in the international student fees that currently subsidise research, a new funding model will be needed. And maybe, at the same time, some new objectives found.</p><p>What was that thing about never wasting a good crisis?</p><p>There are potentially other big localisations we can consider. For example, whilst the £10bn of local government pension funds under management by Hymans (checks the internet: no office in Wales) are doing well in terms of fossil disinvestment and climate risk, the proportion invested in Wales seems to be, as far as I can judge, £68m… Nought point seven percent. And look, I know this is complicated, I know there’s a primary fiduciary duty on trust managers, and <em>perhaps</em> Welsh investments are more risky but…. 0.7%? Really? And we’ve been talking about this for <em>years</em>, and getting nowhere. In 2018 the <a href="https://www.iwa.wales/wp-content/media/2017/04/IWA_ReEnergisingWales-9.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Institute for Welsh Affairs</a> suggested that Welsh pensions weren’t invested in Wales due to the “cultural and behavioural decisions of pension fund trustees, boards and consultants/ investment managers”. Basically, London folks can’t be bothered with understanding, and carrying out due diligence, on such trivially small investments in this wonky little peninsular. And nobody makes them. Even though it’s our money.</p><p>This stuff, this £10bn, <em>matters</em> (especially in a context where our public sector can’t easily borrow against the future). If we don’t even invest our own money here… why would anyone else? This is not all down to the pension fund supply side however: If all that is on offer in Wales small yet <a href="https://pembrokeshire-herald.com/92723/stop-funding-bute-carmarthenshire-residents-tell-county-council/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">politically toxic</a> renewables, we will get nowhere in developing a more locally oriented investment model – in pensions or elsewhere. Joining up floating, responsible and patient funds with at-scale, commercially attractive investment opportunities in socially, climate and ecologically useful stuff is a priority. But I’m not sure we even really understand the key barriers, let alone have the will to address them. A similar argument might be made at the other end – for a more bespoke Welsh finance system better suited to the <a href="https://developmentbank.wales/sites/default/files/2024-05/J0425_BBB_Wales_Report_AW.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">needs of our micro organisations</a>. But the <a href="https://www.iwa.wales/agenda/2013/07/wales-needs-a-capital-cauldron/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Interwebz reveal</a> I first argued for a Cardiff stockmarket over a decade ago, and I do hate repeating myself 🙂.</p> <p><strong><strong>Solution the second: Invent another game</strong></strong></p><p>So… it is perhaps possible to play this game better, by identifying where Wales is especially weak, where opportunities exist to lever greater local value, and then to focus on both big-ticket and long-grind interventions that might make a difference. But… we live in a world where the material prosperity we chase is fundamentally enabled by ecological destruction, climate chaos, <a href="https://www.jasonhickel.org/the-divide" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">huge flows of materiel and economic value</a>, from the global south, and <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/ghana-ewaste-dump-electronics/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">deeply unpleasant impacts</a> on the poorest. Striving to be a slightly bigger dog in a dog-eat-dog world is in my view (and that of the <a href="https://www.futuregenerations.wales/a-globally-responsible-wales/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Future Generations Act</a>) a non-starter. The re-localisation of production – and even adding <a href="https://ceicwales.org.uk/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">circularity</a> – does nothing unless we also deal with the other half of the equation: our hyper-global, and hyper-problematic <a href="https://jncc.gov.uk/news/welsh-globai-impacts-report-published/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">consumption</a>.</p><p>Despite some <a href="https://data.jncc.gov.uk/data/dc81dd16-9b1c-4eeb-b350-dcadd5ade736/jncc-report-743.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">measurement</a>, governments talk much less about the radical changes to our consumption habits needed to secure a liveable future. The unsustainability of consumption is not unrelated to the remoteness of the consumer from where the goods are produced. We never see the emissions created as flowers are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652622029985?casa_token=WYbQHaFpOckAAAAA:ZUAw7bo8I3wevBKD_yWHxStSqrBqZHJLG7C-b6B4K07_VPMYpSveutbxawlyfqX_9XyPdNbr9iw" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">flown from Kenya</a> to our local petrol station, just-in-time for 8pm on your anniversary. I have literally <em>no idea</em> which server is streaming my Netflix-Disney+-AppleTV-Paramount film at any given time, let alone how its powered, or whether any children were harmed in the <a href="https://news.sdgtalks.ai/2024/03/06/us-court-absolves-top-tech-companies-in-congos-child-labor-case/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">production of the phone</a> I’m watching on). And we pay almost none of the (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/15/intensive-farming-is-biggest-cause-of-bird-decline-in-europe-study-says" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">horrific</a>) environmental costs of all the food we eat. All a bit depressing I know. Think I need a few days in Ibiza to recover.</p><p>This, then is perhaps another emergency we can’t afford to waste? Wales has done <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/03/were-crap-at-capitalism-we-need-something-different-the-battle-for-economic-revival-in-the-welsh-valleys" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">really quite badly</a> from the existing system of global capitalism. Surely a new, more sustainable system would be naturally (sic) more local, helping keep prosperity in Wales and wellbeing high?</p><p>Well, maybe. And maybe not.</p><p>The first point to make is that Wales is, really, a very <em>unlocalised</em> economy right now, for almost all our big purchases: Food, financial services, energy are just some of the biggest, most leaky examples. To switch these to regional supply to any meaningful extent not only requires a<em> geographical</em> transition but also a <em>product </em>transition, on both sides: for example, in both what we eat and what we grow. And the elephant in the room is that once we bring this stuff closer to home, it’s more costly – firstly because we lose out on all the cheap land and cheap labour and cheap energy that currently underpins our imports, and secondly because there’s only any point in doing this if we incorporate the costs of ‘<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">externalities</a>’ in production.</p> <p><strong>Escaping our history</strong></p><p>I look to the future, it makes me cry (well not really, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU5trjpFus0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">I couldn’t resist it</a>). More seriously, this is… <em>quite a difficult ask</em> in a country where a fifth of children are already living in <a href="https://senedd.wales/media/fvzfkpg5/cr-ld16118-e.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">absolute poverty</a> and where the public sector is currently undergoing decimation-by-Barnett. It is hard therefore to see how any substantive transformation towards locality could happen without significant income redistribution, a completely different regulatory and tax approach, and deep behaviour change on the part of consumers. That’s going to look great on the side of a 2026 election campaign bus.</p><p>In the absence of these frankly unlikely things, maybe we <em>are</em> left with just playing the existing game a bit better, taking small wins where we can, and hoping that this translates to a slightly less crap outcome. But remember, crises aren’t often obvious until they arrive. A decade ago, when I was writing about peak oil and feeling especially hopeless (but had <a href="https://www.transitionculture.org/2013/05/10/an-interview-with-prof-calvin-jones-economics-is-a-child-of-the-oil-age/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">more hair</a>), I would be asked what would get the fossil-fuel addicted Welsh economy ‘off oil’ – given the same social and political constraints we face now…</p><p>My answer back then would be ‘the fall of the Saudi government and its replacement by an Al-Qaeda junta that turned off the taps’. That never happened, and Wales remains resolutely carbonised. But the point is not lost. Any one of a number of tipping points – ecological, climate, geopolitical or financial – could significantly reduce our ability to draw resources from across the globe. The signs are already there. Bankruptcy happens <a href="https://conversableeconomist.com/2015/01/17/the-hemingway-law-of-motion-gradually-then-suddenly/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">gradually, and then suddenly</a>. Economic transformation and a higher reliance on our own resources is, I believe <em>not</em> a choice. Our choice is whether it is careful or chaotic. Just, or just exploitative. A more local, self-sufficient, resilient and fair Wales <em>can </em>and <em>should</em> be imagined – indeed, our Future Generations Act demands it. The good thing is that imagination costs nothing.</p> <p><a href="https://afallen.cymru/2024/06/13/must-everything-go-the-prospects-for-economic-re-localisation-in-wales/" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://afallen.cymru/2024/06/13/must-everything-go-the-prospects-for-economic-re-localisation-in-wales/</a></p><p><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://afallen.cymru/tag/calvin-jones/" target="_blank">#CalvinJones</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://afallen.cymru/tag/cymru/" target="_blank">#Cymru</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://afallen.cymru/tag/economics/" target="_blank">#Economics</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://afallen.cymru/tag/prosperity/" target="_blank">#Prosperity</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://afallen.cymru/tag/taxation/" target="_blank">#Taxation</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://afallen.cymru/tag/wales/" target="_blank">#Wales</a></p>
Chuck Darwin<p>It’s not too late for We, The People to reclaim our government from the forces of <a href="https://c.im/tags/neofascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>neofascism</span></a> and great wealth who’ve worked so hard since the Reagan Revolution to seize complete control of it.</p><p>It’s going to require a two-step process: </p><p>end the ability of the <a href="https://c.im/tags/morbidly" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>morbidly</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/rich" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>rich</span></a> and giant corporations to legally <a href="https://c.im/tags/bribe" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>bribe</span></a> judges and politicians, </p><p>and then use that reclaimed political power to require the rich to <a href="https://c.im/tags/pay" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>pay</span></a> their fair share of <a href="https://c.im/tags/taxes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>taxes</span></a>.</p><p>It sounds like a heavy lift, but it’s been done several times before in American history, <br>most recently between 1932 and the Reagan Revolution 1980s, </p><p>and each time produced a period of extraordinary <a href="https://c.im/tags/prosperity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prosperity</span></a> for working class people while still helping the rich get rich as well.</p><p><a href="https://hartmannreport.com/p/is-scotus-about-to-make-bribing-politicians-e77" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">hartmannreport.com/p/is-scotus</span><span class="invisible">-about-to-make-bribing-politicians-e77</span></a></p>
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