PROBLEMS
MANY ISSUES & EXISTENTIAL RISKS
SYSTEMIC FAILURES / HUNGER / POVERTY / HOPELESSNESS / DESTRUCTION
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INEQUALITY
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Top 1%
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The Bottom of the Pyramid
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Obscene Wealth
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Terrible Poverty
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Urban slums
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Malnutrition
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Starvation
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Genocide
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Corporate decision makers have eliminated many well paid middle class jobs
Many jobs were outsourced to places where wages were lower, working conditions dangerous and environmental impact uncontrolled. These places had positive economic growth at the expense of the workers who had lost their jobs! Corporate executives and stockholders also benefitted at the expense of those who had lost their jobs.
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FINANCIALIZATION
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Stock market
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Intangible value
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Money supply
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World GDP growth
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US GDP growth
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GDP v GPI
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A digital virtual world has taken over from the real world
Binary logic is so much easier than reality. Computers have little ability to do complex thinking, and substitute massive speed for thoughfulness. There is a lot more data, but not much more understanding.
This has been aided and abetted by business schools that equate financial wealth with success. Money wealth has grown rapidly, but not so much happiness, and natural capital has been degraded and destroyed.
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CLIMATE CRISIS
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Cyclone
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Wind
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Eye of storm
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Hurricane
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Floods
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Floods
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Leaders have failed to address the crisis of climate change for many years
Leaders in business, banking, politics and academia, as well as consumers, have done little or nothing to change 'business as usual' even though the scientific concensus since the 1980s has been that climate change was being aggravated by modern industrial activities. There is now a climate crisis.
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EVIL LEADERSHIP / NO MORAL COMPASS
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Yemen
Ali Abdullah Saleh,
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Liberia
Charles Taylor,
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Syria
Bashar al-Assad
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Libya
Muammar Gaddafi
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Zimbabwe
Robert Mugabe
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Uganda
Idi Amin
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Some very nasty national leaders
National leadership matters. There was a lot of criticism of the role of colonialism much of which was justified, but leadership in many nations around the world is deeply flawed with those in power enriching themselves at the expense of the people. International assistance has been minimally effective.
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INEQUALITY
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Obscene Wealth
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Terrible Poverty
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Juxtaposed
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A problem that has been growing for about 4 decades ... and ignored for all this time. Rich 'successful' people are responsible for this and will not do anything about it.
MORE ... Open L0700-XR-Inequality
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UNHAPPINESS
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Unhappiness
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Suicide
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Stress
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While many economic indicators have improved, many social indicators have deteriorated. Many people in rich countries are economically stressed and this is reflected in their behavior and state of health. For many things are getting worse not better.
MORE ... Open L0700-XR-Inequality
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STARVATION / MALNUTRITION
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Africa
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North Korea
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Somalia
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Mostly caused by war and violence, but increasingly also being caused by dysfunctional governing institutions and climate change.
MORE ... Open L0700-XR-Food-Insecurity
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WAR / DESTRUCTION
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Aleppo, Syria
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Sanaa, Yemen
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Mosul, Iraq
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The value destruction associated with war is ignored in metrics like GDP ... though the production of the bombs that do the damage are included.
MORE ... Open L0700-XR-War
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DEATH ... WANTON KILLING
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Monrovia, Liberia
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Darfur, Sudan
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Rwanda
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The horror of killing ... genocide ... is tough to witness. But too many world leaders have been responsible for this behavior in both the distant and recent past.
MORE ... Open L0700-XR-Wanton-Killing
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URBAN DEGRADATION
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Detroit, USA
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Modern slums
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Kibera, Kenya
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The modern 'for profit' market driven economy does not result in quality affordable housing, but rather extreme opulance or derelict properties and slums.
MORE ... Open L0700-XR-Urban-Degradation
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AIR POLLUTION
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Air pollution
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Land fill
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Plastic
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Products are important to improve standard of living and quality of life, but most products post use then become waste that in many cases pollutes the planets for a very long time.
MORE ... Open L0700-XR-Industrial-Pollution
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WATER POLLUTION
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Oceans
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Rivers
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Drinking water
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Products are important to improve standard of living and quality of life, but most products post use then become waste that in many cases pollutes the planets for a very long time.
MORE ... Open L0700-XR-Industrial-Pollution
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LAND DEGRADATION
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Mining
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Deforestation
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Desertification
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Undeveloped natural land is very important for the operation of the global ecosystem, but more and more of natueral land is being developed either for agriculture or for industrial or urban development.
MORE ... Open L0700-XR-Degraded-Land
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CLIMATE CRISIS ... EXTREME WEATHER
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Hurricanes
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Rain / Flooding
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Tropical depressions
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Extreme weather events are getting more frequent and more ferocious. This is not suprising given the huge increase in the latent energy of the climate system that results from just a small increase in global temperatuve.
MORE ... Open L0700-XR-Climate-Change
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CLIMATE CRISIS ... GLOBAL WARMING
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Ice Melt
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Ice Melt
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Oceans Rising
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Extreme weather events are getting more frequent and more ferocious. This is not suprising given the huge increase in the latent energy of the climate system that results from just a small increase in global temperatuve.
MORE ... Open L0700-XR-Climate-Change
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PUBLIC FINANCE CRISIS
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Investment bulls
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Stock Markets
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Money
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The world has more money today than at any time in history. Financial wealth is at historic records. But most of this wealth is concentrated in a few private hands and public finance is starved of needed resources.
MORE ... Open L0700-XR-Drought-Water-Shortages
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