History is written by the copyright holders.
We talked about the dichotomy between scarcity and abundance and how obsolescence can lead to gluts.
Analogies were made between various aspects of pop culture and content creation (music, writing, blogging) and the financialization of everything and the gig economy.
Monopolies then (Standard Oil) vs quasi-monopolies now (Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon).
Jesse challenged us both to be more optimistic about this state of affairs, and our advice to those seeking to avoid neo-feudal slavery is this: don’t get on the galley, and don’t drink in the same bars as the galley crew. Especially the recruiters.
Since we’re probably gonna get demonetized for the Jonathan Richman clip, I threw in the Barracuda track to close us out….
Episode Transcript: AxisofEasy18_transcript
All systems endowed with “tools” are capitalist. The crucial issue is whether or not creative initiative is controlled or given free reign and whether the consuming public is enabled financially to claim the products of industry. The existing Monopoly of Credit (Banking) and flawed industrial conventions of financial costing ensure that the consuming public is increasingly short of effective purchasing whereby to access the products of industry. We are compelled to contract perpetual and expanding issues of credit (loans) from the banks, not only to activate the forces of production but also to purchase the products of industry. The true cost of production is consumption and is continually falling consequent to growing efficiency, i.e., replacement of labour as a factor of production by advancing technology. Industry must add overhead costs to prices but does not distribute consumer incomes to equate with these added costs. The resulting chasm between final prices and incomes must be filled by new consumer credits enabling industry fully to recover its costs and repay the bank for its production loan. These new consumption credits must cancel outstanding unliquidated cost without creating new costs. They must be issued without being accounted as debt –equally to all citizens in the form of Consumer Dividends by right of inalienable Inheritance–and to all Retailers, enabling them to reduce their prices at point of sale. All physical costs of production are met as production takes place and there should be no residuum of financial debt with regard to completed product.
http://www.socred.org
Wikipedia: Social Credit (NOT the faux Chinese “Social Credit System” of Universal Surveillance, Rewards and Punishments)