Discussion
It’s easy to pore scorn on the magical thinking of the centre and the right. But I’m growing into an awareness of the magical thinking on the left too. That’s harder, because I’ve drunk that Left Kool Aid.
I don’t know how to navigate it, but I do think it’s useful to highlight that many notions of post-WW2 social democratic norms fall apart if one’s country is not part of sucking $2 trillion out of the global south each year…
@urlyman there are lots of prevention (much much cheaper than treatment) that aren't done because they get in the way of the wage slave lifestyle.
Get rid of "an hour and a half commute, Costa in the car, a sandwich (with two grams of salt) in the desk, eight hours sitting, five days a week" and a lot of health issues (both physical and mental) go away. But maybe number doesn't go up as fast then.
@urlyman there was a story I read years ago (unfortunately with the current state of search engines I don't expect to be able to find the source) about some researcher who was tasked by the Tories to find the most efficient way to shrink the cost of the NHS. After doing his research he delivered his results: make it possible to walk/cycle to work as much as possible.
Anyway, my point is not all of the reversals in "progress" (or in national wealth) need to be reversals in quality of life
…For example, first-rate free-at-the-point-of-use health care, social care and education are all laudable aspirations.
As is global economic equity.
But how do we square these things?
When the biggest 35 or so economies are not wringing $2 trillion+ per year out of the other 160 countries, and when 40 trillion fossil fuel slaves are not being deployed every day how do those aspirations get funded?