tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post6383071131356788797..comments2024-03-22T19:52:46.571+00:00Comments on SOCIALISM OR YOUR MONEY BACK: News From NowherePoetry Coalshedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05514953133244910986noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-45991014048256312582018-10-12T13:14:42.928+00:002018-10-12T13:14:42.928+00:00I was glad to have the opportunity to re-read thes...I was glad to have the opportunity to re-read these sections of William Morris’s book. It is a lovely piece of romantic fiction and, in addition to its Utopian outlook, is both graphic in its description of the times in which he lived and poignantly prophetic in encapsulating the times we live in now; as these extracts illustrate I think if William Morris were around today he would be in awe at the resilience of capitalism and amazed at how it has mutated into an even more venal and pernicious predatory version than he could have conceived; such that today it threatens the survival of the entire planet; as evidenced by the latest report by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change which calls for drastic action to curb Greenhouse Gas emissions, else to reach the tipping point in a matter of a decade or so. Despite a bit of obligatory froth in the media the capitalist juggernaut will continue to roll on towards the abyss, its destructive force bemoaned by much wailing and gnashing of teeth amongst the environmentalists and others. But such psychopathic behaviour is unsurprising. The primacy of the profit motive, and its equivalent of GDP at the state level, is hard-wired into capitalism. No appeal to rationality or morality will change that. It is a systemic problem which needs a systemic solution and that solution is socialism. I suspect that if William Morris was alive today he might be in a state of panic to bring this about.Tim Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10116571614638026642noreply@blogger.com