Adventures in Jutland

Economic responsibility?

Sure there’s a structural problem with old people getting older etc (long may they live). However, most people whose minds aren’t mired in the 1950s (or the 1800s or something) seem to think there are three much larger economic factors (among many others perhaps not quite so large, like a lot of people living longer).

First, there’s the shift in communications to distributed networks, which is not finished yet; we still have one foot in the centralised past but it’s well and truly starting to slip. Second, there’s the shift in the way energy works. This is most obvious in China/Denmark/everyone’s move to renewables as much as possible. More interestingly perhaps, even the tea party in the U.S. is starting to defend solar. Quite a few right wing libertarians in the U.S. have started to defend their solar/wind off-the-gridding—against the “socialist” electricity utilities and even against Republican state governors who, beholden to the Koch bros and co, are trying to legislate against going off-the-grid (same here in Australia). The third (enormous) economic challenge is climate change.

The libs are in denial about all three of these. Thus their hobbling/dismantling of the NBN, their attempt to destroy any government supported action in support of renewables and their complete denial on climate change (and undermining of research). I mean as much as someone like Jeremy Rifkin is selling books and as much as no one would agree with him on everything, he’s right on the basics. In the combination of communications and energy revolutions, there is something like a “third industrial revolution” happening (assuming the planet survives).

So, even putting aside their reprehensible attacks on the poor, the young and just about everyone else who doesn’t have millions, in what way exactly is Abbott and Hockey’s government supposed to be economically responsible?

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