Another Cash Grab

It's amazing how often we're confronted by the constant and systemic cash-grab that is our economic daily reality. Life's getting more expensive every year, yet wages fall behind inflation. That is of course only true if you're not a member of the small group of extremely rich people who reside on the grabbing side of the system.

_{source: Wikipedia}

The economic model of capitalism is an all devouring monstrosity that will over time reduce everything to a commodity, something to be owned and traded. It seems the idea that we have to work for the markets, instead of the other way around, has taken hold and is normalized; we collectively accept this is just the way things are. A similar thing is going on with the government; we seem to be working for them, instead of the other way around. Capitalism is the reality we live our lifes by and markets represent the free playing-field we can all play on. And today I was reminded, yet again, how deeply the profit incentive is rooted in our culture, and how literally everything is aimed at growing the pie for the select few.

First, this morning I saw the video linked below the next paragraph. Would you believe it's about the purchase of a column of empty air next to a yet to be built luxury apartment? The buyers, a couple of millionaires, want that empty air to literally buy their place in the sun. I wish these examples of capitalism run wild were enough to convince people of the ridiculousness of the entire concept of "private ownership", especially when it comes to owning (controlling) that which should be owned by all of us (therefore by none of us), the air we must all breathe, the water we must all drink, the land we must all exist on. But it isn't, so I'll leave this to your consideration.

I haven't done any fact-checking on this story, so if any of you, dear readers, want to, please do; I can imagine this sounds like a tall story, and I leave open the possibility it isn't true at all. What I will not be, however, is surprised in either occasion. If something like "planned obsolescence" is true, and the "light-bulb conspiracy" is true, and the entire economy is focused on churning out ever more stuff to consume, and if water can already be privately be owned, and if nations already have their own airspace, why would this not be true?

_{Prof. Richard Wolff: Air Rights and Economic Freedom}

After watching this video I had to leave because I was already overdue for the yearly mandatory government vehicle inspection of my car. It has to be done by August 3th, and if any repairs were needed (mandated) it could take longer than a few days. So this morning I went to the garage for the APK (Dutch abbreviation for the yearly check-up), hoping there wouldn't be too much defects found; my car is 21 years old, has rust on all sides and every year there's at least something that needs repairing. While the mechanic was circling my trusty vehicle, trying to poke holes in the most rusted parts on the underside, checking all the lights, measuring the amount of carbon dioxide coming out of the exhaust and so on, he was spontaneously explaining why the government decided all cars older than 5 years need this yearly check.

You see, it's explained as a measure to improve safety and to improve the environment, the latter being the reason behind the carbon dioxide check. When your car doesn't have the seal of approval every year, you'll pay a hefty fine. The mechanic, who coincidentally was also the owner of the garage told me about the real reason; to grow the economy. Now why was I not surprised...? ;-) The ultimate goal is very simple: to get cars off the roads faster and more often, or to say it in other words, to increase the percentage of relatively young cars on the roads.

The man was so enthusiastic while telling this story, adding some adventures he had fighting against the government, or how he made a lot of money by being the first garage in town that had it's own device to measure the amount of soot coming out of the exhaust of diesels, that he even told me about two small defects he found on my car, defects that made my car eligible for mandatory repairs, but had no influence on safety or the environment; one of my rear springs was broken, but only a couple of millimeter, maybe half a centimeter from the bottom end. "If the spring was broken near the middle, that would be a safety hazard, but this defect only means this spring is now half a centimeter shorter than the other one; no harm done whatsoever." In the end he just passed my vehicle so I can drive an extra year without having to do any repairs. I thanked him for his exceptional service, for his story, and payed him with a 20% tip on top of the 50 euro it cost for the check-up...

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