The Economics of Happiness trailer (high resolution)
Posted by admin in Finance Thursday, 10 March 2011 01:03 25 Comments
Website: www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org Facebook: www.facebook.com Film Synopsis – Economic globalization has led to a massive expansion in the scale and power of big business and banking. It has also worsened nearly every problem we face: fundamentalism and ethnic conflict; climate chaos and species extinction; financial instability and unemployment. There are personal costs too. For the majority of people on the planet life is becoming increasingly stressful. We have less time for friends and family and we face mounting pressures at work. The Economics of Happiness describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, government and big business continue to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, all around the world people are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance—and, far from the old institutions of power, they’re starting to forge a very different future. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm — an economics of localization. We hear from a chorus of voices from six continents including Vandana Shiva, Bill McKibben, David Korten, Michael Shuman, Juliet Schor, Zac Goldsmith and Samdhong Rinpoche – the Prime Minister of Tibet’s government in exile. They tell us that climate change and peak oil give us little choice: we need to localize, to bring the economy home. The good news is that as we …
@jum401 We are a very small non-profit and we are still trying to recover the costs of producing the film.
why isn’t this film freely distributed?
Not being able to watch this movie online for free makes me unhappy.
Its a shame that these ppl don’t understand why it went all wrong, and the production shipped away from the money printers
It is such a sad thing that people are trick out of their money through a noble cause of looking after our environment.
beware the global warming tax
@brob1969,
Interesting! So these BerkShares are only used locally. Probably why government allows it.
Side note: buying locally can be bad for a community. Sounds nuts. But say China produces better quality lower priced stereos. But we buy local stereos anyway. This prevents local stereo manufacturers from discovering another trade they can provide more efficiently than China, thus remaining less competitive. Also results in fewer products for every dollar (a decrease in the value of money).
@brob1969 I don’t get how that backs up your fallacious claim the Fed is somehow enslaving the US Govt…
@truthadvocate I mean local currencies, not municipal bonds. It is perfectly legal to print your own exchange mechanism; look at the Berk Shares in Massachusetts with over 2 million in circulation since 2006. Of course these local currencies aren’t backed by the Fed…thankfully…
@brob1969 Dude get a grip on the facts first. lets see for 2010 the Fed had 80B in earnings and turned over 78.5B to – THE TREASURY. I know it’s not what the conspiracy people tell you, but sometimes real life is just boring. So YES, the Fed DOES turn over its profits to the Government, contrary to whatever you were saying. Good try. Google fed turns over profits to treasury to see for youself.
Thank you for the Kennedy info. Can’t confirm who planned his murder, but if true, I wouldn’t be surprised.
By “local currencies” are you talking about municipal bonds? That doesn’t negate the fact that government defines what is legal tender & what is illegal. By doing so it limits competition for the dollar.
Our monetary system is maintained by the Fed & those in government. They are partners in crime. Both benefit. No single entity private or public should have coercive control over money.
@truthadvocate on June 4 1963 Executive order 11110 was issued by JFK that would have reverted the power to issue currency to the US Treasury; perhaps we should ask him why he thought it would be a good idea to take that power away from a private company. Wait, we can’t, he was shot in the head twice just a few months after signing that order.
It IS legal to stop using dollars; many communities are trading in local currency that doesn’t carry the debt service of the Fed note. I’m all for it..
@xha44a I just met with a local school official where they implemented a “zero-waste lunch program” where students are given a reusable lunch container to bring food to school; those who bring their lunch cannot use baggies, or anything disposable. The school’s food is dispensed in washable dishes; all food waste and paper is composted. This program saved this one small school $12,000.00 last year just with this one thing. That’s 12K that can go to education not garbage…
@xha44a The Fed does NOT turn over its profits to the government; in fact quite the opposite, our government is deeply indebted to the Federal Reserve. Government doesn’t issue money, the Fed does so each time the US needs to borrow money they trade the FED for US Treasury Bonds; every time the U.S. government does this, the national debt gets bigger and the interest on debt grows larger. Our financial system is based on fractional reserve banking. There is more debt now than actual money.
@brob1969,
“The government does not control our monetary system” Then how do you explain legal tender laws, (United States Code: Title 18486). How do you explain the 2007 FBI & Secret Service raid of the Liberty Dollar offices, stealing their precious metals & certificates, freezing their bank accounts & charging them with federal crimes? The government does control the monetary system by forcing us to use dollars. If it didn’t we’d stop using dollars & the Fed would be powerless.
@truthadvocate im wondering if you can give us a couple of examples of property rights existing securely without effective government? but i doubt you’ll find that possible because it doesn’t happen.
@brob1969 a commonly held misconception. The fed turns over its profits to the government which kind of negates your argument.
@xha44a The Federal Reserve is a private entity that charges interest on the interest it is owed by our government. The government does not control our monetary system, it is instead controlled BY it.
@truthadvocate So wait, what you’re telling me is that a Federal Reserve note is just an I.O.U. with a whole lot of debt and interest attached to it???
@xha44a,
A free market is just a word used to describe voluntary exchanges people make without a coercive third party intervening. It is the default condition when you don’t impose a coercive government on a geographic region.
You have been trained to think that government is the only entity that can enforce property rights. It’s not. In fact there is no greater threat to property rights than the government. You have been trained to think that judges can only exist in government. Not true.
@truthadvocate free markets do not just emerge naturally and create themselves. They are made possible by systems such as the judiciary and police force. Try enforcing property rights without a judge to order a vehicle/home repossessed. So unfortunately for you free marketeers such things must exist if you want a market to be in existence. Unfortunately also, they must be paid for with taxes. Which brings the whole “unfetter the markets and reduce the government” theory into serious question.
@xha44a,
“Collective goods benefit society as a whole” If that’s true, then services provided by our government are not collective goods.
The police, military & justice system are coercive monopolies, so naturally they fail to serve us well. National defense creates enemies endangering our lives & benefits war profiteers at our expense. National borders reduce trade & travel, lowering standard of living. Police create unnecessary violence & imprison peaceful people. Our laws enforce injustice.
@truthadvocate Actually collective goods purchased on your half do not require your consent, and yes are enforced with threats, and no are not extortion. The reason they are purchased without your consent is because of freeloaders. For example National Defence. Should we privatize that n those who think it’s important pay into it, while freeloaders benefit? No – everyone benefits, everyone pays. It’s called civilization. How else would you pay for national defence, police and the justice system?
@xha44a,
If someone purchases something on my behalf they need my consent first. I have not given the government consent. Therefore if they purchase something, then force me to pay for it by threatening me with imprisonment if I don’t, that’s extortion. That’s the same thing the mafia does.
You claim I had my say. How so? None of the politicians that have a chance at winning represent my preferences. This choice between 2 evils is uncivilized. Like a rapist giving 2 choices on how to be raped.
@xha44a I know right? We pay for clean air, should only those that enjoy the cleanest of air have to pay on behalf of their own usage?
@truthadvocate Collective goods (such as roads) are purchased on behalf of everyone through a process some call democracy, that is voting. You don’t like a collective good (healthcare for example) vote for a party that doesn’t support it. You had your say, but if everyone says you’re paying, then you’re paying. Collective goods benefit society as a whole and should be paid for by society as a whole.