Until the middle of the 18th century, things
were done the old way. Local economies were
sustained by laborers, craftsmen and farmers; administered
by a few bureaucrats and governed by a monarchy.

Human and horse were the power of the day.
And as we covered last week, Crops were picked
and goods were delivered to market on roads and bridges
built by the power of human sweat and moved by the power
of the horse. Are you with me people? Good.

In Great Britain, this paradigm began to be replaced by one
based on coal-fired industry and machines. What was once
crafted carefully by hand--by someone in your village or town--began
to be mass-produced in factories and mills by corporations.
Family farms and cottage industries were slowly abandoned as people
were lured into the cities by higher wages.

We must earn our pay . . .

But, as employers tried to wring more profit out of every hour they
looked for ways to reduce wages. Isn’t that so Mr. Levine? I’d be
taking notes if I were you. Just a nickel’s worth of unsolicited advice.
They extended work hours without overtime and women were forced
into the workforce, abandoning their children to the care of relative strangers.

We must join this race . . .

In some cases even the children were forced to work .

Flash forward one hundred years! Witness the birth of the consumer economy!

After the second world war, the Baby Boom, the generation of many of your
parents, brought an unparalleled prosperity to the world, particularly the
United States--the world's first Super Power. New products and ideas were
everywhere. The electric washing machine--let me know if I’m going too fast--the
microwave oven. The television set in every home. The car in every driveway . . .
even if it was an Edsel. Do any of you know what an Edsel was? A grill only a mother
could love!

But we wanted more. We wanted to see just how far we could go. What were our limits?
Where did our horizons lie? The Russians put a man in orbit and then so did we.

So we took a shot at the moon. And we made it, not once, but 6 times. Bear in mind
that when we landed on the moon the first time, ALL of NASA had less computing power
than the laptop in front of you.

And from those landings and the information they brought back and the mistakes that
were made and learned from, can anyone tell me what new products began to be developed?
Mr. Levine…? That’s right; from video games and personal computers to the vibrating
cell phone in your pocket. We were the preeminent power on this little blue, planet.

Oh, if only it had remained so.

A new power began to rise from within the very structure that had spawned our success.
Instead of nation competing against nation, corporations began to take over. They started
working on our government from the minute it was born. Slowly, inexorably, they had laws
changed or written, granting them the same power and rights that you and I used to have.
They bought assets and holdings, competitors, candidates, governments and countries. It
didn't take long before the world was divided into corporate zones or quadrants. Sure the
nations still technically existed. They were simply governed in ways best suited to the
corporation. Citizens fell into two groups: servants and consumers.

Personal income in the wealthy nations exploded, so no one really objected. Sure, a few
observed that profit had replaced justice and that the poor were bearing the brunt of our
wealth and excess. But why make waves? You've got two SUVs, a McMansion and 758
cable channels?!

It was a non-stop consumer bacchanalia. Look it up if you don’t know what it means.
The rich devoured everything in sight, whether it be food, drugs, drink or fuel. Everything
went into the gaping maw of the fastest growing economy the planet had ever known.
More power plants were built to light up newer and brighter cities, some of which had structures
and monuments that were literally designed to be seen from space. Why??!!! Put your hands down,
that was rhetorical.

More oil wells were drilled and more coal was mined to drive the engines that powered our world.
Cars hit the road in countries where the bicycle had been the mode of transportation for generations.
It was cooler to fly a few hundred miles in an airliner that spit tons of pollutants into the atmosphere
than it was to take a train that was cleaner for half the price.

If you had it, spend it. Only fools considered the "personal virtue" of conservation. Everyone was
fighting for a place at the table, but no one was watching what came out of the other end. No one
bothered to observe that we were shitting in our own beds.

The first signs of the problem were noticed only by scientists. The global temperature was going up.
Slowly, but steadily. Ice sheets were melting and glaciers were receding, but nobody cared. We
were making money! Storms became more intense and deadly but the time between them was
bone dry. It became a planet of extremes -- the world you know today. If the storms didn't get
the crops, the droughts did. What was left of the usable water was being overrun by rising seas
and polluted by industries without regulation because . . . they owned it.

And the solution is . . .

Make a market out of it!

Instead of cars and microwaves, we have pharmaceuticals! Upset about something? Take a pill.
Don't work it out, put it to sleep. Can't get it up? Do we have a pill for that! Don't correct the problem;
drug the consumer into thinking that's the way it's supposed to be. Too many greenhouse gases turning
your planet into a hothouse? Don't actually do anything about it, create a market that allows everything to
stay the same while giving the appearance of action. No one will notice. Is your water making you sick?
Killing your crops? Buy ours. It's guaranteed to be clean, healthy and free of metals and carcinogens and
other industry by-products! Can't afford it? I'm sorry . . . you there! Yes you, sir! Mr. Levine! How would
you like to buy some of our FDA certified, totally guaranteed . . .

Ok, class that’s it for today. We got about 30 seconds left. Let me give you your homework before you
bolt out of this auditorium:

Not too long ago, some one at the United Nations dismissed this situation with the following statement:

"I need a billion consumers and a billion servants. The rest are unnecessary."

Your assignment: find out who said that. Class dismissed!