Comments and Articles on some of the important issues of our times from a bottom up perspective. We're all stakeholders. We're all in this together. Ashes to ashes, mud to mud.
The global stock market's plunge today may have the speculator class drinking doubles but not me. Not the birds or the bees, not the flowers, not the trees. In fact it's just the opposite. Douglas Porter, chief economist with BMO Financial Group, said in a note to clients.“It is shaping up to be another (wildly) negative day in global equity markets.” But outside of those whose life revolves around their portfolio the world kept revolving, the flora, fauna, microbes, minerals, forces and faeries - the real world - enjoyed another (wildly) positive day in paradise.
The New York Times reported "A downbeat Chinese manufacturing report sent stocks spiraling on Monday, previously prompting the country’s market to close early. It also set off a global rout, with stocks in Europe and the United States getting hit. Apparently, "The S&P/TSX composite index was down for a seventh consecutive day, off 278.59 points at 12,448.21 and in New York, the Dow Jones plummeted 392.41 points to 16,514.
China’s economy which has been steadily slowing due to shrinking demand for its manufactured goods. This in turn has created a months long downturn in demand for the basic commodities that go into the mostly needless crap [discretionary spending] that consumers in the west usually waste their money on which in turn helped drop the price of under-demanded and over-supplied fossil fuels.
Don't worry, be happy...remember that...the oceans got a tiny bit less acidified because of today's selling plunge on the markets, a tiny bit less greenhouse gas got deposited into our common air supply, a few less plankton died creating a bit more oxygen for those of us who use it. The stock market isn't the real world, it isn't even the real economy, the stock market is part of what's killing the real world. Living simply, is the secret to enjoying a full and happy life not chasing phantom wants.
The commentaries and posts here are written and published by Bob Wiley from the hideout in Black Point. The goal of The Mud Report is to help provide leadership from the bottom.
La Via Campesina is the international movement which brings together millions of peasants, small and medium-size farmers, landless people, women farmers, indigenous people, migrants and agricultural workers from around the world. It defends small-scale sustainable agriculture as a way to promote social justice and dignity. It strongly opposes corporate driven agriculture and transnational companies that are destroying people and nature.
Sitting Up Mud
"Bokonon made mud. Bokonon said to some of the mud, "Sit up!" "See all I've made, the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars."
And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around. Lucky me, lucky mud. I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job Bokonon had done.
"Nice going, Bokonon. Nobody but you could have done it, I certainly couldn't have. I feel very unimportant compared to You. The only way I can feel the least bit important is to think of all the mud that didn't even get to sit up and look around. I got so much, and most mud got so little. Thank you for the honor!"
Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep. What memories for mud to have! "What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met! I loved everything I saw! Good night. Amen."
