On Current Economic Challenges

Greetings Friends/Comrades,
It has been a long time. Since I last posted the dire economic straits, have gotten even more dread and not just for the captains of industry and the mega corporations, who we see crying the blues in the corporate media everyday and then some. Indeed one could be excused for concluding that the major victims of this economic meltdown are the rich and powerful and that the common citizen caused the crisis by greed and risk taking, manifested in the fashionable reason for all current capitalist problems...the sub-prime market.
Well to me there are several factors that figure in this equation. Firstly the proposal that it is the inevitable outcome of a system driven by the principle of ever increasing profit and demand, that is coming apart on its own inherent contradictions.
Secondly the world has been experiencing this global war on terror that is extracting from humanity, particularly the Iraqi people, a terrible price for the imperial pursuits of the militarily dominant, global power. The economic costs of this war is a factor not normally included when the popular media, seeks to address the problems of the global market we suffer in.
In third place is the mega profits being reaped by oil barons from the astronomic rise of oil/gas prices, driven by the knock on effects of the war and the inability of the hallowed marketplace to balance that conundrum or maybe even desire to put a brake on rising prices. After all economic suffering for some adds up to huge profit for others.
My main thought this morning is that the rising cost of energy, transportation, housing, food and other staples of life, is having a devastating effect on working peoples lives and raising the question about the cost of working. Some are already finding that it is costing an obscene amount of money to actually get to work, even as the traditional benefits of pension, health, vacation and the like continue to shrink.
Well I don't think it all has to be doom and gloom. At the end of the day several sectors of society were already struggling, even when the economy was doing better. Now we may find it more appealing to look to our comrades and friends as we seek to address the economic challenges that face us. Indeed just on the level of transportation and purchasing or even growing food, it might be of significant benefit to revisit the option of a collective process as we work to improve the conditions of life and living in these times. Maybe it time to think, act, work and live in cooperative, collective communities, where we produce what we need and consume what we produce.
Peace
Sizwe