Retreat

Robindra "Ravi" Shankar Chowdhury 1920-2012

What they really mean...

Recently, the economist Mr. Paul Krugman, in an editorial published by the New York Times, points out a myth that is trumpeted as fact whenever the right discover a public service that they think should be privatized. In this case the service is health care. The associated myth is that a privatized health care system would result in reduced cost to the tax payer. But there is a problem: There is not one health care system anywhere in the world that went from public to private and cost the taxpayer less. Not one. In a related application of the same "get government out of business" (an insanity - as if the health of the nation's citizenry is a business), in food production in the USA and Canada, the real, direct cost to the taxpayer (especially the farmer/rancher) and the ancillary environmental cost have skyrocketed since Secretary Butz started to dismantle the New Deal.

That's just "wooden-headed" says one critic of Krugman's, claiming that a corporation can be "replaced" if it's not performing in the free marketplace. This, despite the fact that there is no "market" (i.e., no competition) to work its "magic". 

Not to mention that if this mythical "free marketplace" with its "level playing field" were to ever exist (and it never has), the socioeconomic landscape would look very different indeed.

History has shown us that when it comes to essential public services, costs have spiraled when they have been turned over to the private sector.  So this is the message: When the conservatives/republicans/right -- aw hell, politicians of any stripe -- say "free market/enterprise", reach for your wallet and don't let go. Those are code phrases that tell you that they are setting up for a run on your wallet. Everybody's wallet. Because while they say that it will cost less, it will really cost you more.  It always has. Or at least it has since the Phoenicians were selling grain to Rome.

They, the one percent, being reasonably well-educated, know full well that there is no such thing as a level playing field. How do they know this? Gosh, Virginia, 'cause they've been rigging the game since they started it. They even have clubs that their kids can join to learn how to carry on the tradition. However, they do know that they can get the less well-educated to believe in it. The belief-in-myth model has been well established by the right using superstition and church (insert denomination); If you believe in virgin birth and that children are born in sin, you probably can be taught to believe in the free market and the concurrent benefits of privatization of essential public services. All of it is a facade to disguise the movement of immense sums out of the public wallet into some very few private accounts. Offshore, that is. And, nearly 21 trillion USD at that.

The last part of the myth is the cruelest. This is the part where the 99 are duped into believing that they have just as good a chance as the 1 percent of ascending the ladder and joining the ranks of the obscenely rich. "Only in America!" Rags-to-riches tales are trotted out on a ritual basis to "prove" that anyone can become a "1%-er." With this bait, it is only too easy to cast aside scruples, values, and ethics, never mind independent thinking. Once that happens the masses support the myth and more lambs go to the slaughter.

It doesn't take a genius to ask the question: if everybody has the same shot, how come all the money is in even fewer hands these days?

The Tools. Amazing, Fantabulous, and otherwise...

L-R: Dan Levy, Roland Kirouac, Lucio Agostini, Shane Adams, Dave Taylor, Myles Dutton

I haven't posted anything since the 5th of March. Trying to outddo Jay's delay-in-posting... well, it ain't working, bro. And besides, I've been busy. Not that there is a lot to write about - Einstein's comments about "everyday" and "miraculous" apply here. So, everything is revealed as it should be: looking at the pictures is the key.

One of my first 'commissioned' photos. The negative is in parts unknown and this is an un-retouched  scan of an 8x10.

And thirty-some years later...we re-shot it. Just for fun.

The Tools in 2011

We should all be over the hill by now, but we're just hitting our prime. At least in the beauty department, that is. And, plenty of metaphor here. I'll leave it to you...

The End of Everything - collaboration with Gus Horn

The End of Everything is a small collection of photographs and the first in a projected series of collaborations with conceptual artist Gus Horn. The series was first presented as part of an installation accompanying Richard Heinberg's lecture in 100 Mile House, British Columbia, where he elaborated on some of the concepts in his latest book, "The End of Growth". The series explores themes such as commodification, fossil fuels, and agronomy. 

You can click here to go directly to the gallery on my website or click here to go to the www.ShaneTylerAdams.com homepage.