Referencing
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN?locations=CA
God Bless the Child by Billie Holiday
The Bible Matthew chapter 25 & Luke chapter 8
Value(s) Building a Better World for All by Mark Carney
https://institute.smartprosperity.ca/
Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman
Script prepared before recording & editing
Chorus
This is Something Different This Way Comes, the You Can Count On Me edition
And that is the chorus of the song I wrote for you
You’ll get the rest after the theme song
And the intro & some Billie Holiday
I’ve been preparing this week to spend an evening talking
to a class at Lakehead University.
about money
Something Different This Way Comes
I have been talking about money as a Financial Planner every day now for over a decade,
but this was an invitation from a friend - she teaches the class - to give the Big Picture,
the essentials.
And the more I prepare this boiling down, this clear summing up
The more I knew I needed to share this with you
Because money and the systems that organize them are important
They shape things, they have impact
And right now, in broad strokes
we are so much wealthier than even the wealthiest of generations past.
And yet we are so insecure.
Because of our current systems
Not because of some vast, evil plan.
It is more a cumulative, insidious series of unfortunate decisions
But money is entirely up to us. It is 100% human
we can’t change the laws of physics but we can change this
And frankly, things are due for a change.
Something Different This Way Comes
Let’s start with where we’re at -
You are likely to live to eighty. That’s our average life span now adays.
You probably know an 80 year old.
When that 80 year old was born, their life expectancy was under 65.
Which is important - we were building solutions with assumptions that proved wrong
even as we built upon them.
Since that 80 year old was born in 1942
The year the Second World War ended,
government policies were introduced here in Canada
to help people be financially okay.
Government Health insurance: OHIP
Registered investment accounts like RRSPs, RESPs and TFSAs
The government pension plans CPP and OAS
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and a whole whack of workers rights
A whole shopping list of tax incentives
Employment Insurance started in Canada in 1940, so two years before our 80 year old was born, but was really made what it is the year I was born, in 1971
And on the private side, insurance & investments made changes too
In those past eight decades
to help fill the gaps they leave that people - like me - can lose sleep over.
Because there are gaps
Ones that have so many people I work with worried
Even the ones who have lucked into missing most of the potholes
And have what they need to be fine pretty much no matter what
But they are scared and worried about all the people they care about
What if they get sick, disabled, lose a spouse, need an expensive medication
And with so much wealth, we have a lot of insecurity to worry about.
In those eighty years you now start with about 25 years of dependance on your parents.
Starting with childcare and after school activities
Which really add up, particularly now that kids don’t just walk home
And play in the neighbourhood until dark
But continuing into early adulthood where Canadians depend on their families
As a safety net: help with paying for an education or your first home
Or getting your first job, advising you as you face your first big decisions
Help that makes such a difference,
When your family can’t help you get that start, you have a significant disadvantage
So that’s where money bites into our first quarter century as Canadians
Now I should mention that 80 is the average life span,
including infant death and premature death into the equation.
The life expectancy of someone who has already lived to 65, is closer to 90.
And if you want to be financially secure through that final 25 year era in your life,
you need to finance that mostly yourself.
So we have -about - 25 years of depending on your family,
Then forty years of earning,
which might include being responsible for kids,
and should include investing enough of those earnings to finance the final 25 years of your life,
Then a quarter century of living on whatever your retirement treasury adds up to be.
What could possibly go wrong?
Don’t all those government measures mean everyone, pretty much, is okay?
In short - no.
There are holes in those programs and measures,
Some of which are have grown bigger over time
And they never actually aimed to make sure everyone is okay.
They only aim to help.
There’s that Billie Holiday song I promised you
My theme song today for what has got to change
The assumption of these helpful programs is that we all do a lot on our own.
Which frankly, is a surprise to many of us,
something we wish we understood sooner when finally it all adds up.
I think often of a certain night in my late thirties when it all added up for me
A sleepless night.
Here’s the basic math:
Old Age Security covers about 10% of the average persons salary.
Currently about $600/month
And that is the only thing that everyone gets.
Everyone Canadian enough to qualify at least -
$600/m from Old Age Security starting they are 65.
An age - I will remind you - below Canadian’s life expectancy when this was introduced
CPP aims to add another 25% or so of your average income to your post-65 income.
Your average income - it is based on you, specifically.
The average income right now is about $55,000
So if you earned that, You would get the maximum, currently about $1,200 a month
But most of us end up with a little over half of the maximum CPP, or $700/mo
So together, your income from CPP and OAS would be about 65% less
than what you earned on average while you were working.
If you had been earning $55,000 until you retired
And only had CPP and OAS in retirement
You’d go from taking home about $4,000/mo
To living off of $1,800/mo
Not easy
But CPP & OAS never aimed to be enough.
The assumption of the system is that you are not just saving but investing while you work.
That’s what a lot of those tax incentives and registered investment accounts aim to support.
But let’s go back to our working years then, and talk about holes
Some are exclusions: mental health care, dental care, physical therapies, childcare
Others are barricaded and burdened with limitations and controls
that make them both more expensive
And less effective
For instance, if you don’t increase an income by as much as inflation has increased costs,
Which is commonly done, for public income programs even more than for regular wages
That shortfall compounds over time
Let us take a moment to think about compounding interest
Because it is counter-intuitive to us, as humans - it boggles our brains
We need a moment to wrap our heads around it.
Let me give you an image to help.
If you are as old as me perhaps you remember a commercial for a shampoo
That had someone urging you to tell two friends, and the image shifts from one box with a face in it,
To three boxes each with a face it in
Then they tell two friends: four more boxes
Who tell two friends: eight more boxes
Until the screen was crowded with boxes full of heads of shiny, clean hair.
It takes time for interest to compound like that, longer than we like to think
So between you telling two friends, and you finding out they told two friends who in turn told friends
You might think nothing much happened
Until suddenly everyone you know has been told, and plenty of people you haven’t met yet.
And you can’t see the hair, not even the heads, your screen is so crowded with little boxes.
In short, the compounding effect of not increasing incomes like disability insurance
Or welfare
Has turned what started as help, into more of a punishment
One that is very expensive to run not because the people running it earn too much
But because so much work is required to administer all the limitations
All the oversight, all the paperwork
proving everything now required was done as required
So that no one gets too much
Controlling things at great expense.
Not just in dollars, but in dignity
All this monitoring and limiting is demeaning -
no one gets disabled so they can make money without earning
Okay, maybe the odd hurting soul or psychopath,
But people are hard wired to want to work
To do things that are valued, to contribute, to help
Think of retirees who just can’t retire until they have something to do in retirement
Grandchildren to care for, volunteer work, a big renovation project,
That book to write
There is this seed at the heart of our emergency income programs that assumes the worst of us
And it is not only wrong, it is expensive.
There has been compounding interest eating away at that starting place
Survivors of the Second World War set out from
When they transformed our country through that alphabet soup
Of Government initiatives
We as a country invested in affordable housing then
So that one young man, any young man, can afford a house with a car and a yard
Their wife need never work again
Their kids go to University
And unlike their parents who moved in with family when they could no longer manage on their own, the grandma in the kitchen, the handicapped uncle on the porch
From now on it was decided that people should remain independent,
never have to reply on their kids financially
Compound interest and a series of unfortunate decisions
Has slipped that rug out from under us over our 80 year old friend’s lifetime
Those houses that government subsidies made affordable 80 years ago
Have grown so expensive the young cannot afford them without family help
And even then end up house poor, unable to do anything but pay the mortgage & groceries
And hope things change because they can’t afford to save for retirement too
The old too who held onto that house since it was affordable,
now often cannot afford to maintain it,
And so many of the middle aged rely on the cheap debt their house secures for them
so much that they go into retirement with a mortgage, if they can afford to retire.
Divorce compounds that one man, one house math dramatically, in one fell swoop
Today - this moment in time - is like that time of transformative change
That post war era 80 years ago
We will change the world as profoundly
As we shift our habits and systems and communities away from fossil fuel dependence
Towards wild weather resilience
And care for the compounding numbers of Wild Weather Refugees
We will change this world again
That is a global transformation that is in our hands.
Billie Holiday wrote God Bless the Child in 1941
It was a hit the year our 80 year old was born:
Those that got shall get.
Those that not shall lose
So the Bible says and it still is news
Mama may have, Papa may have, but God bless the Child who”s got his own.
Where in the Bible does it say that?
Two places - first:
Matthew 25:29 Parable of the Talents.
For unto everyone that hath shall be given
But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
Ooh - sounds harsh, sounds scary.
And it is. Faith is not easy or comfortable. Life is not easy or comfortable.
But like everything, this sentence needs its context
With apologies that this is how this teaching speaks to my heart
I am no theologian nor scholar, just a woman with a Bible on her shelf
So - this is from when Matthew is sharing the stories Jesus told people
As he walked all over the place, trusting that people will feed and shelter him
And his disciples
These are the stories Jesus used to teach those who asked to be taught.
Jesus was asked - what signs of the end of the world should we look for
and how can we be among those who live forever.
Because the Bible promised that those who believe will have eternal life
Even after their death.
And Jesus tells many stories that Matthew shares here one after the other
That to me add up to:
How to do right by God is not something you can learn and consider learned,
it takes constant vigilance and work.
Again, big as our brains and hearts are, they are not big enough to fully understand this
The temptation is great to boil it down to a hard & fast rule or fact,
Or consider a good habit a battle won
but Jesus warns against that.
If you are too certain, or smug, or feel yourself safe and certain of redemption,
that is when you are least safe.
Because both your heart and your head are just not big enough to grasp it all.
So you have to have faith, keep working, and be humble.
Anyway, the parable of the talents - as I would retell it to Ben & Sam -
A Lord was traveling and stopped in a place new to him.
He told three of his servants to stay there while he traveled on,
gave them each some money, which are called here talents
and said he would be back, though he was not sure when.
He did not give them each equal amounts of money
But each according to how well he thought they could use them
Four to one, two to another, and only one to the third.
The first two went out and spent this money, buying and trading,
looking to see what was needed and was valued
and participating in the community that they were visiting in.
But the third servant was afraid of losing the money trusted to him,
He kept thinking of the times his boss has judged those around him
in ways he did not understand
And thought to himself:
The Boss is a tough man, reaping harvest where he has not sowed the seeds
and gathering food where he has not cared for the harvest.
This guy was more worried about losing that money,
than willing to risk spending it to help someone start a business
or buy something he figured someone else would be happy to buy
And expect to profit by that participation in the community he found himself in.
Because he could not be sure those ventures would work out.
So he buried it so it would be safe.
It turned out the master was gone for a long time,
and when he returned, the two who had spent and traded the money left with them
had double the amount initially entrusted to them.
Their boss was delighted, he gave them promotions and praise,
He let them keep the money and gave them more besides.
And the careful guy, he ran out and dug up his talent to give back to his boss
Safe and Sound
But the boss was not happy to get his money back.
He was furious with the one who had buried the money in order to be sure to protect it.
He fired him, he shamed him,
He took that once buried money and gave it to the other two and said:
for unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance;
but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
Then that’s got shall get, them’s that’s not shall lose
So the Bible says, and it still is news.
So those who had not just money - which they call talent in the this parable
But they also had faith enough to risk trying to figure out what they could do with it
That would be valued in the community
Not even their community, but one they were visiting for a while, they could not know how long
That faith they showed, that courage and initiative,
that got them back returns of more trust, more money
I think that is how community is built
On faith in one another, on courage to propose a welcome change and invest in it
And the road to hell is paved with caution
Those growing holes in our systems of care and support
Healthcare, income protection, education, home and food security
Those are rooted in efforts to not lose what we have
To increase disability income by less than inflation year after year
And invest in expensive measures and systems to make sure those receiving that support
Really are disabled and living within a growing list of disabling requirements
I think the same evil temptation to be cautious,
Is at the root of our decision to make shelter and food and healthcare
more of a commodity than a right
To not dare lend money to people who have no other way to start a business
or get through a tight stretch
But only lend to those who have savings enough to be able to pay for it themselves
So then you make the interest rate low enough that they will borrow anyways
I’m not saying we invented these money-grasping, fear-based ways
I am saying we can change them
Science shows that most human communities
Not colonial ones, which have invaded and overwhelmed many other cultures over time
But mostly when we organize ourselves
Food, shelter, healthcare and education for everyone
That is the community’s number one priority
No matter what else happens, that happens first
And think of how we react when a calamity sweeps away homes
Threatens lives
We leap in to save people, their possessions or status doesn’t matter, really
Get everyone shelter, food, care, information, a new start
That is how we know we should do things
The theme of this season is What Good Looks Like
Good Looks Like making sure everyone is okay
Even before calamity sweeps all our possessions away.
There is a seed of bounty in that goal.
Science shows that when people are trusted and secure
They innovate, they share, they care for others.
Basic income trials and programs thus far prove this over and over
CERBs proved this, as so many used that stability of income to not only stay home
As asked
But to get an education, or help care for someone, or both
Micro-loans - loans to people who have no security, no house you can possess and sell
If the mortgage is foreclosed
Micro-loans are becoming a thing even in big investment firms
The proof is just too compelling that such a little bit of money, with no credit score
or net worth in the borrower to safely predict their success based on past performance
Is such a low risk
People not only pay it back, they grow that seed of faith into great businesses
That serve and help their community, and become economic wellsprings
Even the distant money-managers on Bay Street are having a hard time ignoring this
As the evidence keeps piling up
Any yet
We make it hard to qualify for welfare or so many incomes that are not being actively earned,
But are essential help in a time of need
We are punitively hard
And then don’t increase that tiny income enough to keep up with inflation
So in effect the punishment gets more severe year by year
What are we saying, what are we demonstrating, by these decisions
No wonder depression and mental illness so often follow disability or income loss
We act as if needing needs to be punished and shamed
That has got to change.
Them that’s Got shall Get
Them that’s Not shall lose
So the Bible says, and it still is news
The words are almost eerily the same in the book of St Luke chapter 8, verse 18:
for whosoever hath, to him shall be given;
and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.
Only here Jesus is explaining the parable of the sower,
where in the Spring a farmer threw seed hither and yon,
in rich, warm earth in which it sprang up green and strong,
and on dry, bare rocks where it did not germinate at all,
and even some on thin soil where the young plants sprout but soon die out
because they have no roots to sustain them through long hot days or sharp cold nights.
And he said the seeds of faith are words,
and not everyone can hear those words or hear them right or keep on living by them
as life’s temptations calls them astray.
So he says: Take heed therefore how you hear:
for whosoever hath, to him shall be given;
and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have
You could read these verses as permission to punish the sick for their illness,
or judge the poor for their poverty,
or scorn the uneducated for their lack of scholarship.
But I understand it as a call to do exactly the opposite.
To listen closely to what good looks like, to hear it, and live by it
To make changes when you can see that you have drifted off course
To have faith, to dare to trust and support our communities,
to be humble and generous and kind,
always listening to learn and better understand the grace that surrounds us,
despite the sins, sorrows and sacrifices that boggle us,
that we just can’t wrap our heads or hearts around.
Yes, in a sinful world it is easy to condemn those who have less,
and to hoard that which we have for fear of losing it.
But my Christian faith boils down to believing that the best way to ensure we have enough
is to share generously, to trust and include everyone.
To distrust fear and judgment, to seek opportunities to love.
That is the touchstone of my faith:
Further on in that same book of Matthew Chapter 25, verse 34
says that those who are most blessed in the end are those most burdened in life.
And when we care, when we help share our food so none are hungry,
heal our sick and wounded so none are alone or forgotten,
To visit and respect the imprisoned and the judged,
To welcome strangers into our home and community,
To give them our clothes to wear and shelter them,
Then we are walking in the grace of God.
Here is the whole song, from an era I think we are ready
To leave that much more behind
From 1941, by Billie Holiday:
The title of today”s show is “Capital and Income”
And so far I have talked mostly about Social Capital
And Socially supported income
Now let’s talk about Capital and income
Capitalism is a button word, it triggers a bunch of emotional responses
It kind of shuts down our brain
And it is used as a catch-all, in many circles, for how profit can trump people
In really terrible ways
Capital is something we have that we value
And in Capitalism it is something we value because it generates income for us
How is that possible?
If you’ve ever read a 19th century novel set among the wealthy
Like a Jane Austen or even Tolstoy
They talk about how much income a person has, and they are not talking salary
They are talking profit from that person’s property, from their capital
Likely land, maybe factories or mills
Places they own, the profits of which they use to pay the people that work there
And anything more that is netted, any profit, is their income
The capital is the farm and the factory and the flour mill
The income is their profit as owner
Capital that generates that kind of profit takes a while to build up
That is why most people who have it, inherited it
Compare that to your income in retirement
That 65% drop from what you make while working,
To what government pensions pay for that last quarter century of your life
If you tried to save enough, in jars in the back yard for example
Over 40 years to last those 25 years
You’d need to save half of what you make
Maybe more - 25 is more than half of 40 after all
And that is without considering inflation, things will cost more over those 25 years
Investing allows you to keep up with inflation without having to out smart it
Because you are buying capital that is generating income
You get to become an owner of an established business that is already generating a profit
Bit by bit as you earn more you can buy more
You get a share of your Capital’s profits
As a shareholder, or a bond holder,
or even an ETF holder if you really want to distance yourself from what you own
And as it is those companies and their profits that is driving inflation
Your wealth and income should keep up, no problem
And if you go back to that shampoo commercial
If instead of spending that income your capital is earning for you
You reinvest it and buy more capital
You send your two friends back into the market to make two more new friends each
At first it won’t look like much
Until suddenly your investments have made you more than you ever invested
You’ve doubled your money, and if you keep doing that long enough it will double again
And suddenly you can manage to finance that quarter century by investing
Only 18 or 20 per cent of what you earn over your 40 years of earning income
Instead of half
But let’s go back to those 19th century novels
Jane Austen in particular comes to mind
In the set up for how the Dashwood family went from plenty to poverty
As the brother and his wife talk themselves into keeping so much of their inheritance
And sharing so little with his father’s second wife and four daughters
Think of those farms and mills and factories whose profit equals their owners income
The temptation to minimize costs like maintenance, safety measures and salaries
To maximize profits - its there
The tendency to think of those farmers and workers more as costs and risks
Than as people just like you, with ideas, expertise, and inherent worth
That is the rot at the heart of Capitalism
And when it comes to investing, there is a sea change going on
As people figure out how to track and value a company
Not just by the profits it pays its owners,
But by the way it does business
And a big part of what is fueling this sea change is science
Showing how much more you get in the long run
When you don”t skinch in the short run
Well paid, secure workers, investments in research and development
Investing in greater energy efficiency, in sustainable operations
These diminish profitability in the short term, but more than make up for it
With greater profits in the long term
And those that pinch the penny to maximize the profits in the short-term
Tend to pay for that chinciness in pretty short order
Although the when of the crash is hard to precisely predict, it is predictable
I reference here Mark Carney’s book Values
The work of the Smart Prosperity Instutite at the University of Ottawa
The Responsible Investing Association of Canada
I could go on - this is a rabbit hole I fall into regularly - but will instead sum it up to say
This shit is real
The darkness at the heart of our current economic systems is not capital
It is Colonialism
Business, Companies - that is key to our happiness and success
I have to talk about the tragedy of the commons
Which is not so much something that happened,
but a parable that was invented by a British economist at the height of the British empire
Trying to illustrate why he thought people could not and should not be trusted to manage their own commons
The land a community managed in common to graze animals
Or gather food
His premise was that when left to themselves people will exhaust a shared resource
So they needed to be managed, controlled from afar,
The people and their commons
This is an oft cited truism
But it is not true
In fact anthropologists have tried to prove this truism time after time of late
And found that the opposite is true
When people live close to the land, sharing it and using it
For food and fun and festivities
They tend to build it up, care for it so well and live with it so carefully
It grows richer and stronger for our timely and caring attention
It is an unpredictable management, it is tailored and tweaked often
As the communities notices improvements that can be made
Actively respond to differences in weather and other variables
And yet the commons of the British Isles were over exploited and ruined
But not by the people who lived with and relied on them for generations
They were damaged first in the invasions of those came to take
What they themselves did not have in their land
And when anthropologist look at the sustainable cities and cultures
Of our planets past, many were lost not to unsustainable choices
But to invasions and destruction by neighbours whose choices
Had left their land hungry and fed their willingness to invade
But then these new owners, these colonialists
Who did not have the deep knowledge of these commons
And were led by the warriors who gave direction from a distance
They proved terrible managers
In the British Isles they enclosed the commons and gave their management
To distant owners
Those wealthy few who lived off the income from their capital
And had no need to earn their living, to work
Except through their direction, their management of those lands
Where they did not really live
Certainly remained far from the front lines of observation, responsiveness
And interconnection
But spent the net profits and lived with other land owners
Far from the source of that wealth
The tragedy of the commons is that we have believed that invented tale
As an excuse for excessive and distant decision making
And for an extractive economy
We can’t afford to extract anymore
We need to renew, rewild, and respect our one and only planet
And we would be well advised to help
By paying attention to where we live
And weighing in with our thoughts as we respond, tailor
And adapt
Shifting from Extractive to Enriching
Imposing to collaborating
You can count on me, you can count me in
You can make my day, and give me a say
When the chips are down, know I’ll be around
Happy to lend a hand, to build a better land
I have one more wonderful, true story to share with you before I debut this episode’s song in full
I found it in another Rutger Bregman Book: Utopia for Realists
A piece of history I had never heard before, because it barely caused a ripple
But when it happened, in 1970, the predictions were dire
Life was expected to come to a standstill, when Ireland’s 7,000 bank employees
Went on strike
After all, just a few years earlier when the garbage collectors of New York City threatened to strike
Leaders scoffed, what did thost lowly workers matter
But bankers, now that is essential stuff
Well you can see where this is going
Garbage Strikes works, the essentialness of that labour is quickly clear
But the Bankers strike in Ireland barely made a ripple
It went on for months, no bank loans, no banks to cash your paycheques
And nobody much missed it. Life went on as usual. The economy even grew
People cashed their cheques at their neighbourhood pub
Where they were known
They negotiated loans between one another within that same neighbourhood
Where they were known and had relationships they could rely on
Social capital - its our secret sauce
It is when companies start thinking of their essential parts
Their people, and the place they work in and serve
As deductions from their profits, rather than the point of everything
That is when business goes bad
It is the same sour seed at the heart of Colonialism
And it needs to change
Luckily we can do change
This is money - 100% ours to make and manage and change
And we are not wage slaves, not really
We are shareholders, we own the capital
We are citizens, we choose our leadership
We are valued workers, we inform our workplaces
I didn’t think I would write a song this week - busy week
And I already wanted to sing you Billie Holiday
But a song found me anyway
Time for its debut
You can count on me, You can count me in
You can make my day, let me have a say
When the chips are down, know I’ll be around
Happy to lend a hand, to build a better land
Better because no one is hungry
Because because no one is alone
Because because no one is homeless or unheard
Or missing the medicine they need or the care that they deserve
No
We’re too smart for that
We’re too good for that
We know how to build our world right
Better because everyone is valued
Better because everyone is heard
Better because everyone is sheltered and cared for and fed
You can count on me, You can count me in
You can make my day, let me have a say
When the chips are down, know I’ll be around
Happy to lend a hand, to build a better land
So I think as we reboot our systems
Globally, financially
We can figure out how to support and reward small business
Minimize the tripping hazards, pool the shared needs to make them more easily met
And super charge the rebuilding of neighbourhood business hubs
Where the owner knows their customers, live among them,
can tailor their products and services to meet their specific needs
And minimize their vulnerability to our current supply chains
That are so vulnerable to transport challenges in this time of climate chaos
And bad choices rooted in our legacy of colonialism and exploitation
More local autonomy, greater regional economic and energy independence, that is the way to go
But what will we have to give up,
to afford this broad investment in the security and happiness of every single person?
I have a suggestion
I suggest we maximize our opportunities to spend less time, money and attention on fear
On papering the file so if you get sued you won’t lose
On administering the application so only those who need it most get it,
You know what I am talking about
The compliance and due diligence and best practice things you do that make you feel gross
Untrusted, unheard, unknown
Muzzled and shackled and boxed in.
Here’s an example, when Ben was in junior kindergarten teachers
Ben was three when he started junior kindergarten
They could not give him a hug, or snuggle him at story time
For fear of inappropriate touching scandals
He was three!
The cost of subjecting a three year old to six hours a day
Without physical affection
Outweighs the benefit of lessening the risk of inappropriate touching
In this case
There are so many ways we invest in fear and prevention
And starve our expectations and opportunities for trust, faith and communication
Here’s another problem with investing deeply in preventative measures and systems
That any mother can tell you
Whenever you tell someone Do not do so & so
All your child hears is “do so & so”
The first word disappears between your mouth and their ear
And all they hear is the end of the sentence
The odds that they then go and do so & so just went up
Astronomically
Pay attention to the end of every sentence that starts with Don’t
So - I think all of these preventative measures
Are actually encouraging bad decisions
Are telling us that is what everyone is doing, that is what is generally done
That is what is expected of us
All these ridiculous rules can trigger us like a good challenge
And get us thinking more about how to weave around and outsmart them
Then why we might want to uphold them.
But even more than that,
I think our fear-first systems leave us discouraged,
Silenced, distrusted, diminished.
Fear makes you freeze fight or flee
None of which maximize the potential of people
And we need maximum people potential right now.
And the cost of this investment
In prevention, in policing, in compliance and proof of compliance with these fear-rooted rules
Is so much greater than is reasonable to the risk.
Call me PollyAnna, but PollyAnna got shit done
She transformed her community, one perky assumption of good intention at a time
I think expectation punches way above its weight
And preventative judgement punches way below
It doesn’t work well. In fact it works badly
And if we stopped spending so much time documenting and verifying,
Applying and reviewing and analyzing the risk
If we just stepped right over that fear-barricade and dared to trust
Every way and opportunity we get
Dared to expect people to try their best, learn from their mistakes,
Help figure things out and make things better
I think we would reap what we sow.
We would reap so much more of people’s best,
learn so much more,
figure so many things out faster,
Make so many things better
Basic income is a start
Local food production and affordable housing
Community spaces and public transit
Local energy production and storage
That is what good looks like
We can wait until a Climate Crisis Weather tragedy sweeps away what we have
Then rebuild better
Or we can own the future we see heading our way
Start packing and building, documenting what we will lose but want to cherish and remember
Learn and solve and work together
You can Count me in, You can Count on Me
You can Make my Day, and Give me a Say
When the Chips are down, know I’ll be around
Happy to lend a hand, and build a better land
Guitar
This is the Count me In Edition of Something Different This Way Comes
About Capital and income
I hope you enjoyed listening as much as I enjoyed writing, composing, recording and sharing
this podcast
If it made you hopeful, if it made you think, and you’ll like to help me pay some of my expenses
I detail them all, and thank everyone who pitches in, on my website
www.SomethingDifferentThisWayComes.ca
Where you can click the Go Fund Me button to become a patron.
I also share the script - and everything I reference
And I send out a weekly newsletter too, which you can also join on the website
Next week I indulge in some deep imagining of what good might look like
Starting with an intro to owning an electric car
Right here in Thunder Bay
In conversation with local climate activist Paul Berger
Join me next Tuesday!
Music out
