09091 Economic Irrationality

Where do we go from here?

OK, it’s not news to everyone that the economy is crazy. The statistics above are “only the beginning of sorrows.” The iPermie plan is to design ways to mitigate hazards and dangers and economic irrationality is one of them.

The entire Economics section of this book offers numerous ideas about developing an economic plan for your life that will support you, be resistant to disruption, and resilient in the event of trouble. It seems to me that the most important factors that mitigate your risks from the economic irrationality of these times.

• Be in control of your budget. Have a good understanding of your needs, wants, and greeds. Develop a surplus and then give, save, and invest wisely.
• Develop multiple income streams. It is not prudent to all of your income eggs into one income basket. You may have one full time job, or two or three part time jobs. You could add a couple of money-making projects that work without a lot of time or attention from you. Examples: a website running Google Ads, and/or a book or pamphlet that you sell via a website with an auto-responder, as well as at all the "usual suspects" for online publication sales — Amazon Kindle, B&N Nook, Apple I Store, etc. Develop backup job skills to your primary income skills.
• Grow a supportive community.

Unplugging, as described in 08141, is a second defense against economic irrationality. If you want to Unplug as a lifestyle, “earning a living” becomes a different sort of economic affair.

You need a place to live, where your only operating cost is routine maintenance or secure sources of income if you are renting. In the best situation, your house generates all, or at least most, of the operating energy required for life in the dwelling. It is super-insulated and uses passive and active solar. The house grows some of the food for the people who live there. The household connects with other Unpluggers who specialize in food production for the rest of their diet.

You need a community that supports sustainable living. Your sustainable dwelling needs to be integrated into a community, a neighborhood, where everyone is part of the sustainability movement — an Unplugged neighborhood.

You need alternative social service systems and safety nets. You look to your alternative neighborhood community as your social service, education, and medical care systems. Your local neighborhood will network with others to support larger institutions, but the basics — your general medical practitioner, your basic educational system, your social security, your credit union — is there in your neighborhood.

You need a way to earn your living using both cash and non-cash income.

—If you have a place to live that has no mortgage debt, you don't need to earn money to provide a dwelling for your household. You have non-cash income in the form of a place to live.

— If the house generates all or most of its operating energy, that's more cash income you don't need to earn. You have non cash income in the form of on-site generation of electricity.

—If you don't have other debts to pay, you don't need cash to pay debts. This is non-cash income.

— Once you establish your non-cash methods of earning a living, your remaining cash needs will be met by whatever skills you bring to the situation.

—The Unplugging community provides ways to satisfy other needs of your life — to be involved, to participate, to be part of something bigger than you. This may be a job or a business or a cooperative in your neighborhood community. It might be something in the globalized economy where you bring home new resources that strengthen your Unplugged community. To the best of my knowledge, no such community exists at present. So we all can have the opportunity to be among the first to invent this important structure of safety and community.

This would be a good place to review the concept of Ecovillage Development, as outlined by Bill Mollison in the Permaculture Design Manual. This is the ultimate in a movement toward sustainability and resilience.

Ecovillage Development

An ecovillage is a group of people, consciously united in a network of mutual support. They are the Unplugged who Obey Emperor Gandhi! In Chapter 01041, I discuss the Ecovillage as a method of urban community in some detail.

One of our primary economic problems is that most of us are isolated from each other. We live in nuclear family households, or as singles or a couple of roommates. We are “alone in the city,” so to speak. This makes us vulnerable to the economic irrationalities of this era, who are well-organized and united to take more resources for the powerful at the expense of those who are not powerful. We lack relationships of support and cooperation that can sustain us through hard times.

That’s why there’s so much talk here at iPermie about the need and necessity for community. The system profits as it keeps us isolated from each other, because in our isolation we are dependent upon the system for everything that keeps us alive. Just as people once banded together in villages to protect themselves from raiders, we need to join together in urban villages of protection, support, and cooperation.

The possible forms of these urban eco-villages are unlimited. They may occupy a contiguous geographic space. A village could occupy an apartment building. Or it could be an alliance of people in a particular part of town, who don’t necessarily share fences, but they share their lives and experiences and are a community of hope and support for each other. There may be other ties that bind — religion, politics, culture, ethnicity — or the groups may be notable for their religious, political, cultural, and ethnic diversity. All of the above and more are the likely answers.

We’ve learned over and over of the necessity for beneficial connections in our designs. We often think of that when you work with gardens and energy conservation. The need for beneficial connections is just as important in our community relationships as it is to anything else.

The ability of isolated households to economically survive on their own dwindles away before our eyes. For many, “The Collapse” has already happened. They were middle class, now they live in a tent in some obscure place where they hope the authorities will just ignore them and not drive them away. They had no community of support to turn to, so they became economic refugees right here in the United States. Every year there are more and more of them and this may be soon coming to your own neighborhood.

So yes, we need to develop multiple income streams, save money, store food and other important and useful items, and be frugal in our expenses. More than anything else, however, we need to build local communities of economic support. Ecovillages are seeds which can turn an entire metropolitan area into an "ecocity."

Worker Owned Cooperatives

Some people find that worker owned cooperatives provide a place of economic refuge during economic hard times. See 08041 in section 8 (Economics) for more information on how to make that work for you.

The key here is to link up with others of similar temperament and ideals and work together. Many hands are better than only two.

Don’t know anyone? Start with a free advertisement on Craig’s List and go from there.

“Motivated and concerned young person seeks partners to organize a worker owned cooperative. Object: to provide secure and prosperous employment during economic hard times.”

This could be the seed that would grow into your own Unplugged neighborhood in your city. Seeds are always small. They never look like much. But they grow into glorious trees in the right circumstances.

A Message from the System Architects

Found floating around the internet, forwarded by Anonymous

Without our chewing gum, no one will want to kiss you. Without our deodorant, no one will want to touch you. Without our lipstick, you won't catch anyone's eye.

Without our athletic shoes, you won't be able to keep up with the guys. Without our cigarettes, sophistication escapes you.

Without our cleaning products, no one will want to come home to you. Your children won't have any games to play without our toys and cartoons. She won't enjoy the date unless you take her to one of our movies.

The fun hasn't really started until you have our beer in your hand. How can you feel free and alive without our new sports car?

Consider all your leisure-time activities and you’ll see: you’re not having any fun unless you’re paying for it.

We play on your insecurities, on your fears and anxieties. There are products for every human activity, even sex, because the things that are natural and free are not good enough for you without our synthetic supplements.

Eventually you’re so conditioned that you’ll pay for the most useless of products, just to be paying for something.

And should you ever try to step outside of our system, you’ll see that we really have made it impossible to be a human being without our products: you must pay to eat, pay to sleep, pay to keep warm, pay for a space just to exist.