Connectivity Con

I just listened to a report on Real News Network about Greece, their austerity program and the European Union.  Before that, I listened to a report about Great Britain's trade unions bringing 100,000 people to the streets to shut down London also because of their austerity program, wealth inequality and debt. 

Greek Society Unravels Under Austerity Measures

Britain's Unions Bring London to Standstill

And these aren't the only two countries where people are marching in the streets, protesting government debt and plans to impose misery on the majority while the wealthy few bask in levels of wealth never before seen in the history of the world.   Why is this happening in country after country?    One word:  Connectivity with the emphasis on Con. 

The diagram shows a hardware installation to connect one location to the Internet.  Now think of the costs at the country level to install the fiber optic trunk lines, server/routing locations, replacing phone lines and switching systems, the expertise required not only to build it - but to run it.  Now add the costs of connecting the schools and universities, the hospitals, utility systems, the government systems that must be replaced to participate in the global systems like customs and transportation, etc.   All of it built on borrowed money on the promise of new prosperity and higher standards of living when in fact, automation ALWAYS destroys the old ways - replacing people - human labor with software systems. 

The financiers, the technology companies and the construction companies clean up in terms of wealth of the country - leaving the majority of people jobless, penniless, hopeless and angry when they are told their country is in massive debt and they are responsible to pay for it by tax increases and reductions in their standard of living which has already been driven into the dirt. 

And that's the way it is.

Vicky Davis
October 21, 2012