[p2p-research] cutting cultural budgets

Tue Jun 22 18:01:49 CEST 2010

Mike,

I hope you live long enough to remember hoping for a "multi-polar" world.
Europe once again leads us into the dark.

Ryan

On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 10:45 PM, Michael Gurstein <gurstein at gmail.com>wrote:

>  These things are complex but for most non-billionaires in the OECD
> countries things have been going downhill fairly steadily since the end of
> the Cold War i.e. since Reagan and Thatcher kicked the struts out of the
> social contract because they didn't have to look over their shoulder at the
> possibility of folks choosing an alternative path.
>
> In the real world, the choices aren't my (i.e. the US) way or the
> highway. An alternative such as a multi-polar world where various paths can
> be explored and loyalties bargained for seems to me to be preferable to the
> univocal rule of the great god Goldman Sachs and co.  To my mind the problem
> isn't too little unity of command but rather too much -- let a 1000 flowers
> bloom...
>
> M
>
>  -----Original Message-----
> *From:* p2presearch-bounces at listcultures.org [mailto:
> p2presearch-bounces at listcultures.org] *On Behalf Of *Ryan Lanham
> *Sent:* Monday, June 21, 2010 10:22 PM
> *To:* p2p research network
>  *Subject:* Re: [p2p-research] cutting cultural budgets
>
>
> Hi Michael.
>
> Jingoism it may be.  Still, to my mind, only a fool thinks the world a
> better place with a weaker and less influential US.  I invite Europe and
> Africa to cozy up to China, Russia, Brazil and Japan and to find out if the
> deals are as fair and as just.  I doubt they will be.
>
> Ryan
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 6:12 PM, Michael Gurstein <gurstein at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>>  Ryan,
>>
>> Overall a useful if rather jingoistic summary of issues...
>>
>> As an answer to your 5 questions concerning the relative desirability of
>> nation states below I (and I would guess most neutral i.e. non-US
>> respondents) would answer in the following rough order
>>     Canada
>>     New Zealand
>>     Australia
>>     with the US a severely trailing 4th or lower depending on one
>> one's perceptins concerning the "protection" of civil liberties in the US,
>> the financial viability of the US and so on.
>>
>> BTW, according Google Canada has the highest per capita immigration rate
>> in the world.  The failure of the US to manage its illegal immigration is
>> probably more the result of an intention to create a severely weakened
>> labour underclass than any oversight or any other explanation.
>>
>> Mike Gurstein
>>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>> *From:* p2presearch-bounces at listcultures.org [mailto:
>> p2presearch-bounces at listcultures.org] *On Behalf Of *Ryan Lanham
>> *Sent:* Monday, June 21, 2010 12:00 PM
>> *To:* p2p research network
>> *Cc:* fcforum at list.fcforum.net
>> *Subject:* Re: [p2p-research] cutting cultural budgets
>>
>> Hi Michel:
>>
>> A couple of points.
>>
>> 1. No one knows or even has a good clue about what is coming in terms of
>> national finances.  Markets do not predict anything now but increasing
>> Chinese dominance.  The markets would know best...more money is spent there
>> predicting than anywhere else.
>>
>> 2. The best predictive information is almost certainly demographic.  We
>> have discussed this before.  Europe and Japan are aging.  The US,
>> China, Brazil and India are staying the same or getting younger.  The
>> outcomes from this seem more obvious than other predictors.
>>
>> 3. Military spending is often just consumption of stocks--like oil and
>> steel.  These are both good and bad for economies.  School costs are
>> overwhelmingly wages.  Wages from a government are probably not ideal
>> economic outputs in almost anyone's book.  There is also a policing value to
>> military spending (i.e. prevention of bad things).  One may disagree with
>> the politics, but it is clear most countries of the world use the US
>> military to freeride--it has funded European growth for several decades at a
>> pittance cost to the Europeans--especially the Germans and low countries who
>> have benefited hugely with minimal costs.
>>
>> In exchange for the freeride (in my opinion) the dollar stays a carrying
>> currency in crises.  This is a fair trade as it allows the US Government to
>> manipulate the world's primary currency to its own short-term advantages
>> mostly by printing money and inflating the world economy to minimize US
>> transfers of corporate and consumer debt to the government--a trick the rest
>> of the world recently learned.  The Euro was meant to compete and to allow
>> Germany to force other nations to be reliable consumers of quality goods.
>> It won't compete in the long run because it is inherently unstable.  Neither
>> will the Yuan.  Ask yourself, will you trust the Chinese to run the world
>> economy no matter how much one despises Americans and their way of life?
>> The US has held the world's hand for 50 years quite effectively for the most
>> part.  Any practical person knows this and will hope it continues.  For all
>> its flaws, no nation has been as selfless and as giving as the US.  It isn't
>> close.  But there has been compensation for that "selflessness" so maybe it
>> is as much selfish as selfless.
>>
>> 4. Local governments in the US and elsewhere almost exclusively focus on
>> education along with keeping peace (police, fire and ambulance).  The
>> largest employer in any small county in the US is the school system, but
>> that doesn't mean the economy of those places thrives.  Quite the opposite.
>> In fact, there is no way to correlate school spending with economic
>> gain--i've tried.  What you can say is that educational achievement
>> correlates very well with most good things.  Whether that is causal is far
>> from obvious.
>>
>> 5. It is true that those who live through gifts from the state or
>> philanthropists will not have an easy go in the future.  All the more reason
>> why P2P can and should thrive.  That said, world philanthropy remains at all
>> time highs and Bill Gates has just started a programme to ask all US
>> billionaires to give away at least half of their wealth while alive or at
>> death.  Apparently the response is strong.  Foundations are large and
>> wealthy right now...community foundations in particular.
>>
>> 6. Government deficits will fall and must do.  How fast this can and will
>> happen is anyone's guess.  I agree that 40% cuts in anything less than a
>> decade would be draconian.  I predict 3-5% annual cuts in spending.  Low
>> interest rates will continue OR inflation will explode.  It is a binary
>> system with no intermediate equilibrium.  If interest rates rise, inflation
>> will follow or vice versa depending on your views on macro economics.
>>
>> 7. If I were young and smart, I'd go to the US because you can have any
>> skin tone and any attitude and still succeed.  If I were Chinese, I'd stay
>> in China and if Indian, in India.  Brazil is another excellent option for
>> those with an odd passport because B. is growing at 9% and more open minded
>> about extranationals than most places.
>>
>> If forced to live in a world of nation states, I'd ask the following
>> questions:
>>
>> 1. Who do you trust to a) protect liberties, b) stay solvent while still
>> offering safety nets c) not go into world ending war d) protect people of
>> varied backgrounds and views f) offer economic and social opportunities g)
>> stay demographically sound?
>>
>> 2. Who do you trust to avoid the problems of racial and nationalistic
>> tensions most?
>>
>> 3. Who will accept people for talent's sake and not for reasons of blood,
>> family, culture or religion?
>>
>> 4. Who uses a language that is common, technically useful and economically
>> meaningful?
>>
>> 5. Who offers people a chance to start over?
>>
>> There are many small options that meet these criteria...Barbados for
>> instance.  In Europe, there are few options....probably Germany, France
>> Sweden, Holland, Iceland or Norway are most realistic or, possibly
>> Switzerland or the UK--especially for the rich.  But we all know these visas
>> are hard and problematic.  The best way to get them is to have an
>> engineering degree and to be young.
>>
>> Overall, the US, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Argentina are good
>> options...as are Singapore, parts of Africa and limited parts of Asia.  NZ
>> and Australia are also fairly open and fair...especially NZ.  No one takes
>> more migrants and immigrants legal and illegal than the US--by a wide
>> margin.
>>
>> Ryan
>> On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 1:22 AM, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> from john thackara:
>>> http://www.doorsofperception.com/archives/2010/03/culture_cuts.php
>>>
>>>
>>> I found a chart in Aviation Week<http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a9be69494-f142-4438-857c-7fb4e3fb4af8&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest>,
>>> which is almost a trade magazine of the military industrial complex, that
>>> included these numbers for per capita military spending:
>>> U.S.: $545.3 billion, that's roughly $45,500 per head of the population.
>>> U.K.: $63.2 billion, or $34,800 per head.
>>> France: $60.3 billion, or $32,100 per head.
>>> Germany: $41.8 billion, or $33,800 per head.
>>>
>>> Then I found a study<http://www.oclc.org/reports/escan/economic/educationlibraryspending.htm>that concludes that the United States spent $1,780 per head on education in
>>> 2001 (France, The Netherlands and Canada each spent more than $1,200 per
>>> capita). Hmmm.
>>>
>>> Turning to culture and the arts, the best I could find is a perplexing
>>> web database <http://www.culturalpolicies.net/web/belgium.php?aid=62>that appears to show that cultural expenditure per capita in Spain is euro
>>> 135, compared to Germany which, in 2007, spent 99 euros per capita.
>>>
>>> In round numbers, then, Germany appears to spend 25,000 euros per person
>>> on defence, versus about 100 euros per head on culture. I have to assume
>>> that the gap in the US and UK, were the numbers to be available, would be a
>>> good deal wider.
>>>
>>> As I said: insane numbers.
>>>
>>> I distract you (and myself) with these numbers mainly because, in the
>>> years ahead, spending on the things that we do care about - education,
>>> culture, sustainability - looks certain to plummet.
>>>
>>> In the UK, for example, commentators are talking gravely about public
>>> spending cuts of 10, 15, or 20 percent. Insiders tell me that cuts will be
>>> 40 percent or more, in real terms, over the coming few years.
>>> Large cultural and educational institutions will suck in what little
>>> public funding is available. Government funding for small, grassroots
>>> activities will dry up almost completely.
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  -
>>> http://blog.p2pfoundation.net
>>>
>>> Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss:
>>> http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/p2presearch_listcultures.org
>>>
>>> Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens;
>>> http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens
>>>
>>> Think tank: http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Ryan Lanham
>> rlanham1963 at gmail.com
>> Facebook: Ryan_Lanham
>> P.O. Box 633
>> Grand Cayman, KY1-1303
>> Cayman Islands
>> (345) 916-1712
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> Ryan Lanham
> rlanham1963 at gmail.com
> Facebook: Ryan_Lanham
> P.O. Box 633
> Grand Cayman, KY1-1303
> Cayman Islands
> (345) 916-1712
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Ryan Lanham
rlanham1963 at gmail.com
Facebook: Ryan_Lanham
P.O. Box 633
Grand Cayman, KY1-1303
Cayman Islands
(345) 916-1712
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