Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Papelitos: An Economic Parable For Our Times

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Papelitos: An Economic Parable For Our Times

Click here to access article posted by Don Quijones from Raging Bull-Shit.

This parable has much to teach people about the complex betting schemes used by the One Percent at the capitalist casino to enrich themselves while creating havoc in our lives. For obvious reasons, such simple explanations are missing in mainstream media and other organs of indoctrination.

Part children’s fable, part economic parable, Papelitos was written by Hernán Casciari, one of the rising stars of Argentinean literature, with the help of his eight-year old daughter Nina. It is a tale about how a small, idyllic village succumbs to the destructive influence of financial speculation, triggering asset bubbles and ultimately wealth destruction for most of its inhabitants.