Patrick Wood: The Untimely Demise of Capitalism

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change recently revealed the UN’s true purpose in the implementation of Sustainable Development on a global scale:
“This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the industrial revolution.” [Emphasis added]

She amplified by adding, “This is probably the most difficult task we have ever given ourselves, which is to intentionally transform the economic development model, for the first time in human history.”
Two questions immediately come to mind. First, does the UN actually have the wherewithal to displace Capitalism and second, what does it mean for us if they do so?

The first question will assuredly be answered on September 25th at the upcoming UN Summit for the Adoption of Post-2015 Development Agenda. This is the most important general meeting of the UN since the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio De Janiero where Sustainable Development and the Agenda for the 21st Century (Agenda 21) were both given birth in the first place.

The purpose of the current meeting is to herd all nations on earth, including the United States, into signing a politically binding document called the “2030 Agenda” which lists 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets by which to achieve them by 2030.

The answer to the second question is now in view: What goals and targets do they have in mind?
For sugar coating, 2030 Agenda goals include promises of Utopia such as “end poverty and hunger, in all their forms and dimensions “, ensure that “all human beings can enjoy prosperous and fulfilling lives”, and to provide “life-long learning opportunities” for all.

However, the devil’s teeth are found in the fine print. Paragraph 28 of the 2030 Agenda states:
“We commit to making fundamental changes in the way that our societies produce and consume goods and services. Governments, international organizations, the business sector and other non-state actors and individuals must contribute to changing unsustainable consumption and production patterns… to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production.”

Production? Consumption? These are the very cornerstones of Capitalism and Free Enterprise upon which all principles of supply and demand are predicated. Whereas a free market currently determines what is made and what is consumed, the 2030 Agenda intends to overthrow this in favor of a resource-based economic system where “experts” will simply set production and consumption quotas according to their own formulas and computer algorithms.

And what experts, you ask? They will be the unelected, unaccountable and otherwise untouchable social engineers who claim to know better than you what your life should look like. You will be forced to consume less and sacrifice more. Your ability to engage in commerce, to make profits and to create inheritance will be at their whim, not yours. Goods and services will be priced according to resources used instead of supply and demand.

Figueres is absolutely right that replacing free markets will be “the first time in human history”. Although current practices of Sustainable Development around the world have caused many more economic dislocations than successes, the UN simply responds that we need more of it before Utopia is realized.

As a resource-based economic system, the only historical precedent for Sustainable Development is a well-defined economic model called Technocracy, created during the 1930s when the Great Depression was raging. Back then, prominent scientists, engineers and technicians supposed that Capitalism was dead and it was therefore up to them to run all of society as a social engineering project.

Fortunately, the Technocrats failed to gain traction and the movement faded into obscurity. But now it’s back with a vengeance, under the clever guise of Sustainable Development.

Early Technocracy did not go unnoticed, however. Aldous Huxley nailed it in his classic work, Brave New World, which was penned in 1932 at the peak of the Technocracy movement in the U.S. Indeed, the end result of Technocracy was seen to be scientific dictatorship where every detail of life is micromanaged by an unseen hand, driven by uncontestable policies and regulations.

If the upcoming 2030 Agenda meeting is successful in conning world leaders into signing on to it, the euphemism “Brave New World” will be taken to a whole new level as it becomes reality.

R.I.P. Capitalism and Free Enterprise.

This is not the future that America wants, but it is the future that we are about to get.