ECONOMY

The Second Season of Squid Game Is Coming. More Real than Ever

Hypercapitalism and debts are ruining lives

Yesterday, it was announced officially. Netflix will be streaming the second season of the Squid Game.

What is it? This fascination with hypercapitalism? Playing games of life and death? Enjoying other people’s misery as if it was just fiction?

It’s fun only when it’s not happening to you in real life…

What’s Life About?

Can we please agree on something first? Is life about living? Aren’t we born naked and don’t we die naked? Without any possessions whatsoever?

And aren’t we meant to spend the time in between just living and loving and experiencing life with all the senses we are born with?

A simple recipe for life, isn’t it?

So, why is it so hard to just live life?

To be. To become. To grow into a mature human being.

Is it the human system? The rules we decided upon together? Is it our lack of awareness in our concrete and asphalt cities? In our grey and soulless cities? In our poisoned and polluted environments?

Without anyone dancing as if no one is watching? Just concentrating on the life we feel in our bones and our environment?

Do we really have blinders on?

Apparently. Or we wouldn’t love to watch Netflix series like these so much. The Squid Game is real life for South Koreans. And for many American and European people. The Squid Game is hypercapitalism in action.

We are kept poor. We are kept in debt. And that’s a shame.

In South Korea, housing is a big issue. Banks don’t give loans, so people have to get money from loan sharks. The debt industry is huge! There’s a lot of speculation in the housing market.

A simple apartment in Seoul costs 850K euros.

Another problem is unemployment. Especially among young people. Without education at one of the 3 top universities, it’s hard to get a job. Rich parents can afford expensive private schools.

Middle-class and poor people can’t afford it.

Competition is very tough. Children are seen as an investment. From when they are 6 years old they are already working on their future. But the chance to succeed is small.

There’s no safety net for unemployed people in South Korea. So, when people lose their job before retirement, they often start a little cafe or food place. And also here, competition is high. Corona times sent many of them into bankruptcy.

So super sad!

But is it just South Korea?

Or do we recognize this meme in our own lives?

Aren’t we meant to spend the time in between loving and living and experiencing life with all the senses we were born with?

No House. No Life

I recognize the meme for sure. We are without a house. And now that I have cancer and we have stopped our projects for some time, we live our lives on social capital.

It’s a good way of living. But it makes us somewhat dependent. Think for a moment about what it really means.

What if… you are without a house. And the only thing you can think of is to go into deep debt to send your children to a good school. So they can take care of you when you’re old.

Whaaaaaat?

Is that life?

And what about those children?

Solutions

What might be fair solutions? Let’s redesign economic and societal systems from the core. Taking the biome into account (ecosystem and culture). Let’s start with the smallest. The citizen. A child. And zoom out in layers.

Using the Abundanism Vortex as a method.

And in every layer, we start balancing supply and demand.

We really need to talk taxes, my friends. Income and spending. And how money accumulates value. For some people without any effort. For some others, it requires blood, sweat, and tears. Charity is making dependent.

Taxes are a normal way to redesign the commons.

What is ‘normal’ now? We mainly tax people’s income from labor. The money we earn with blood, sweat, and tears. Giving up our time, time, time. And we tax spending money on products and services (VAT).

What could be the future?

• Tax the capital that blows towards us on the wind. Tax earnings on speculation. On the exploitation of houses, land, etc. Tax the billions earned by exploiting companies. They have to pay for this exploitation because someone needs to clean up the mess when they move on
• Compare it with servants. The masters (multinationals and other big companies) make the mess. Exploiting our planet and our people. Everything and everybody. It’s only fair that the people who clean up the mess are well rewarded for their time and efforts
• Tax people after their death. We are born naked and we die naked. Why should we give inheritances to our children? If we have good access to education and other opportunities in life, we don’t need it
• The accumulation of capital and assets such as land and buildings is a big cause of inequality. And in many countries, it gives trouble because land and buildings are owned by 50+ descendants. Not an easy agreement on renting or selling places. So, the land is not used for creating biodiversity, food, or other resources. And the houses stay empty
• Let’s change it all in line with LIFE…

The keyword is that we should tax EXPLOITATION.

The keyword for a good and fair economy and society is ACCESS.

If we make sure all people have access to basic needs and education, no one needs to pamper us. We can take care of ourselves in complete freedom. Choosing our journey. Choosing our life’s meaning.

And following the singing of our hearts.

Am I an anti-capitalist? Definitely not. I do think it is the most freedom-loving system out there. And my values are life, health, and freedom. So, I’m just in favor of some redesign.

Do we need a big, social government to arrange all this?

Of course not!

Governments need to stop micromanagement. They need to stop pushing money around which takes a lot of civil servants' labor and only results in getting people crushed in bureaucracy. They need to be aware of the big flows of evolution, dynamics, and change. And manage these big flows with a wise vision.

Why be a leader if you have no vision?

Leaders need to arrange access.

That’s all.

And of course, I’m open to all kinds of other suggestions for these issues. It’s time, my friends. It’s time to redesign some systems from the core.

Taking abundance for all as our compass for a good future…

Some old-school credibility for my writing can be found LinkedIn. You can also subscribe to my newsletter there. I’m a certified biomimicry and blue economy professional and external expert to the European Commission.

Thank you, Mike, for adding your wise energy to my words on abundance in our think-and do-tank Abundanism. Systemic Design for a good future.

And thanks to Gaia for giving me Wild Writing.

© Désirée Driesenaar, 2022